“Old” things still have value, right?
GameStop has taken a shot at the egos of some of its customers, declaring that some systems are now dinosaurs in the gaming world.
GameStop has declared that three much-loved consoles are now “historic artifacts,” The Independent reported.
The retailer said that the Sony PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii U are now “officially retro consoles.” The company posted the message to social media on March 16.
The good news is that while they’re retro, GameStop will still take them for trade and offer a “Retro Trade-In Bonus” through March 21, not only for those three systems, but any older machines, games, or accessories will get an extra 10% trade-in credit.
It doesn’t matter if the systems work, are missing accessories, or are “aesthetically unfortunate.” They just have to turn on.
The company softened the blow that may have hit hard with some more “experienced” gamers.
“GameStop would also like to remind the public that while these systems are now officially classified as retro, they are still very cool, and anyone who owned one at launch is absolutely not old,” the company said.
GameStop was founded in 1984 as Babbages and was rebranded as its current name in 1998, KTLA reported. Note: that was before the release of any of the listed now-retro systems. The Xbox 360 came out in 2005, the PS3 came out in 2006, and the Wii U was released in 2012.
It had more than 3,200 stores in the U.S., Canada, Australia and across Europe as of 2025.
In January, it closed 470 locations in the U.S., and has fewer than 2,000 left in America, The Independent reported.