GameStop may be the bogeyman of the used games market, but according to a spokesperson for the retailer, that's an area it doesn't even want to be a part of.
"We don't like being in the used games business, but we have to be there" the unnamed rep said at the Develop Conference in the UK yesterday. "We would have to exit the games business otherwise."
GameStop HQ quickly tried to put the genie back in the bottle, issuing a statement to MCV that read "These comments from an unnamed and unknown person claiming to be a GameStop employee are inaccurate", but come on, it's not like there would have been a GameStop imposter on the stage at an industry event.
I can see what the rep is getting at. In the dark days of ancient history, when I worked at an EB Games, used games were a pain in my ass. If it wasn't junkies trying to sell stolen merch it was mountains of Lord of the Rings games and FIFA 03 threatening to crush me to death in the back room. They're a convoluted and messy part of the company's business, but then like the rep says, also a wholly necessary one, since the margin on new products is so low the chain couldn't survive otherwise.
UPDATE - An attendee at the talk has contacted us to let us know that the GameStop "representative" remains unnamed because they were speaking from the floor of the show, not as an official speaker on stage.