Yesterday, we reported that there had been some rumors and accusations flying around in regard to GameStop’s sudden increase in stock for Xenoblade Chronicles—a rare title which suddenly appeared in stores for a hefty $90, labeled as “used” but seemingly brand new.
As the sole distributor for the game, questions were raised as to the legitimacy of the stock, and an unconfirmed source for Kotaku said that “the retailer printed a few thousand copies of the game with no shrink wrap.”
GameStop has now released their own statement to Kotaku regarding the uproar, defending their pricing for the game and giving a rather vague statement about the source of their stock increase. According to GameStop, more “vintage” titles are coming to their shelves, including the slightly less rare (but still hard to find) Metroid Prime Trilogy.
“GameStop regularly receives feedback from our PowerUp members regarding old titles they would us like to bring back, such as vintage games like Xenoblade Chronicles. We were recently able to source a limited number of copies of this title to carry in our stores and online.
In fact, we have sourced several more vintage titles that we will be hitting stores in the coming months, including Metroid Prime Trilogy.
As always, our pricing for these games is competitive and is based on current market value driven by supply and demand. PowerUp Pro members always receive a 10% discount and earn PUR points on pre-owned purchases.”
It’s not a surprise that a store would price their products according to the demand for that product, but this particular instance does still look like GameStop’s attempt to cash in on a rare game. Nintendo has so far declined to comment, which isn’t exactly helping the situation.
