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[sonycowboy]

GameStop Dec. Sales Inch Up, Shares Fall
Thursday January 6, 5:14 pm ET
GameStop December Same-Store Sales Rise Less Than 1 Percent, Shares Fall

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) -- GameStop Corp. said Thursday that same-store sales increased just 0.9 percent as hardware shortages reduced holiday sales in the nine weeks ended Jan. 1, leading the video game retailer to reduce its fourth-quarter profit outlook.


The video game and entertainment software retailer's shares dropped $1.35, or 6.4 percent, to $19.80 in the extended session after closing earlier down 13 cents at $21.15 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Total sales, which include stores that opened or closed in the past year, increased 13.6 percent to $577.7 million from $508.6 million.

Chairman and Chief Executive R. Richard Fontaine said shortages of Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox and Nintendo Co.'s Dual Screen resulted in lower hardware sales that decreased sales of software.

"In all of my years in the video game business, I have never seen shortages of this duration or magnitude," Fontaine said in a statement. "There is no question that there was demand for the product, but not hardware product to satisfy demand." He said the company's December month-end inventory was $33 million lower than the previous year, despite having added more than 300 stores.

Because of these shortages, GameStop said it now expects same-store sales to range from flat to 1 percent higher for the fourth quarter, down from an earlier forecast of 6 percent to 9 percent growth. The retailer reduced its profit outlook to between 68 cents and 70 cents from a previous estimate of 81 cents to 84 cents. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call are looking for fourth-quarter profit of 84 cents per share.

For the year, GameStop predicted earnings of $1.15 to $1.17 per share, excluding one-time charges of 6 cents per share, well below current analyst estimates of $1.31 per share.

Video game software sales increased 15 percent during the holiday period, driven by sales of Microsoft's "Halo 2," Take Two Interactive Software Inc.'s "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," Electronic Arts Inc.'s "Need for Speed: Underground 2," Konami Corp.'s "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater" and "WWE Smackdown vs. Raw" from THQ Inc.

The company said same-store sales increased 2 percent for the 48 weeks ended Jan. 1, while total sales rose 17.1 percent to $1.71 billion from $1.46 billion.

 

[AtomicShroom]

Remember back in the 80's when Nintendo used to deliberately engineer shortages as a way to generate hype for their products?

Think this is what we're seeing again?

 

[AniHawk]

Yeah. It's a real pain in the ass. Especially when they want you to give numbers to other stores or call for them "just to make sure." It's not like we hold systems anyway, and we usually get only 2-8 a week.

 

[CaptainABAB]

Remember back in the 80's when Nintendo used to deliberately engineer shortages as a way to generate hype for their products?

Think this is what we're seeing again?

No - you want the shortage for a few weeks before Thanksgiving, to get stories out that the product is in short supply. BUT, you want plenty of hardware around during Thanksgiving - Xmas eve, when parents are in TRU and Target at 11pm looking for ANYTHING to get.

In short, you want RUMORS of shortages NOT actual shortages.

 

[Legal Step]

Dear consumers,
please decrease your frothing demand for consoles.
Thank you,
Gamespot

 

[Uno Ill Nino]

Yeah I bought the last DS that my gamestop had. We have two gamestops within a half-mile of eachother and a EBGames just down the hall as well. All of them are now out of the DS. I already have a PS2 and Xbox so I'm not sure if they have em or not. Anybody checked out ebay for values lately?

*edit*

Can't be THAT hard to find. They're going for less than full retail on ebay.

 

[mumu]

Buy more Gamecubes.

 

[dskillzhtown]

This is not even intended to be a jab, but there were plenty of GCs to go around. I was amazed that parents wouldn't just pick up a GC for their kids instead of a PS2 or X-Box.

 

[bitwise]

yeah, people just.. arent interested in cube for whatever reason.

 

[Legal Step]

yeah, people just.. arent interested in cube for whatever reason.

A guy at my work got one and I picked on him until he cried.

 

[koam]

Ps2 = shortage
Xbox = shortage
Gamecube = enough supply
RE4 = next week

Jan NPD = interesting.

 

[Triumph]

Ps2 = shortage
Xbox = shortage
Gamecube = enough supply
RE4 = next week

Jan NPD = interesting.

Keep trying.

And as far as GameStop goes... awww. Couldn't happen to more deserving people.

