Commenting on the Company's results, Jeffrey Griffiths, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Robust consumer demand benefited all areas of our business during the third quarter. In the software category, many titles in the strong new release lineup exceeded our original performance expectations. In addition, the early release of Sony's new PlayStation 2 model contributed to better than anticipated hardware sales. We are also very pleased that the results in both our international and pre-played businesses, two of our key growth initiatives, remained very strong during the third quarter."
Mr. Griffiths concluded, "While much is dependent on how actual holiday shopping trends unfold, we expect a continuation of the positive momentum we experienced in the third quarter. We are encouraged by the strong lineup of new releases, led by Microsoft's Halo 2. Based upon the current level of pre- orders, we anticipate this title, along with additional sales of our top third quarter releases, will continue to drive healthy consumer purchasing. Our hardware offering for the holiday season is also strong, including the Nintendo DS launch in late November."
