Everyone knows that when you want to trade in your used video games, GameStop is likely the place to go. Starting on Wednesday March 26, 2014, Walmart will be giving the video game retailer a run for its money with their own video game trade in program. Chief merchandising and marketing officer for Walmart, Duncan Mac Noughton, commented:

“Gaming continues to be an important business for us and we’re actively taking aim at the $2 billion pre-owned video game opportunity. When we disrupt markets and compete, our customer wins. They’ll save money on video games and have the flexibility to spend it however they want.”

The process to trading in your games to the store is simple. Cashiers will scan the UPC code on the game case, which means that you will definitely need to have the original game packaging. They will also be making sure the gae and case doesn’t have any major damage to them. Then you find out what the trade in value for the game is. This can range from a few dollars to possibly $30 depending on  how recent its release was. Older titles, likely ones from the PlayStation 2 and Xbox era, might not be accepted.

There are some differences between the two retailers’ programs as one would expect. While Walmart will start taking in used games on March 26, it will still be awhile before you can purchase the pre-owned games. One such difference worth mentioning is the lack of getting cash for your titles. All trade ins will be used towards purchases made at the Walmart and Sam’s Club stores as well as their online websites. Sure, the lack of being able to just get cash or the ability to spend the money you get back anywhere other than Walmart is a little off-putting. But given how GameStop will knock 10% off the trade in value of a game just so you can get cash, this might not be too bad of a thing.

The new trade in program will be available at more than 3,100 stores nationwide so it should be easy to find a store near you if you want to trade in that game you haven’t played in months.

[Source: Walmart]