Gamestop seems to be the only shop where people can buy video games anymore, hence the name and national success of the business. They sell all current games, systems and accessories new and second-hand for those who are more budget conscience. However, over the last few years the gaming titan has been halted by shady business practices.

In April of 2009, Gamestop was pursued legally for repacking used games and selling them for their new price. These lawsuits made smaller video game magazines, but were never really brought into the limelight. Gamestop disputed the claims and the lawsuit drifted into oblivion without a second glance.

Gamestop has made strives to cover up their business choices over the years, but their shady actions are following suit today. Gamestop has required for years that the customer presents identification before trading in a game in order to verify they are over 18 and can be held accountable if the game was stolen. However, this isn’t enough for Gamestop; they now require fingerprint identification in order to trade in any sort of item at the store.

My problem with this practice is not in the action of taking a fingerprint, but in Gamestop’s rocky business history. We as a society already give out masses of valuable information about ourselves for free everyday. A fingerprint can be sold for major profit, and based on their history, I wouldn’t doubt they’d follow through with that.

In addition to fingerprints, Gamestop has recently introduced their own company credit card, persuading buyers, typically younger males, to sign to a card with a high interest rate that makes the company a lot more money.

Honestly, when would there ever be a purchase that would need to be charged to a credit card at Gamestop? The most expensive item they offer is $500 and there is no reason to charge that amount of money, especially through a card that gives interest rates as high as 26.99 percent.

To entice young gamers, they are offering a large sum of points in PowerUp rewards system to anyone who signs up for a card, and if a customer is in the system, they are already preapproved.

These practices are what bring death to large companies in any form of entertainment, be it music, movies, television, or video games, and the only way to get our rights as customers is to talk and talk again.