 

[Wario64]

I don't think many people will buy Cubes for RE4. There's lots of games out there right now to tide them over till the end of the year when the PS2 version comes out

 

[Link316]

Ps2 = shortage
Xbox = shortage
Gamecube = enough supply
RE4 = next week

Jan NPD = pent up demand for PS2 & Xbox

fixed

 

[Odysseus]

Originally Posted by koam:
Ps2 = shortage
Xbox = shortage
Gamecube = enough supply
RE4 = next week

Jan NPD = pent up demand for PS2 & Xbox

......................................

fixed

Yeah, but a whole lot of those sales are simply lost. The consumer buying for him or herself may get a console, but those that were shopping for others are undoubtedly no longer in the market.

Secondly, I don't know if the supply problem will be fixed in time. There weren't any Xbox or PS2 consoles in my local Best Buy earlier this week, for example.

 

[koam]

I didn't say anything about the Gamecube outselling. It will just be closer since i expect the cube to do a bit better than normal in january and xbox and ps2 a bit lower.

 

[AniHawk]

I didn't say anything about the Gamecube outselling. It will just be closer since i expect the cube to do a bit better than normal in january and xbox and ps2 a bit lower.

This may be true. We sold all our bundles and a couple normal GCs as well as some used ones recently. We usually had a large stack of GCs, but now they can fit on shelves.

Last shipments, we got 2 Xboxes, which sold out in 10 minutes, and 8 PSTwos, which sold out in 30-60 minutes.

The last DS shipment we received was on Christmas Eve. There were no survivors.

 

[NLB2]

If there is such a demand, why don't they raise prices?
Do these companies have to sell at msrp or something?

 

[DJPS2]

If there is such a demand, why don't they raise prices?
Do these companies have to sell at msrp or something?

Some retailers do, although I've only seen this occur in local independently-owned stores.

 

[Odysseus]

Also, retailers wouldn't want to become known for price gouging. There are other ways to do it, however, like only selling hardware in a bundle like many retailers do at launches.

 

[Insertia]

Today I went EVERYWHERE looking for a slimline PS2, but they were completely sold out.

Also, I found it funny that every store I went to had Gamecubes still on shelves.

 

[TheTurtleTitan]

I can picture a lot of kids who did not get the systems they wanted on Xmas Day. =(

 

[Deg]

People simply dont want GC that much

Good console IMO but Nintendo need to sort out the image and add more to certain weak genres.

 

[Kon Tiki]

Keep trying.

?

I think the NPD would be interesting to see if people would buy a Gamecube if it were the only thing available. It would also be interesting to see what happens in UK, where a similar situation exists. The only difference being Nintendo is less popular in UK.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

yeah, people just.. arent interested in cube for whatever reason.

You really don't know the reason?

 

[GDGF]

You really don't know the reason?

Your words sting me, but I fucking love your avatar!

 

[Lyte Edge]

yeah, people just.. arent interested in cube for whatever reason.

Look at the top-selling games that Gamestop named in that article. Halo 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Need For Speed Underground 2, and WWE Smackdown! Vs. RAW. Only one of those games was released for the Game Cube, and it was a multiplatform release.

I know there was Metroid Prime 2, but I think the problem Nintendo had this past holiday season was the lack of a real system-selling game available. It's too bad that Resident Evil 4 didn't make it out in time; that probably would have helped push GC sales more.

BTW, has anyone noticed that every EA commerical shown on TV now ends with a "Game Cube" logo and voice, and sometimes shows only the GC and GBA versions of the game? What's the deal with this...and is it helping Nintendo's sales at all?

 

[Triumph]

?

I think the NPD would be interesting to see if people would buy a Gamecube if it were the only thing available.

They won't. Joe Consumer has consistenly voted with his wallet, and he has not been voting for Nintendo. That's not going to change because it's the only thing on the shelf and a game where you can shoot zombies is coming out for the GC only this month.

 

[Soul4ger]

If there is such a demand, why don't they raise prices?
Do these companies have to sell at msrp or something?

In truth, prices were raised on pre-owned systems over the holiday. At least at EB. We still rarely had any in stock. Go figure.

 

[Celicar]

The shortage worked out great for me. I made over $800 selling Ds's on ebay. Thanks Nintendo! :lol

 

[Syckx]

Keep trying.

And as far as GameStop goes... awww. Couldn't happen to more deserving people.

