Despite the onslaught of desirable, highly anticipated titles, week after week this fall, GameStopâs sales are âlower than expected,â the dominant games retailer told investors, simply because there were too many good games out there for customers to buy, especially in a poor economy.
âThe 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,â CEO Paul Raines said in an earnings call, according to Gamasutra.
Whatâs worse, GameStop president Tony Bartel said customers put down for preorders on all sorts of games this fall, ranging from Arkham City to Madden 12 to Dead Island, Gears of War 3 and Battlefield 3, but never picked up the game. âWe had expectations for strong sales due to the great title lineup and record reservations,â Bartel said. âBut we found that consumers were unable to fund the products that they wanted, as these strong titles rolled out week after week.â
Thatâs the devil you dance with when youâre so aggressive about preorders, I guess. Itâs not surprising, then, that Iâve heard through the rank-and-file grapevine that the retailer is de-emphasizing its ubiquitous, often obnoxious upsells and pre-order pitches. It could be because weâre coming to the last big week for retail releases, with nothing to really upsell until January. But it may also be that booking those $5 commitments in better times was more indicative of future sales, where now all it represents is a gamerâs wish he canât fulfill.
GameStop: Customersâ Wallets Couldnât Keep Up With Strong Release Slate [Gamasutra]
