Upgrading to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One could earn gamers up to $2.5 billion in GameStop credit from trade-ins of PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles GamesIndustry reports.
Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Baird Equity, made the prediction having met with GameStop management last week to discuss diversifying sales through the pre-owned hardware and software market. Sebastian also discussed how the retailer could grow its mobile sales business.
"Used inventory tends to increase into platform launches, and we estimate that GameStop could create nearly $2.5 billion in credits for consumers upgrading to new platforms," Sebastian noted.
Of course, many consumers will likely opt to keep their current-gen consoles as neither the PS4 nor the Xbox One are backward compatible although Sony do eventually plan to bring their back catalogue to the console through Gaikai streaming. In addition, Microsoft's confusing and sometimes contradictory statements on how pre-owned games will work on Xbox One could see some damage done to the pre-owned market, especially if speculation that fees will be charged for activating games on a second console ring true.
GameStop's shares declined significantly following the Xbox One's announcement however the chain is responsible for 50% of Xbox 360 sales in the US and will likely lobby Microsoft extensively on its used game policies.
The analyst said that while we can expect more clarity from Microsoft at E3 "shares [in GameStop] will likely remain choppy near term from headline and sentiment risks."
Sony has confirmed that they will not implement a system-wide DRM policy with the company deciding instead to leave such matters up to individual publishers.
