Gamestop's used game sales data in beautiful chart form

We've long known that used games are the key to profitability for a growing number of video game retailers. But just how key are they? Over at Next Generation, Matt Matthews digs into Gamestop's latest SEC financial report and extracts the answer to that question in handy, easy-to-read chart format. Among the key findings:

• Gamestop's used software sales grew a whopping 444% from 2003 to 2007, compared to a "mere" 384% for new software.

• Used sales account for 44% of Gamespot's gross profit in 2007.

• Gamestop makes a ridiculous 50% gross profit margin on used game sales, compared to just 21% for new games (i.e. Gamespot keeps 50 cents for every dollar of used game revenue it receives, but only 21 cents of new game dollars).

• An estimated 53% of all games Gamestop sells are used games.

While this might sound like bad news for publishers that only make money off new game sales, remember that consumers tend to take trade-in value into account when making those new game purchases. A bloated $65 price tag for a new game is a lot easier to swallow if you know you can get a good portion of that back once you're done with it, after all.