GameStop posts $2.8 billion holiday season

Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft, Gears of War, and Wii Fit top store's sales chart as retailer closes out 2008 with record-breaking stretch of game sales.

Times may be tough in the current economy, but at least one retail chain experienced happy holidays. GameStop updated investors today with record-breaking sales figures for the holiday shopping season.

From November 2, 2008 through January 3, 2009, the specialty retailer brought in more than $2.8 billion in revenue. That's more than 22 percent higher than the roughly $2.3 billion it brought in during the same period the year before, with same-store sales averaging a 10 percent increase.

The retailer attributed the growth first to sales of new games, and revealed its top five sellers for the holiday period. Activision scored twice with Call of Duty: World at War and Guitar Hero World Tour among the best sellers, alongside Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Microsoft's Gears of War 2, and Nintendo's Wii Fit.

Hardware sales were also up more than 23 percent for GameStop, with the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 leading the way. Such success wasn't unique to one territory, either. GameStop operates stores in 17 countries around the world, and the company said that sales were up in every region.

It wasn't all good news, given that GameStop's booming sales won't fully translate to its bottom line. The retailer said that much of the increased revenue came from products with slim profit margins, such as hardware or games discounted for sales promotions.

The news spurred GameStop's stock skyward, and shares were trading up $3.01 (more than 13 percent) to $25.62 as of press time. The retailer's full-year sales data is expected to be released in mid-March.

83 Comments

  • Cabal23

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 7:59 am PT

    Become a stockholder. There is your raise.

  • annegab

    Posted Jan 14, 2009 10:09 am PT

    You'd think with all that money we'd get a raise...

  • icepop4who

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 4:46 pm PT

    "Gah, I hate Gamestop... You pay 50 dollars for a game, when your finished, you take it there to trade it in, 15 bucks. WTF?" -TheRsim

    Yeah. you try doing that at other game retailers. They say "too bad, you opened it." Be happy with your 15 bucks and sob about your poor taste.

    I like Gamestop very much because they have the largest selection of games especially those that did not come out in the last 6 months. They also have the best prices. $7.99 for DiRT is a great deal, so was $69 Guitar Hero Aerosmith for PC (everywhere else $79+).

  • LOXO7

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 2:54 pm PT

    Ah crap. Thats 22% more commercials we are going to see from this place.

  • Cabal23

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 11:25 am PT

    "You know, with all the money Game$top rakes in, what have they ever done to give back to their customers? I will stand corrected if I can be given examples, but I can't think of one thing they have ever done for gamers on their own dime."

    Wow too much fun reading these posts. Last time I checked we live in a capitalist paradise, not a socialist regime.

  • Cabal23

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 11:24 am PT

    "Gamestop sucks. I just bought resistance 2, (sixty dollars) and I hate it, but if try to trade it in for cash, they'll probably only give me fifteen bucks for it."

    You are either a tool or a troll. Either way you made yourself sound stupid.

  • Cabal23

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 11:16 am PT

    Not being a pro-GS person, but I worked there as a manager for five years, so I know how the biz works. It work's no differently than any used CD store, or pawn shop for that matter. No one is stealing your money. They are making you an offer based on inventory and your desire for cashola or another game. Their return policy is there to protect you from buying peoples opened slop because they weren't informed. I would not pay new for something someone has played. Once opened a game is used. Therefore GS cannot resell it new. Not to mention it can be accounting fraud if they were to do that company wide. My beef is they don't have games on release day usually. The solution to all of this is simple. Don't buy GS and buy from a big box retailer like Best Buy(always has what I want when I want it). Also sell your games on Ebay for more money. If GS ever folds it will only be due to games being released online, over physical copies, which with where Netflix and instant access to movies just went with the 360, it isn't too far off. That will be the final stone in GS's coffin. Nothing less or more.

  • Sweendrix

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 9:10 am PT

    Do the companies that make games see any windfall profits for the used games that gamestop sells? Anyone who thinks that investing in Gamestop is a good idea is just stupid. Gamestop will not survive for two simple reasons.

