According to this thread over at GameFAQs, it was recently announced at the 2012 GameStop Manager's Conference that they will be beginning the process of removing PS2 inventory from all of its locations (not just select stores) sooner rather than later. While no timetable was given, not only will they stop accepting PS2 trade-ins, they also plan to destroy their remaining PS2 inventory!
Here is the original message, followed by several quotes confirming the story:
addictedtochaos wrote:I just got back from my local GameStop, the manager had just gotten back from the manager's conference. He said that it was announceed that PS2 will be the next system to vanish from stores (not too surprising its gone in some stores already) But it will not simply be like the Game Cube where they just stopped taking it on trade, when it happens (no date was announced but it is expected to happen in the near future) the games will just be destroyed. So if there are PS2 games you are looking for get them now before tens of thousands of games are destroyed.
He said at the conference the PS2 was called a cancer.
No date has been given.
WrestlingRPGfan wrote:I work at GameStop. I'll confirm that PS2 games are going to be destroyed, but no timetable was given.
My boss said they were going to be field destroyed.
Furthermore, overstocked merchandise gets destroyed all the time at a variety of businesses. Ever work at a bookstore? It generally is easier and cheaper to destroy the product than to return to warehouse.
That being said, regardless of how they're being disposed of, the fact is, PS2 games will no longer be sold in stores very soon.
Ephemeral_Being wrote:Confirmed. Crap.
JtheXtremeGamer wrote:It wouldn't surprise me, when I worked at Game Stop I used to do field destroys on certain things we stopped selling, and if i am not mistaken they also field destroyed Virtual Boys
EazyERock wrote:for the record, i talked to a buddy of mine that is a manager at a GameStop and he confirmed every word.. this is 100% true...
on another note, theres no way of getting free discs or anything like that.. everything is being sent back to corporate, the employees dont even have an option of keeping anything..
lazyslaker wrote:I overheard the manager at the gamestop I went to Sunday saying the same exact thing. A thousand or more sku's being taken out of the system and the inventory destroyed if not sold. They might have a sale or something soon.
Strippin Heat wrote:A thousand or so old games will no longer be accepted since the profit margin is too low. Games that sell for $.99 and trade in for $.05 aren't worth the effort of having someone process them and never sell. The games that people actually want are still high enough in price that they'll remain tradeable for some time. So if you really want a copy of Madden 05 or NHL 02, go get it. Things like GTA:SA and MvC2 will still be around.
The only games that get field destroyed are those that are defective and aren't worth sending back to the factory for refurbishment. The sale of PS2 games still account for almost 10% of GameStop's revenue so they won't stop entirely. B2G1 or even B2G2 sales will go in full effect when they really want to empty their stock. GameCube games are currently in a perpetual state of B2G2, and GBA games are all 75% off (making them cost under a buck).
A lot of inaccurate information has been passed around here, and I blame incompetent managers that weren't listening at conference.