Wal-Mart Entering Used Game Space; GameStop Under Pressure?

Wal-MartWMTGameStopGMEstatement on Tuesday morning. Related: Will Lionsgate's 'Divergent' Become The Next 'Twilight' Or 'Hunger Games'? Wal-Mart was already active in the tablet and smartphone trade-in program and is “actively taking aim at the $2 billion pre-owned video game opportunity” by offering consumers the ability to purchase any item in its store and not limit consumers to purchasing a new game. If gamers are interested in trading in used games for clothes or other Wal-Mart products, GameStop could feel some pressure. Colin Sebastian, analyst at Baird isn't concerned. The analyst sees the news as being a “headline risk” for GameStop that will pressure shares, but aside from that Wal-Mart is unlikely to capture meaningful share of the used game market. Sebastian noted that other names such as Best Buy and Amazon.com have previously toyed with a pre-owned game exchange program and has only seen “modest success.” In fact, Wal-Mart was previously active in the pre-owned game market and introduced kiosks in 2009 that customers could use to trade in their old games. The program failed and was discontinued in 2010.