If you happen to own a console and a PC, and live in a country where they have Gamestop stores, there’s something going on that you’ll no doubt want to know about.

Now, when you trade in your old console games at Gamestop’s bricks-and-mortar retail outlets, you can get up to 30% off the value of any PC games you buy. With one small catch…

The value needs to be returned to you in the form of Steam gift vouchers. So the net result is this: Trade in old console games, and get extra money off Steam downloads for PC.

What does this mean for PC and console gamers? Well, there are a few things. Firstly, we may well see a swing back toward PC gaming away from console. Second, game shops are likely to be awash with trade-ins, at least for a while, so maybe not such a bad time to be a console gamer after all. We’d not be at all surprised if other leading games outlets released similar schemes in order to compete. Also, perhaps Steam will pull even further ahead from its competitor, Origin, which still appears to be reeling after the flip-flopping between Origin boss David DeMartini’s comments about large-discount sales cheapening IPs, and the large-discount Origin sale that almost immediately followed that comment.

Is this another Machiavellian move by the online retail giants? Could it spell the end of consoles forever? Will it reinvigorate the high-street? Let us know your predictions in the comments box!