Walmart game for used game sales and 'Call of Duty' launch

Walmart is pushing the start button on expanded used video game sales and special events for the launch of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

The nation's largest retailer is now selling certified pre-owned video games at 1,700 of its nearly 5,000 U.S. stores. Walmart began taking used game trade-ins in March and started sales of used games in a few select stores this summer.

As part of Walmart's Call of Duty festivities, trade-ins will be worth 50% additional credit Nov. 3-4 if traded in for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare or for a new PlayStation 4.

Call of Duty fans who want to get a jump on their friends can come to special events starting Nov. 2 at 10 p.m. local time at more than 2,800 Walmart stores. They can play the game and get giveaways until the retailer begins selling the Day Zero Edition of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 3 local time.

The official release of Advanced Warfare is Nov. 4, but for the first time in the history of the popular first-person combat game's history there's a limited early release of the game. Other retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Costco and GameStop have been selling the Day Zero edition since August, but those retailers have said they will have limited inventory to fill pre-orders.

Walmart, however, will not require consumers to pre-order the Day Zero edition and plans to have "substantial" supplies at more than 3,600 stores for those who want to buy the game. "We are not going to run out," said Walmart senior vice president for entertainment Laura Phillips.

The expansion of the retailers' pre-owned video game program comes, she said, "just in time for the holiday season offering our gamer customers great values on video games for gifting and for their own enjoyment."

Walmart estimates the pre-owned video game market at $2 billion and hopes to gain market share from companies such as GameStop and Best Buy that already take trade-ins.

Companies trying to encroach on GameStop face a formidable challenge, said Michael Olson, a research analyst at Piper Jaffray. "We have seen Best Buy, Target and Walmart all try before to enter the used game market, with little or no success," he said.

GameStop takes trade-ins of video game hardware, too, and pays cash, Olson said. "GameStop is obviously a destination for gamers."

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter agrees. "The typical Walmart shopper buys games as gifts for others, or goes there to buy games because they are already in the store," he said. "My best guess is that Walmart gives up again post-holiday, as they have the last three or four times they tried this."