Report: GameStop Sells Pre-Played Games As New, Practice May Be Illegal

Kotaku is reporting that GameStop's practice of lending out games to employees and then selling them as new might be in violation of federal law. This "check-out" policy was backed up by "a number of the chain's managers and employees."

GameStop, for its part, declined to comment on the matter. "We do not comment on corporate policies that are competitive in nature," said Chris Olivera, vice president of corporate communications. "As your questions relate to company training, operations and discounting practices, I would not be able to provide feedback."

The check out policy confirmed by Kotaku says in part, "Associates are allowed to check out one item of store merchandise for personal use for up to four days. Merchandise checkout is a privilege, not a right, and may be revoked at any time."

Various anonymous GameStop employees confirmed that these checked out games are mixed with unplayed new copies and sold for the same price. New titles have their disc or cart removed to become display boxes, but are later sold as new. The checked out copies are usually placed with the display copies and aren't separated from the other new copies. "Shop Worn Discounts" are typically not applied to these checked out games as that is against GameStop corporate policy.