14 DAY TRIAL // Specialist video game retailer GameStop has announced that it has sold less new titles than expected during the fiscal quarter that has ended on October 29 of the year mainly because there were so many big launches this fall that gamers were unable to get the money to purchase and then play all of them.
Paul Raines, who is the Chief Executive Officer at GameStop, told investors that, :The quarter presented some challenges in topline, due to a cash-strapped consumer that could not afford all of the good titles released during the quarter.”
Tony Bartel, who is the president of the company, added, “We had expectations for strong sales due to the great title lineup and record reservations. But we found that consumers were unable to fund the products that they wanted, as these strong titles rolled out week after week.”
GameStop has reported revenue of 1.95 billion (1.445 billion Euro) for the three months, which is an increase of 2.5 percent when compared to the same period of last year, but profits came in at just 53.9 million dollars (39.9 million Euro), a decrease of 1.5%.
GameStop says that the biggest sellers in its stores have been Gears of War 3 from Epic Games and Microsoft, Battlefield 3 from DICE and Electronic Arts, Dead Island from Techland and Deep Silver, Batman: Arkham City from Rocksteady and Warner Bros. and Madden NFL 12 from EA Sports.
The company also says that it has managed to sell more than 600,000 subscriptions to the Elite multiplayer service for Call of Duty, showing that brick and mortar stores can benefit from an increase in digital based initiatives.
The glut of big names new releases will continue in the next quarter, with GameStop expecting strong sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Saints Row The Third and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.
Electronic Arts is also set to finally release The Old Republic MMO on December 20.