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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: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday April 04 2019, @03:40PM (2 children)

    by urza9814 (3954) on Thursday April 04 2019, @03:40PM (#824527) Journal

    That's more or less my strategy too...mostly waiting for stuff I once loved to go on sale on GOG for under $5 then I buy. Don't discount indie games though, I've gotten a few good ones on Steam with reasonable prices and little to no DRM. Favorite is Factorio, which I can download for offline play from the dev's own website at any time. I've got an old version sitting around on my drive; when they finally reach 1.0 I might get an updated copy just in case. Great game, though dangerously addictive, I've got many thousands of hours of play over the past two or three years and it was only $20 with no DLC. Cities Skylines is another good one, not sure if that's "indie" or just not the big three, but it's good if you're a fan of the old Sim City franchise before EA ruined that. I think that was $20 too, although it does have a stupid amount of overpriced DLC. Lots of nice and free mods too though.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Thursday April 04 2019, @04:13PM (1 child)

    by Thexalon (636) on Thursday April 04 2019, @04:13PM (#824553)

    Games are like cars - the longer they exist, the cheaper they get. Games are unlike cars - they usually work at least as well 20 years later as they did when they were new (emulators may be involved).

    As for indie games: Sure, some of them are good. If they're good, they'll still be around 5-10 years later.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 2) by Pino P on Friday April 05 2019, @02:41PM

      by Pino P (4721) on Friday April 05 2019, @02:41PM (#824924) Journal

      Games are like cars - the longer they exist, the cheaper they get.

      Not necessarily. Some games, such as Umihara Kawase for Super Famicom, still sell used for roughly the same price for which they sold new. But I concede that classic cars also exist.

      Games are unlike cars - they usually work at least as well 20 years later as they did when they were new (emulators may be involved).

      One key difference between a console emulator and a server emulator for an Internet-dependent game is that the former is legal (Sony v. Connectix), whereas the latter is not (the bnetd case).