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It sounded too good to be true, and as it turns out, it was—at least for GameStop’s bottom line. Earlier this month, the gaming internet was set ablaze by YouTuber RJCmedia, who discovered a literal "Infinite Money Glitch" in the real world involving the new Nintendo Switch 2 and a specific trade-in promotion. After weeks of silence and presumably some frantic meetings at corporate HQ, GameStop has issued an official statement shutting the party down.
The economics of the Nintendo Switch 2 trade-in frenzy
For a brief, glorious moment, gamers were beating the house. The exploit was simple yet devastatingly effective. GameStop was running a tiered promotion offering bonus credit for trading in consoles towards pre-owned products. RJCmedia discovered that the trade-in value of the newly released Nintendo Switch 2, combined with this promotional boost, actually exceeded the cost of buying a pre-owned Switch 2.
In essence, you could buy a console, walk out the door, walk back in, trade it, and end up with more store credit than you started with. Rinse and repeat. It was an arbitrage opportunity that turned store credit into a runaway train. The video exposing this "glitch" went viral instantly, leading to a rush of savvy customers flooding local GameStops to capitalize on the oversight before corporate caught on.
Today, the fun is officially over. GameStop issued a statement acknowledging the "pricing anomaly" and announcing an immediate update to their trade-in policy. "We have adjusted our promotional algorithms to prevent trade-in values from exceeding the purchase price of identical SKUs," the statement reads. It’s corporate-speak for "Stop taking our money."
The incident highlights the chaotic economy of physical game retail in the modern era. With the Switch 2 being the hottest commodity on the market, GameStop was desperate to get inventory into their ecosystem, leading to aggressive pricing algorithms that clearly weren't stress-tested against savvy exploiters. It also proves the power of the community; what was once a quiet loophole used by a few became a corporate emergency thanks to one YouTube video.
While the "Infinite Money Glitch" is now patched, it will go down in history as one of those legendary retail blunders. For the players who managed to stack up hundreds of dollars in free credit: congratulations, you won the meta-game. For everyone else: you’re back to paying full price. GameStop might have closed the loophole, but they certainly got people talking about trade-ins again, which might have been the goal all along.
In essence, you could buy a console, walk out the door, walk back in, trade it, and end up with more store credit than you started with. Rinse and repeat. It was an arbitrage opportunity that turned store credit into a runaway train. The video exposing this "glitch" went viral instantly, leading to a rush of savvy customers flooding local GameStops to capitalize on the oversight before corporate caught on.
Today, the fun is officially over. GameStop issued a statement acknowledging the "pricing anomaly" and announcing an immediate update to their trade-in policy. "We have adjusted our promotional algorithms to prevent trade-in values from exceeding the purchase price of identical SKUs," the statement reads. It’s corporate-speak for "Stop taking our money."
The incident highlights the chaotic economy of physical game retail in the modern era. With the Switch 2 being the hottest commodity on the market, GameStop was desperate to get inventory into their ecosystem, leading to aggressive pricing algorithms that clearly weren't stress-tested against savvy exploiters. It also proves the power of the community; what was once a quiet loophole used by a few became a corporate emergency thanks to one YouTube video.
While the "Infinite Money Glitch" is now patched, it will go down in history as one of those legendary retail blunders. For the players who managed to stack up hundreds of dollars in free credit: congratulations, you won the meta-game. For everyone else: you’re back to paying full price. GameStop might have closed the loophole, but they certainly got people talking about trade-ins again, which might have been the goal all along.
