According to Nielsen, used game sales are at an all-time high. That's good news for GameStop's massive used games business, and to a lesser degree, for smaller retailers like Game Crazy as well. Game Crazy today released some interesting data on used game sales and the retailer is trying to make it easier for its customers to determine trade-in values by releasing an index of games with the top trade-in values. Game Crazy is also making this index available as an iPhone app.
So which titles have retained top value? Here are Game Crazy's top 10 games trading at more than $20 (as of July 28, 2009):
1. UFC 2009 Undisputed
2. Call of Duty-World at War
3. Prototype
4. Fallout 3
5. Resident Evil 5
6. Fight Night Round 4
7. Infamous
8. Killzone 2
9. Red Faction 3: Guerilla
10. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
When taking Mature games out of the equation, looking only at E- and T-rated titles, the top 10 list becomes:
1. UFC 2009 Undisputed
2. Fight Night Round 4
3. Infamous
4. Ghostbusters
5. Skate 2
6. Mario Kart Wii
7. MLB 09-The Show
8. Transformers-Revenge/Fall
9. Guitar Hero-Metallica
10. Punch Out
In general, Game Crazy said that role-playing or adventure games like Zelda and Final Fantasy, driving and flying simulation games (e.g. Mario Kart and Gran Turismo) and top-tier action games (e.g. Halo and Call of Duty) are more likely to hold their value the longest. Games that tend to lose value quickly include sports titles, which "often decline in value just before the next version is released," and games based on popular cartoons, kids’ movies or toy lines; these usually are only able to hold their value for as long as the characters stay popular.
Game Crazy also noted that you're more likely to receive more money on your trade-in if you're quick about selling it. "Just like a car, a game’s value decreases the older it gets, so the sooner you trade games after purchase, the more value you will receive toward additional purchases. For example, the trade-in value of UFC Undisputed is $25.00 today, but it might be down to $20.00 a week from now. Therefore, Game Crazy recommends bringing it in as soon as possible, even if the consumer isn’t sure what game they want to use the credit toward, and saving the credit on a gift card," the retailer said.
