GameStop will once again buy and sell retro gaming consoles such as the PlayStation 1, Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis, along with games and accessories for the retro consoles.
GameStop is launching a pilot program for sales and trade-ins for two of the company's markets, specifically New York City and Birmingham, Alabama. The pilot programs will begin on April 25 across about 250 stores located within the two markets.
A GameStop spokesperson told video game news website IGN that the stores that will participate in the pilot program will start to accept consoles, games and accessories for most of the "retro" platforms, all the way back to the NES, on the said date.
The spokesperson added that if the pilot program finds success, GameStop will consider rolling out the program to all of the company's stores in the United States within the year.
The complete line-up of retro consoles that the sales and trade-in program will cover, in addition to the aforementioned PS1, NES, SNES and Genesis, also include the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Dreamcast. The program is looking to increase the number of titles that GameStop is offering to either purchase or sell by around 5,000.
"We will bring all of the product back through the Refurbishment Operations Center for inspection, testing and repair," told GameStop to IGN. It is estimated that the time from when the company starts to accept trades and when the traded-in products are put up for sale in their stores is around 2 months. This would give GameStop sufficient time to inspect and process the consoles, games and accessories, leading to a healthy retro collection that gamers can do their shopping from.
However, the retro consoles, games and accessories will not be displayed for sale in GameStop retail locations. Instead, customers can purchase the devices through the website of GameStop or through the web-in-store system of the company.
The spokesperson for GameStop added that the retro devices are expected to also have similar warranty compared to the current one offered for refurbished and used consoles that the company is selling.
However, no figures have yet been released for how much GameStop will purchase and sell the consoles, games and accessories that are included in the program.
Last month, GameStop announced that it will once again accept PlayStation 2 consoles for trade-ins of as much as $25 for complete accessories and $20 for only the console.
Photo: William Warby | Flickr
