GameStop won’t sell consoles bundled with digital games

As reported by Giant Bomb, the chain’s most recent earnings report [PDF] paint a picture of a retailer trying to put a stop to the increasingly popular bundles, and in tern artificially extend its relevancy.

“We expect that if a game is provided as a promotional item in a hardware bundle, GameStop will see more of these physical offers than digital pack-ins on upcoming third-party releases”, Bartel said.

“I think what’s interesting to us is that consumers have a pretty strong preference in this”, said Gamestop CEO Paul Raines.

GameStop executives have revealed a decision to no longer sell console bundles that come with vouchers for digital games.

This strategy has already come into effect.

It is important to note that during the recent release of EA’s Madden 16, we worked with our partners to offer a free physical game with the purchase of either a PS4 or Xbox One and did not carry the Xbox One digital bundle.

The advantage for GameStop is clear, as a reseller of used games – this helps maintain their ecosystem by the customer buying the game new from GameStop, trading it back in to them used (often for store credit), and then repackaging the game and selling it to customers for an increased price.

COO Tony Bartel even went as far as to warn to should platform holders continue to include digital games in their bundles, GameStop would shift to offering “third party physical bundles” instead of the official SKUs. He states that if Sony and Microsoft want to keep up with their bundled offers, that the stores will see to the genuine disc of the game attached to the deal.

For GameStop though, it’s in their best interest, considering it will better expand their business of trade-in games, along with sales that come from used discs.

Why is GameStop insisting that consumers take their bundled games on a silicon disc? The more physical games there are in the world, the more there will be for Gamestop to sell second-hand. “Or, as Bartel states in corporate-speak, “…we sell things at full price and provide great value through our trade program…”