It would seem that the little known experiment being conducted by Walmart and Best Buy to accept trade-in games has come to an end.
Industry Gamers is reporting that the e-Play kiosks that were placed at Walmart and Best Buy locations to accept used video game trade-ins has come to an abrupt end. Seen as a chance to steal away some of the glory from GameStops, it appears to have had about as much impact as a feather on an elephant.
All of the current kiosks have been shut down and will be removed over the coming weeks.
It seems the problem was more with the third-part e-Play than the actual stores, and the retailers could try it again under a different system, but it seems unlikely that they will waste the effort.
GameStop has been the undisputed king of game trade-ins for some time, and it is seeming less and less likely that any one will be able to unseat them. Personally, since we have no GameStop in my town, I’ve been using Amazon’s trade-in service to great success. Hopefully that won’t go anywhere any time soon, but as for any other physical chain giving them a challenge, it just seems unlikely at this point.
