To help promote the sales of both current- and next-gen games, GameStop is offering a new promotion that will give customers extra bonus credit when trading in Xbox 360 games for their Xbox One equivalents.
The promotion is available only to those who are GameStop PowerUp Reward members and applies only to games that will be available on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One — Call of Duty: Ghosts, Assassin's creed 4: Black Flag, Battlefield 4, FIFA 14, and Madden NFL 25. Trading in any of those Xbox 360 games for their Xbox One equivalent will get you a minimum of $50 per title, which means the brand new Xbox One version (priced at $59.99) will cost just $9.99 under the deal.
“This is an amazing opportunity for our PowerUp (PUR) members to enjoy their favorite Xbox 360 game until the Xbox One version becomes available," GameStop's senior VP of merchandising Bob Puzon said. “This is a great example of how GameStop is helping gamers make the transition to the next generation of consoles economical and seamless.”
It's also a great example of how to boost slumping sales of current-gen titles. Both EA and Activision have admitted lower-than-usual pre-order numbers for current-gen versions of their games due to what they believe is consumer uncertainty as we transition from current- to next-gen. With no release date for either the Xbox One or PS4, it's believed that gamers aren't sure what version of the game to buy, so they are holding off.
For instance, Madden NFL 25 is to be a launch title for Xbox One; however, it's set to release later this month, well before the arrival of next-gen consoles. Do you buy the game now on Xbox 360/PS3 or do you wait for the next-gen Xbox One/PS4 version with the impressive Ignite Engine? This is the type of difficult decision gamers are faced with.
But let's crown GameStop the saint of gaming. This deal benefits them just as well. By getting gamers to trade in all of their Xbox 360 copies of games, they will have an abundance of pre-owned titles that they can offer those who aren't early adopters of next-gen consoles. This, of course, will hurt publishers who are already struggling to move new copies of their current-gen games.
Do you plan on buying any of these games on Xbox 360 and trading up to the Xbox One when it releases?