    1. Most of it's profit comes from the selling of used games.
    2. Game makers will find innovative ways to keep gamestop from stealling their profits and will work to take them out of the picture. It has already started with games like gears of war, which have offered bonus content to gamers who purchased the retail game which will be unavailable to gamers who purchase the used games. I sometimes wonder if the analyst who follow this industry know anything at all about investing in it. If they did, they would realize that "by the numbers investing" is a strategy of incompetence.

  • CharlieFubar

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 8:43 am PT

    and at all the gamestop owners/ managers, i just gotta say... Stop being a tool. If people blogged how itty my store was all over the internet, i would probably laugh and join in...

  • CharlieFubar

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 8:27 am PT

    $2.8 billion? how many used games u think that is...

  • mariokart64fan

    Posted Jan 12, 2009 6:19 pm PT

    i do buy used but not for recently released games, games that are 20 or under i buy used, if they cost 30-50- i buy new, also i buy used xbox ps2 gc and until they did way with them , n64 games

  • mariokart64fan

    Posted Jan 12, 2009 6:18 pm PT

    i know right the guy offered me 25 dollars for a ps2 whilst they sell them at the time for 149,99 , , -199,99 for slim lol, i wouldnt bet he offers some one 10 dollars for a game and pockets the rest lol,

  • pukmok

    Posted Jan 12, 2009 4:14 pm PT

    Stop buying used games from gamestop people! Use ebay. All recently released games that are used will sell on there for ~$45. Other than that I'm okay with gamestop. Except for the time the manager offered his help to me FOUR TIMES!!!!

  • TheRsim

    Posted Jan 12, 2009 12:42 pm PT

    Gah, I hate Gamestop... You pay 50 dollars for a game, when your finished, you take it there to trade it in, 15 bucks. WTF? I try my very best not to buy from them. They're customer service and return polices suck hard. For those saying "Oh, but you had your fun with the game, it shouldn't be worth that much". That's not the point. You paid that 50 for the game, if kept in great condition, you should be able to get just a bit less then what you paid for. I understand they have to make money, but I know we're all thinking it, Gamestop is a money grubbing business.

  • eyet00th

    Posted Jan 11, 2009 9:11 pm PT

    Got offered a whopping $9 for Fallout 3 from Gamestop. Sold it on Ebay for $27.

  • Gamerzone23

    Posted Jan 11, 2009 3:41 pm PT

    Good for them
    My Xbox 360 put a badd ring on my copy of Gta Iv, I traded it in and got $13 for it. I think thaat's pretty good for a game that doesn't work. lol

  • kopedawg

    Posted Jan 11, 2009 4:27 am PT

    I hate seeing the same thing over and over...'Trade in values suck'. Really? You pay your $60 and finish the game. You're never going to play it again. Trade it in and get what you can. I guess if you can sell it to a friend for more, then do that. But if you played through the game, you got the $60 value that the publisher intended. Why not take the $25-$30 you can get (assuming you finish it just after the release and trade it in then, not hang on to it for 6 months). And for those of you who complain about getting half of what you paid for a new game you didn't like, two things for you. If you'd bought the game at ANY other retailer, and had opened it, they would have given you a whole lot of NOTHING. And second, if you're reading this post, you're on Gamespot, and you have access to a CRAPLOAD of reviews. Why not read some of them before you go wasting your money on crap. Then you won't need to worry about trading in the crap games you buy.

  • stalepretzels

    Posted Jan 10, 2009 4:59 pm PT

    Gamestop sucks. I just bought resistance 2, (sixty dollars) and I hate it, but if try to trade it in for cash, they'll probably only give me fifteen bucks for it.

  • Media_Mind

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 9:03 pm PT

    good for them, but I get my games from my local Target, Walmart or Bestbuy!

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 4:54 pm PT

    I like gamestop, don't always get games there but still like going in them and buying a game now and then.

