Retailer plans to share 10% of pre-owned sales with publishers New US site wants to promote "circle of life" in retail environment

Matt Martin Tuesday 24th April 2012 Share this article Share

New US online retailer EKGaming intends to share 10 per cent of pre-owned games sales with publishers and developers. 

The company said it wants to promote a "circle of life" in the retail environment, creating a new revenue stream for publishers and developers, as well as allowing consumers to continue to buy and trade second hand games. 

"Publishers are spending record amounts of cash on new game development.  This increase in dev costs is steering them in directions that don't necessarily jive with gamers, causing them to take less risks on new and potentially exciting IP's or game mechanics and sticking with tried and true properties that are more of a guarantee," commented CEO Mike Kennedy. 

"We want to share our used game revenue with them so they can continue investing in new gaming experiences without worrying about the negative effects used games could be having on their operations." 

The retailer also said it intends to "guarantee" better trade-in credit for games compared to the High Street competition - up to 30 per cent - taking advantage of the low overheads of the online marketplace.  It currently offers $40 trade-in credit for titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, The Witcher 2 and Assassin's Creed Revelations, and $30 for Kinect Star Wars and Mario Party 9.