The New GameStop Promotion

You've probably heard it by now.

GameStop offering $50 credit to trade Xbox 360 games to Xbox One

If you haven't, hear's how it works.  There are select Xbox 360 games, like Madden, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Battlefield, and Assassin's Creed 4 where if you purchase them within 30 days after launch, you can trade them in towards their Xbox One counterparts and receive 50 dollars store credit.  So, you're basically taking an older version and trading it up to a newer version for 10 dollars more.  It sounds like a good deal to me, but there are a lot of people who don't think so.

They call it a rip off.  Some say you're paying 20 dollars more.  Their logic is that you lose 10 dollars on the trade in and have to spend 10 dollars more to buy the Xbox One.  But, wouldn't that mean you're paying 80 dollars for a 60 dollar game?  It's really simple.  Put 70 dollars in your wallet.  When you buy the 360 version of the game, take out 60 dollars.  When you trade it in for the Xbox One copy, take another 10 dollars out.  You paid 70 dollars.  You aren't losing out on the 10 dollars. This is a whole new transaction. You only have to pay 10 dollars to get the new game. 

Regardless, it doesn't quite seem like a good deal to pay 70 dollars for a 60 dollar game, but if you have no intenton of buying the same game twice, then the deal isn't catered to you.  The deal is designed to let people play the games they can't wait for (and it makes perfect sense for Madden fans) and then trade up to the Xbox One version for only 10 dollars more, instead of only getting 20-30 credit like they normally would, or even worse having to buy the game at full price again.  This is also an incentive for people who are unsure about whether or not to get the Xbox One, or if they are unable to find one at launch.  They have until the end of the year to trade up if that's what they want to do. The only real downside is that you're most likely going to have to start the game all over again when you get the Xbox One version.

I don't think there's anything wrong with this promotion.  I think the problem is one of two things, or maybe both.  People's hatred for Microsoft, since it seems that this trade up deal is only for 360 and Xbox One and not PS3 and PS4.  They view it as a desperate attempt to get Xbox One numbers moving.  People's hatred for GameStop.  They view this a another opportunity for the corporation to feed on the "ignorant masses".  Whatever the case may be, it's annoying that people's views are so slanted, they can't appreciate a good deal when they see one, even though it's not even aimed towards them to begin with.

Will I be taking part in the deal?  No.  I have a good bit of patience, so I'll be buying Assassin's Creed IV - as that's the only game in the list that I'm interest in - on my PS4.  I don't consider myself smarter than the those who will take GS up on their offer, because if they want to spend an extra 10, that's their perogative.  And really, it's just 10 dollars which is a couple cups of starbucks, and they get the benefit of enjoying their games now while the rest wait for the Xbox One to come out.  They're not being stupid; they're just paying for a convenience.  And really, it's not YOUR 10 dollars, so it makes less sense to be upset about this deal than the deal itself.   

By the way, I wonder how many people scoffing at this deal spend 200 dollars to trade up for a new iPhone each and every year... Hmm...