Topic: Why don't GAME and CEx take NTSC Games?

Does anyone know why GAME or CEx will not allow you to trade-in or sell to them US* NTSC Switch games?

Considering the Switch is not region-locked, I find it odd as NTSC games will work on a PAL console.

*I'm in the PAL Region.

Probably that they dont know that it's region free and they are use to Nintendo consoles being region locked.

Did you ask the sales person there?

@Tasuki I did but she didn't know why.

I think she said they used to but stopped for some reason.

@ScarVio
I knew you were Saban, the Power Rangers users, Leighdapa, BlueGBAMicro before.

@Eagly Figures.

@Anti-Matter Who?

Power Rangers is for kids.

Technically not "NTSC" as those designations do not apply on the Switch (but they did on Wii U and prior systems).

It could be the case that the higher-ups assume that their staff are too stupid to know the difference between a locally compatible game and an incompatible one (and they're not completely wrong there).

Really, the only second-hand games that CeX/GAME should be refusing, if anything, are those without English support on the cartridge and/or releases that do not have a PEGI rating, and even if the rating on the packaging isn't necessarily a PEGI one, as long has been rated by PEGI or BBFC at some point, then it should be legal to sell.

With imported releases in Australia (and second-hand copies thereof), EB Games and the like will stick a print-out of the rating on the cover, but they'll refuse games that are locked to other regions.

The outrage over this seems a little strong for something so trivial. Many games have different SKU despite being region free like an American game may not have the German, Portuguese or whatever subtitles/audio which the European does as well as having different age ratings on the box so you're asking for a lot of work to be done for a very occasional thing and if they did the trade in price would be lower on the imported copy than the EU/UK one.

Also why use Game or CEX anyway as they are rubbish and you're just better off selling it yourself.

As previously stated, different SKU and usually for a mainstream corporate company that doesn’t specialize in imports they won’t resale the games as easily or quickly as they will domestic games. Also there is the potential for backlash if regional differences upset a buyer. (Missing language options, has something that was altered between regions) So it’s more internal work than needed to accommodate a very minuscule potential client/profit base. You can toss that on the secondhand market faster than GAME could spend the time adding regional SKUs to their point of sale system.

Basically what jump said.

Also think from the buyer side. If they stock multiple SKUs (i.e. multiple versions of the same game), the buyer is more likely to be disappointed that they've received the "wrong" (i.e. non-PAL) version of the game, even if the console is region-free. Consequently CeX/GAME might have a harder time selling such version.

Essentially it's a lot of extra overhead that doesn't really fit their overall business models.

@jump Hardly an "outrage"...

And to everyone saying 'different SKU codes', SURELY CEx could create their own to match on their internal system...

@ScarVio It was being called dumb, wrong and destroying their business which is a bit over the top.

@jump Oh!

I thought you meant the outrage by the commenters 😅

That would mean for every single game they would have to have an additional 2-4 entries be created for every other region which is stock they will have a harder time selling if it's not a top title like a Mario Kart or Zelda, that's a lot of work for small change in terms of both volume and margin as well as taking up floor space.

I grew up with a family friend who was an air stewardess so on my birthday/xmas I would get things like the US Pokemon games almost a year before they came out in the UK as it was before world wide same day releases. I only ever got one or two games for my birthday/xmas as a kid rather than some of my mates who would get every game they wanted on the day of release but when I did I could gloat.

@ScarVio that’s not how retail point of sale systems work. At best they would be forced to maintain a SKU list for multiple regions (you don’t just enter it on a by game basis when someone trades it in) and for what? That is a lot of frontloaded work for a space that they don’t work in (imported gaming) and non consistent inventory. Then they have to set up a value system for those SKUs for trade ins. Should they be worth the same? What price point will they set the import games at? Then there is the issue of sku conversion for inventory liquidation for tax purposes (pennying out stock) there are a bunch of moving parts with very little profit margins and perhaps forcing a new business model to include imports. There is no one that could pitch that to operations and get it green lighted. Just toss it on ebay.

Thanks to everyone who has commented.

My NTSC copy of Valkyria Chronicles 4 IS on E-Bay and has been since before I created this post. (I only bought it as it came with the pre-order bonus Joy-Con Stickers which we never got in the UK).