  • trw534

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 3:56 pm PT

    i mainly buy my games at best buy and walmart

  • pixiedust35147

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 12:53 pm PT

    and yes im sad they bought out funco and eb... ahhh the good old days. But its business and if i were in their shoes id have done the same. Lets call it pullin' an EA

  • pixiedust35147

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 12:46 pm PT

    Also, they definetly underpay everyone. All my associates are part timers who have other jobs and i work around their schedule, its the only way to get quality people because it just doesnt pay the bills, but its a great part time gig. You get a meh discount but you do get to check out any 1 game for 4 days at a time. I am VERY selective in my hires and we are all tight knit, going out to dinner together about twice a month. Most of my people started out as regular customers. Every one of us is a huge gamer, exceptionally knowledgeable and i wouldnt have it any other way. But anywayz... If you havent found youre goto spot for games, it doesnt have to be gamestop... just dont rule them out. Try a few locations (god knows theyre everywhere) and if you cant find a good one... I understand. Just come to my store!

  • pixiedust35147

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 12:32 pm PT

    StSk8ter29
    That sounds terribly unprofessional, Im sorry you had to deal with that. I think like any other company, the quality of the manager reflects directly to the store. I agree with you, with how much money theyre making they could definetly overhaul the POS... but im just glad its windows based compared to my last jobs DOS crap. We also have mice now :-) I think a major problem is when they hire douchebag non gamers as managers, who in turn hire douchebag associates. Im sure most of the people reading this are passionate gamers who, if given the opp to run a gamestop, could make it pretty kick ass.

  • funnysplay

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 9:50 am PT

    I got three of those games. One of them twice.

  • jshaas

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 9:35 am PT

    The people a my local store are mostly retarded! There's one girl that works there that seems to know what she's talking about most of the time. Although she didn't know what a wavebird was when I traded in my Gamecube. As for the rest of them... they suck! Customer service is a joke, and they don't know how to be unbiased when people ask about which games are good.

  • bluedevil64

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 9:17 am PT

    You know, with all the money Game$top rakes in, what have they ever done to give back to their customers? I will stand corrected if I can be given examples, but I can't think of one thing they have ever done for gamers on their own dime.

  • StSk8ter29

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 7:10 am PT

    Pixiedust35147. Yeaaah, see, I worked at a gamestop where our boss not only talked about how hot the girls working there were to our fellow employees but also he continually scheduled me on days that i couldn't work (when that was part of my conditions going into the job) because i was working at my other job, Ace Hardware. I refused to participate in the banter about the girls and then the undertone for the rest of my time working there was that i was a homosexual. The codes that we have to memorize are just very inconveniant, I even said i knew there were worse computer programs out there, but there's a lot of room for improvement to make the process of searching for a game more fluid on rough days like black friday.

  • MajorBrian

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 6:35 am PT

    Good for them!

  • sieg6529

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 6:17 am PT

    Maybe I should own more than 15 shares...

  • MaddenBowler10

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 2:19 am PT

    gamecrazy is better

  • MalachiLiu

    Posted Jan 9, 2009 1:55 am PT

    Can I get like .01% of that?

  • bonthan

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 11:58 pm PT

    I hate gamestop, buying my 24 ps2 games for 19 bucks and my resistance is worth only 12 when they sold it for 54.99 as used. F**k gamestop.

  • XeonForce

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 11:42 pm PT

    Does no one have common sense anymore? I can understand being upset if your mirror perfect copy of a one month old game only brings in $25, but 90% of the time that isn't the case, and changing the pricing system of a 5000 unit used games stock for a 10%-5% demographic isn't practical.

    GameStop isn't going anywhere, and not shopping or even browsing there is retarded as hell, as you're only denying yourself the conveniences and privileges of a small retail store...

    I hate my pay, I hate some of my employee's, and I hate the amount of multitasking management is forced to do; but walking in as a customer is a great experience. Please, just use some common sense, it's a business for God's sake...

  • Shantmaster_K

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 11:14 pm PT

    i never go there

  • King_Chozo

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 9:44 pm PT

    @pixiedust35147:
    I see your point, though the main reason I started hating gamestop is because they bought out all of their competing stores. I hate on gamestop, but I still shop there, and so does everyone else that hates on them otherwise they wouldn't have anything to hate on :-p I'm not a hippocrit, I just take advantage of good deals when they are presented to me. Though, I have been to a few stores where I have gotten a great experience from, that kind of thing is way too and far between for me to like them. I've known many people who have worked for gamestop and had awful experiences, so I guess you have to find a good location when it comes to working there too. I'd personally love to work there because of my extensive gaming knowledge and I love helping people when it comes to gaming but with a $7.21 starting wage (minimum wage) from the $9.55 I make now, along with the crap hours and how hard it is to get moved up in the company (based off friend's experiences) I say no thank you.

