Report: GameStop offering extra in-store credit to fight off Wal-Mart

[UPDATE] A GameStop representative confirmed the "Never Walk a Trade" promotion in a statement to GameSpot today.

"We did just launch a program called 'Never Walk a Trade.' The program includes many features, one of which includes empowering our store managers and associates to offer customers-- when they believe it is needed--the best value for their pre-owned video game and consumer electronic products. This program is focused on helping ensure we continue to provide the most valuable trade-in offers against all competitors and not lose an opportunity to meet our customer’s needs based on trade-in value.

The reason we introduced this program is because we want to continue to elevate customer awareness of the unique proposition of the GameStop buy-sell-trade model."

The original story is below.

GameStop CEO Paul Raines said today that he's not worried about Wal-Mart's entrance into the used-game market, but that might not be the whole story. A source told GamePolitics today that GameStop stores that are geographically close to Wal-Marts are offering an extra 20 percent trade-in credit as a means to fight off the competition and steer consumers toward GameStop.

A memo obtained by GamePolitics says that the program is called "Never Walk a Trade" and a pilot operation will run March 26-31 at GameStop stores located near Wal-Marts. We've reached out to GameStop for comment on the report.

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer. Though GameStop has shook off competitors like Best Buy and others before, Wal-Mart is no doubt a special circumstance that would call for an aggressive move like this. We'll continue to monitor the story as it develops.