Video game retailer GameStop appears to be continuing its ongoing struggle, according to the company's latest financial report. The third quarter of the year brought in a loss of $488.6 million dollars, which in turn caused company stocks to plummet by 13%. Despite what could be considered a record year for the gaming industry, GameStop saw lower than expected sales for major releases, as well as weak performance for pre-owned purchases. Rob Lloyd, chief operating and financial officer, claimed that though Black Friday/Cyber Monday did well to increase sales performance, he has lowered investor expectations for the following holiday season, stating that software sales will not be very high, compared to hardware, likely resulting in further losses during an important season.

While our Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales were strong, we anticipate that our fourth quarter sales will skew more towards hardware than initially planned which, along with underperformance of certain titles, weakness in pre-owned and recent sales promotions, will result in fourth quarter earnings that are below our previous expectations,

Source

 

[FAST6191]

"Despite what could be considered a record year for the gaming industry"

Record in amount of nothing that happened? Granted I don't think anything in games generally would be responsible for this (it is not like a few of the tentpole releases flopped and caused a bit of a depression) and anything we are seeing is more of a long term thing.

 

[kuwanger]

It's shitty, but it's basically fuck you over, or go bankrupt.

I'd say that's a pretty good sign that you have a broken business model. The issue is that Gamestop is in the same league as bookstores and rental places: there's lots of competition on their core market from online sellers. It's clear then that Gamestop should diversify into some other area that they can deliver on but online sellers can't. It's not uncommon now to see (a few) all-day-paid-pass arcade parlors. That alone would obviously not be enough as I don't think arcade parlors are enough to revitalize their market, but the point is that the solution is obviously to not double down on their worst behavior because it's precisely that which drives people to go online and avoid them, even if overall it costs more.

Oh, and to throw something else into the mix, there recently was videos about refurbished Gamestop PS3 and refurbished Gamestop XBox 360 which goes over reasons you might not want to buy from them. In both cases, it looks like either there wasn't enough care in the original refurb (and the water damage/corrosion spread as it sat a long time in the back) or a very refurb (trying to throw a fan in to fix things instead of trying to compensate for the (many) XBox 360 defects). One way or another, these sorts of things just further increase your lack of trust in their ability to do a good job.

 

[Nerdtendo]

GameStop looked me right in the eye and said my ds was worth 18 bucks. You could give GameStop the cure to cancer and they'd offer $3.89

I've got you beat. They offered me $15 for my Wii and I had to include a controller

 

[DarkCoffe64]

Eh, I've haven't bought a game at GS for years now, the only reason I still go check my local one is for the nice merch they sometimes have.

 

[Exannor]

I rarely buy games from them anymore, might have to go back to pick up a copy of pkmn HG/SS for my old pokewalker, but the only times that I would usually go there would be for the code events in ultra sun

 

[gundamu]

...Why do I have the urge to laugh at this? I don't have a GameStop from where I'm from but I've only heard terrible things about GameStop.

imagine selling a new game to them for 40 bucks, only for them to sell it back to someone else for 60-70 bucks.
thats what gamestops do.

buy used games for very little money, then sell them for 30-40% the price they purchased from. gamestop near me didn't even give you cash, they gave in-store credit lmao

 

[the_randomizer]

There are still a few brick and mortar game stores around here, but Gamestop is just, meh

 

[Jimbo_Slim]

This is why I go to GamesPlus. A small store next to Office Depot where they have everything, from NES and Genesis to the Switch and PS4. Good deals too.

 

[SkittleDash]

Over here, we have GAME and CeX. Both great stores that don't screw you over.

 

[EmulateLife]

I bought Assassins Creed Odyssey there on black friday because they had the cheapest price ($27) but it's only like maybe the 3rd time I've been in a Gamestop in over a decade. I was out on them when they started selling used games as new, lettting their employees taking the games home and play them yet still selling them like new and not to mention sometimes the "new" games would come with a generic gamestop cover LOL. I can't say I'm sad or surprised they're losing money.

 

[Hells Malice]

This really doesn't have anything to do with Gamestop itself really. The world is going digital. It's 100x easier to just fire up the XBL or PSN store and buy a game and be downloading it seconds later. All physical game stores are these days are inconvenient digital downloads because you still end up having to download the entire game, the disc just being a temporary access key.

You can only survive for so long preying on the laziness of people who think they can just trade in a game with no effort and get some cash for it.

Most of the hate Gamestop gets is just because people are too stupid to understand that trading in a game is not the same as selling it. Gamestop doesn't buy your used games. They give you a piece of the value for the ability to then turn and sell that game. It requires manpower to receive, and then sell that game. Not to mention it requires store space. People expect it to be like selling it on ebay or something and retaining all of the profits, but it could never be like that because your stupid ass took the easier, lazier route and got less cash for it. Simple.

 

[comput3rus3r]

Just tell me when the closeout sale starts.

 

[|<roni&g]

No GameStops here in England, but this is bad news for us gamers, we’re moving towards fixed price digital hell.

Fight back and make it known you’re against digital games otherwise the future of gaming is even worse than its become

 

[Zero Dozer]

Is this the sign I've spent years waiting for?

The big bad sign of THE SECOND VIDEO GAME CRASH?

 

[gameboy]

This really doesn't have anything to do with Gamestop itself really. The world is going digital. It's 100x easier to just fire up the XBL or PSN store and buy a game and be downloading it seconds later. All physical game stores are these days are inconvenient digital downloads because you still end up having to download the entire game, the disc just being a temporary access key.

You can only survive for so long preying on the laziness of people who think they can just trade in a game with no effort and get some cash for it.

Most of the hate Gamestop gets is just because people are too stupid to understand that trading in a game is not the same as selling it. Gamestop doesn't buy your used games. They give you a piece of the value for the ability to then turn and sell that game. It requires manpower to receive, and then sell that game. Not to mention it requires store space. People expect it to be like selling it on ebay or something and retaining all of the profits, but it could never be like that because your stupid ass took the easier, lazier route and got less cash for it. Simple.

i disagree, many other stores sell cheaper than gamestop (amazon, walmart, bestbuy) and do shipping. Gamestop hasnt adapted to competition.

 

[Glyptofane]

I do still sometimes shop with GameStop, mainly for exclusives or random lower than everyone else sales which are both rare occurences. They had God of War for $17 on Black Friday for instance.

I may end up buying from them more frequently once my Best Buy GCU membership expires next year... if GameStop is still in business by then that is.

 

[Noctosphere]

@Chary maybe you can tell us who took their customers?
Walmart? Best buy?

 

[Deleted User]

There is a interesting video from a youtube user, sharing his experience working at gamestop.

Also a funny ragequit video, showing a guy trash a gamestop store after they denied him refund.

 

[Noctosphere]

There is a interesting video from a youtube user, sharing his experience working at gamestop.

Also a funny ragequit video, showing a guy trash a gamestop store after they denied him refund.

I saw that secomd video at news recently enough
Last week or so maybe...

 

[Deleted User]

I saw that secomd video at news recently enough
Last week or so maybe...

Really!? Did they arrest the guy?