GameStop Expresses Frustration Over Holiday Sales, Notes ‘Weak’ Sales In ‘Infinite Warfare’ & ‘Titanfall 2’
Arianne GiftUS retailer GameStop Corp. stated in a press release how holiday sales in the video game segment were "disappointing." According to the company, there was a huge decline compared to 2015's holiday period, noting that poor sales in "Titanfall 2" and "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" significantly affected the month of November.
In GameStop's press release, disappointing sales were pointed to "industry weakness, promotional pricing pressure and lower in-store traffic." During the holiday period, total global sales amounted to $2.50 billion, which, according to the company, is a 16.4 percent decline compared to the previous year. Overall, total comparable store sales decreased by 18.7 percent.
What's interesting is that GameStop specifically mentioned "Titanfall 2" and "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare," which it says has greatly affected November sales. Along with the mentioned games, the retailer also noted the negative impact of console promotions on both Black Friday and Thanksgiving.
"We are disappointed with our overall results, but looking broadly, we did see continued growth in our non-physical gaming businesses and we expect this category to approach 40% of our earnings in fiscal 2016," said GameStop CEO Paul Raines. However, Raines did end the statement in a positive note, saying that 2017 will a year full of transformation plans. Additionally, GameStop's PowerUp Rewards loyalty program grew 10 percent over the last twelve months surpassing 51 million members worldwide.
According to PlayStation Lifestyle, "Infinite Warfare" is still one of the top selling games of 2016, but its sales were significantly lower compared to its predecessor, "Black Ops III." The game's disappointing numbers were partly due to the success of "Battlefield 1" and "Titanfall 2," where the releases were scheduled so close to each other.
"Titanfall 2" and "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" weren't the only games that saw unsatisfactory sales in 2016. In fact, both "Dishonored 2" and "Watch Dogs 2" also had poor sales during the holiday period.
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