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posted by mrpg on Thursday April 04 2019, @10:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the game-over? dept.

GameStop Posts Massive Loss as Pre-Owned Game Sales Plummet:

One of the world's biggest video game retailers just announced its worst annual performance in decades, raising renewed questions about the health of the physical video game market as downloadable games continue their ascent. Net sales for GameStop were down 3 percent for the 52-week period ending February 2, a slide that helped flip last year's modest $34.7 million profit to a sizable $673 million operating loss. On top of that, the company expects sales to decline another 5 to 10 percent in the next fiscal year.

GameStop's massive loss is the largest ever reported by the company, and only the third annual loss since it grew out of the corporate remains of FuncoLand in 2000. GameStop last posted a loss in 2012, when it lost nearly $270 million thanks in part to weak holiday sales near the end of that era's console generation.

But more than the amount, the reason behind the new loss could be cause for long-term concern at the retailer's thousands of worldwide storefronts. While hardware sales were roughly flat and new software sales fell about 4 percent year over year, pre-owned software sales cratered nearly 12 percent for the year, continuing a years-long slide.

GameStop has always relied on the high margins of buying low and selling high on used game discs to buoy an otherwise low-margin business. But the rise of downloadable games, which can't be resold, has taken the wind out of those sails to a large extent. "We continue to see declines in pre-owned software, reflecting the decline in sales of new physical games and the increasing demand for digitally offered products," GameStop COO & CFO Robert Lloyd said in an earnings call.

I'm curious how many Soylentils still prefer to buy their games on physical media and who prefers a digital distribution. What's your motivation? Also, what if anything, can Game Stop do so as to continue as a going concern?


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  • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 04 2019, @01:24PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 04 2019, @01:24PM (#824466)

    I used to have a huge porn collection. Hundreds of GB dedicated to the video and photographic aspects of human mating. Now I have pornhub. How times have changed. It's not always convenient but I have a data plan with plenty of data so all I need is connectivity. Progress, I tell you.

    Just waiting for the day when "gamehub" offers something similar.

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 04 2019, @02:15PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 04 2019, @02:15PM (#824487)

    I'm with you, but how long do you even need to view porn?
    For just about everyone, I would say it's no more than 10 minutes tops, and how picky are you about the content?
    Porn is pretty disposable stuff.

    • (Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 04 2019, @02:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 04 2019, @02:26PM (#824491)

      BTW, to clarify my parent post,
      that is why I agree with you that it makes little sense to "own" a porn collection anymore versus searching and viewing it as a stream.
      I fast forward over 3/4 of that shit anyway.
      And always, always put it on mute. When the porn girls talk, it just ruins it.
      In high pitched, Valley Girl accent: "Yeah, yeah, OH YEAH! Oh I love getting fucked by your COCK! Yeah, yeah, OH YEAH! Oh I love getting fucked by your COCK!"
      Guy in deepest bear growl: "ARRHRGRGRHHH! OOOOOOOOOO! ARRARR-OOH-AHH!"

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 06 2019, @10:35PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 06 2019, @10:35PM (#825527)

      A Time for Reflection

      2018 saw Pornhub’s average visit duration grow by 14 seconds to 10 minutes and 13 seconds. While some visitors may be taking more time to watch videos and make use of Pornhub’s community features, time on site can reflect many factors including the speed of broadband and mobile internet bandwidth available in different regions.

      Still topping the list of the most fapptapular countries is the Philippines with an impressively long lasting time of 13 minutes and 50 seconds, up a further 22 seconds from 2017. In fact all our top 20 countries managed to last a bit longer in 2018, with the exception of South Africans who managed to get the job done 5 seconds quicker than they did last year.

      While still coming up a bit short, visitors from Japan increased their average visit time by nearly a minute in 2018. For the second year in a row, Russia comes and goes faster than any other top 20 country at only 7 minutes and 48 seconds.

      https://www.pornhub.com/insights/2018-year-in-review [pornhub.com]

      https://cs.phncdn.com/insights-static/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/1-pornhub-insights-2018-year-in-review-time-spent-per-visit-world.png [phncdn.com]

  • (Score: 2) by Pino P on Thursday April 04 2019, @03:30PM (1 child)

    by Pino P (4721) on Thursday April 04 2019, @03:30PM (#824513) Journal

    I have a data plan with plenty of data so all I need is connectivity.

    How much does that cost you per year? I doubt a phone plan under 50 USD per year or 4.17 USD per month, such as the one I'm on, will come with much cellular data.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 05 2019, @01:56PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 05 2019, @01:56PM (#824886)

      The 1 year super pack is $250 / year is $20 / month gives unlimited calls and sms and 160GB of data (13GB per month).

      I have paid $20 to $40 per month for a mobile phone for about two decades. Aldimobile does have $10 and $15 plans and a $99 / year 365 plan.

      Given that Netflix only needs around 5GB per month I could cut the cord now and just go mobile. If everyone did this then dialup and ADSL and NBN would shrivel up and die. If the phone network could take it.