Like-for-like declines at GameStop

Though questions regarding gaming’s resilience to the recession are being asked with increasing frequency, GameStop has posted year-on-year gains for the quarter ending May 2nd – though the all important like-for-like numbers showed a slight decline.

Net earnings for the period hit $70.4m, a year-on-year increase of 13.4 per cent. Sales were also up, climbing 9.2 per cent to $1.98bn. However, slow sales in Europe were blamed for a like-for-like annual decline of 1.5 per cent.

Name-dropped for their successes were Capcom’s triple-A duo of Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV, as well as the newly redesigned Nintendo DSi – though there were no individual successes to rival last year’s Grand theft Auto IV.

As a result, sales of new games fell 2.8 per cent in the period, though it also emerged that sales of pre-owned titles grew by 31.9 per cent – lending weight to the belief that value is becoming increasingly important to cash-strapped customers.

We continue to profitably manage our business through the global recession by effectively managing our buy-sell-trade model and maintaining tight expense control,” GameStop CEO Daniel DeMatteo stated.

I am also pleased that we were able to capitalise on the downward pressure of rents, and open 114 new stores. As in the past, we continue to improve operating margins, build brand and value awareness with consumers, and gain market share as we expand the videogame market worldwide.”