GAMING NEWS

GameStop Sales Down, Digital Sales Up!

Posted on Thursday, August 18 @ 12:05:09 Eastern by


According to a report by GamesIndustry.biz, GameStop has recorded a 3.1% drop in sales in the second quarter to $1.74 billion compared to the same quarter last year, but digital sales for GameStop overall has increased by a whopping 69%. This of course is due to the lack of blockbuster retail hits and the XBLA Summer of Arcade extravaganza.

Not too surprisingly, the most popular franchises for the quarter were L.A. Noire, NCCA Football 12, Brink, Mortal Kombat, and inFamous. (Okay, maybe that last one is surprising.) Though their combined efforts weren't enough to counter GameStop's overall loss in profit of $10 million for the quarter, the line-up for this holiday season is what I would call ridonkulous. So don't expect them to be down for long.

But to get back on topic, this shows that the retailer's slow refocus on digital sales is helping curb the oft-projected extinction of retail stores due to downloadable content. (Of course, that's ignoring the strange idea of buying digital content in a store.) Maybe it's just an effort to slow the inevitable, but as long as the company remains profitable, it will continue to be the major retailer and pawn shop for video games.

[Source]
Tags:   gamestop


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  • LawnGnome
    LawnGnome - Joined: Apr 25, 2007
    I hate shopping at GameStop. I just want to get my game & leave, but the damn sales people won't leave me alone! Trying to checkout is the worst. Would you like to buy disc protection? Would you like to pre-order a game? Are you part of our rewards club? Would you like to buy the strategy guide? Ahhhhhhh!
    0 1Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 18th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
  • TurinAlexander
    TurinAlexander - Joined: Sep 29, 2006
    Maybe it's just the Gamestop I shop at, but I don't have that problem. Of course it helps that I'm there enough that I know the people that work there, and they know me. When I go in, I look around, chat with them about games for a bit, maybe make a purchase and leave. I've never really had any problems with them trying to upsell me on anything.
    0 1Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 18th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
  • tinymhg
    tinymhg - Joined: Jun 22, 2011
    Ridonkulous? Thank God for urbanditionary.com


    Btw Nick cute bunny thumbnail. Your pet? Or a resident of your Asian Farm?
    0 1Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 18th, 2011 at 4:16 pm
  • NecroWolf
    NecroWolf - Joined: Oct 28, 2005
    That whole thing about annoying you for pre-orders, disc protection, etc, is part of their job. If they don't do that, they get fired. I've had a few friends fired from Game Stop because of low pre-order, edge card, etc counts on their employee profile. Each day, every employee had to make an X amount of money for the store, and new game sales don't count toward that, only used games, pre-orders, edge cards, etc, count toward that total. So, low "X" number, no job, so they try to push it onto you as often as possible. Blame the system, not the employee.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 18th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
  • NecroWolf
    NecroWolf - Joined: Oct 28, 2005
    Also, again, this is why companies are making games with content exclusive to new games. Doesn't make it right, nor is it justified to punish the customers (us), but there you go. Consequences to shady deals. It'd be like if you invented something, and this other guy made this great buyback program, and resold your invention at 70% reduced price, directly competing with you. Sketchy business practices for sure... still doesn't make it right to punish us, though.
    1 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 18th, 2011 at 5:13 pm
  • Commiebot
    Commiebot - Joined: Mar 27, 2007
    I used to work at a Gamestop for about 3 years, and I'm not surprised that the regular sales have been dropping. Customer service is usually terrible due to the corporate offices giving out the bare minimum of hours to stores in general, then expecting us to work miracles on our meager amount of time. Since the numbers of subscriptions and pre-orders expected was tied to our number of transactions, it always left us at a disadvantage to be busy. Seeing as we were the only game store near to a military base and three small towns, we were plenty busy, and kept getting hours cut because we didn't meet our quotas.

    Anything to avoid the service at a Gamestop is a good thing, it seems. We have spoken with our wallets.
    0 1Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 18th, 2011 at 7:32 pm
  • Masterwabbit
    Masterwabbit - Joined: Mar 15, 2009
    Here's the way I see it:

    1 Part Gamestop's policies
    1 Part It's the slow season for brand new video games.

    Give it time, they'll be back to making profits soon. Ugh...
    0 1Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 19th, 2011 at 9:47 am

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