You know, that's a really fucked up thing to say considering it isn't the corperate heads that are being hurt. Shit rools down hill. We have had our hours cut drastically, and the managers have been made to deal with shifts that are usually handled by 3 people alone. Not only that, but other incidents that I would rather not disclose on such a popular forum have occured as well. The fact is, Gamestop will get their money back at the expense of its employees. I don't like it, but until I graduate from college there is little I can do but look forward to more bad news tomorrow as I am an assistant manager. Consider who it is that is being affected by this when you make such myopic generalizations.

 

[Soul4ger]

Keep trying.

And as far as GameStop goes... awww. Couldn't happen to more deserving people.

You know, that's a really fucked up thing to say considering it isn't the corperate heads that are being hurt. Shit rools down hill. We have had our hours cut drastically, and the managers have been made to deal with shifts that are usually handled by 3 people alone. Not only that, but other incidents that I would rather not disclose on such a popular forum have occured as well. The fact is, Gamestop will get their money back at the expense of its employees. I don't like it, but until I graduate from college there is little I can do but look forward to more bad news tomorrow as I am an assistant manager. Consider who it is that is being affected by this when you make such myopic generalizations.

Seriously. That's bullshit. If anything, you should be agreeing with him. They have the money to give your store more hours, they have plenty of it. But they HURT YOU because something completely unrelated to you is affecting them in some small way. Just because they aren't selling as much, they must not be making ANYTHING at all. GameStop and EB are two of the single most greedy companies I've ever had the displeasure of working for. And I have worked for both of them. Even should I lose my job, I wouldn't mind seeing the bloody bastards lose everything. They certainly deserve it.

 

[Syckx]

Yes, they do have the money, and I have no love for the company, but it isn't hurting them -- it is hurting us and the fact that people applaud this are losing sight of what happens when this occurs. I do agree that Gamestop needs to be kicked in the ass, but the kick gets passed to us despite my store's sales increasing over 50% from last year!

 

[Triumph]

Keep trying.

And as far as GameStop goes... awww. Couldn't happen to more deserving people.

You know, that's a really fucked up thing to say considering it isn't the corperate heads that are being hurt. Shit rools down hill. We have had our hours cut drastically, and the managers have been made to deal with shifts that are usually handled by 3 people alone. Not only that, but other incidents that I would rather not disclose on such a popular forum have occured as well. The fact is, Gamestop will get their money back at the expense of its employees. I don't like it, but until I graduate from college there is little I can do but look forward to more bad news tomorrow as I am an assistant manager. Consider who it is that is being affected by this when you make such myopic generalizations.

Pfft. Maybe you should step back and consider- just for a moment- the notion that I have a particular beef with the company. That maybe anything bad that happens to them doesn't bother me. And then ask yourself, who would have that kind of beef?

And soul4ger is right. No increase will ever be enough, no new record of pre-orders secured or GI subscriptions will be enough for these bastards. It's always about more, more, more. What, you set a company record last week, but this week you dragged the district average down? Well tough shit, buddy. You're on the shitlist.

Also, those of you(I'm assuming Ani, syckz and others) that work for GS should watch what you say on the forums. And that's all I'm saying about that, other than to ask the mods to lock outside visitors again(although I'm thinking someone has an account...).

 

[boredJonathan]

Also, those of you(I'm assuming Ani, syckz and others) that work for GS should watch what you say on the forums. And that's all I'm saying about that, other than to ask the mods to lock outside visitors again(although I'm thinking someone has an account...).

Oooo! Intrigue! Now my GAF diet is complete!

While the mental image of someone form GameStop management, (meaning DMs and above) browsing these forums amuses me to no end, I get that amusement from the idea wondering what the hell they would be doing on a Gaming forum?

Spying on their workers? (The few that they could idetify and then go to the trouble of tracking down their superiors?) Or just trying to get an edge on what the next big thing is? (Because the coporate end really has a good feel on that alread... True Crime for instance.)

While I don't doubt that there might be a few people browsing on here who work for GameStop, I can not imagine why kind of work related reprocussions could come from posting here.

 

[Error Macro]

Some retailers do, although I've only seen this occur in local independently-owned stores.

Jeez, I'm having flashbacks of $400 N64's, and $120 N64 games right before Christmas 1996. That was freaking brutal.

 

[AniHawk]

Also, those of you(I'm assuming Ani, syckz and others) that work for GS should watch what you say on the forums. And that's all I'm saying about that, other than to ask the mods to lock outside visitors again(although I'm thinking someone has an account...).

Thanks for the advice, but they already let me go. My last day is Saturday.

Kinda creepy though.