So tight is the secrecy surrounding Microsoft’s pre-owned ambitions for Xbox One that even GameStop has seemingly been sworn to silence.
"Definitely Xbox has said that they do support the trade-in/resale games at retail and that they want to handle communication from this point forward on that,” president Tony Bartel said in the retailer’s investor call, as reported byJoystiq.
However, that didn’t stop Bartel talking positively about Microsoft’s plans in the vaguest possible terms.
“I think what is important to note is that all three of the consoles that have launched have now come back and they say 'I realize the value of the buy-sell-trade model,' and they have built that into their new consoles moving forward,” he added.
“We anticipate that we are going to be able to leverage that, like we leverage it on the consoles today."
Bartel added that in the two days following the Xbox One’s reveal GameStop saw 250,000 people sign up to its ‘First to Know’ list for the machine.
For comparison, the retailer’s First to Know PS4 list attracted 600,000 members in its first three weeks.
MCV revealed earlier today that retailers face a significant cut in their share of future pre-owned sales.