HMV to introduce pre-owned games section in store

MCV has reported that following an announcement that profits are up by 25% on last year, HMV has revealed that they plan to make a move into used-games in the near future. Maybe this is unsurprising as games made up 21% of the company’s total sales, rising from 14% last year.

A statement accompanying HMV’s financial results read:

“We embarked on successful trials of a ‘next generation’ store format, featuring a social hub providing access to entertainment websites, multi-player games zones and transactional kiosks.”

“All product lines in the trial outperformed the rest of the chain, providing a basis in the coming financial year to convert 10-15 stores and open all new stores in new format.”

“We continued to enhance our credibility with customers and suppliers in the fast-growing games console and software market, and are planning to launch a pre-played games offer in 2008/09.”

This decision was hinted at last month by HMV’s strategic games manager Martin Baxter saying “Lots of our rivals have tried to do pre-owned in the past and failed. If we were to do it, we’d do it properly – if not, we’ll leave it on the table.”

It’ll be interesting to see how HMV intends to compete with specialist games retailers in the cut-throat world of second-hand games. But more competition can only be a good thing for consumers.