  • pixiedust35147

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 9:30 pm PT

    1) My ASM makes $14 an hour and has zero college education, i think thats pretty awesome.
    2) We get millions of game/system polos to wear.
    3) I get a fully paid trip to vegas for a week at mandalay bay every year for a gaming conference.
    4) I get hella FREE games.. autographed fable 2 from peter himself, gears 2, animal crossing, wii music, little big planet, Far cry 2, Legendary, Rock band 2, Wario Land, Socom... and much much more.
    5) Trade in values suck. Yep. If you dont like them dont trade them. I dont trade mine. Why does that make people hate gamestop?
    6) used games or accessories can be returned within 7 days for a full cash refund even if its just because you dont like it.
    7) I managed a movie galley/hollywood video previously and the cpus at gamestop are a much much better. And my drawers are labeled. P.S. if you cant remember the 7 two digit codes for categories you have issues. This is your job, memorize them.
    Seasonal means Temporary, youre lucky you are still there. That should have been made clear when you were hired.
    9) Add your email to their newsletter next time youre in the store, every week they send out a 25% off coupon for either 360, ps3, ps2, or whatever.
    10) Having to push reserves/subs is f'n weak. I admit it.

    I hated gamestop before i worked for them, i had horrible customer service the couple times i went and never returned. I am a passionate gamer and when i took over a gamestop store i set out to make it the best video game store i could. Our staff is amazing, friendly, and overall awesome. If you hate gamestop, you just havent found a good location.

  • metalmulisha808

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 9:27 pm PT

    why are people buying from this stupid store. there are way better places to buy games then gamestop.

  • ItsEvolution

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 9:07 pm PT

    I buy and sell used games on Amazon. I'll never again allow myself to get suckered into getting $18 for selling a game I just bought for $60 days earlier.

  • Inconnux

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 9:06 pm PT

    I just download my PC games from steam and get my console games at Zellers as they tend to be cheaper.

  • darris5000

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 8:38 pm PT

    i perfer to go to pawn shops like king of trade

  • bannermanner

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 8:06 pm PT

    I work at a GameStop, and the way they run their business, I don't think they are very relevant to the gaming industry - and the only ways in which they are...are detrimental to it. If they put more emphasis on new product, I'd feel better about working there.

  • ItsEvolution

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 7:59 pm PT

    "and managers still work for around 38k a year... way to thank the workers that made all the executives their massive dollars. i know that makes me want to shop there."

    How much should a manager of a small store in a mall make? Nothing wrong with 38k a year.

  • RossTheBoss58

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 7:48 pm PT

    i work at gamestop, and it's not all bad.... we get free t-shirts! yay!

    to StSk8ter29
    i completely agree with your first two problems, the dress code is retarded and the computers are from the stone age.

  • charlie117

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 7:28 pm PT

    Gamestop can go die.

  • hunter8man

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 6:41 pm PT

    I started looking for alternatives to Gamestop once I finally got fed up with getting $12 back for a $50 game that I had for less than a month. And their used game prices aren't all that great either. Blockbuster has better deals, and I wish a company like Play N Trade would become more prevalent as I find them catering much more to gamers than Gamestop ever did or probably will.


    But congrats for their big revenues. Too bad they still pay their assistant managers like crap and treat their employees like the scum of the earth.

  • gstormerwill05

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 6:36 pm PT

    I feel your pain gatcloudx I am in the same boat . I was brought on as a seasonal got kept my hours went from 40 a week to like 13 if that . The semi discount we get it what mainly keeps me there , thank god my girl has a good job and this is mainly secondary income.

  • GatCloudX

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 6:00 pm PT

    I work there they cut our hours twice in a month period and i hardly get any hours im gonna have to get a second job becuase those filthy greedy pigs at corporate offices are probably enjoying life right now.

  • OorahDevil

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 5:56 pm PT

    And these penny pinchers still pay their employees like crap. When I worked there and was offered and Assistant Manager position I was told the only way I would get full wage is if I was fluent in another language AND had a 4 year degree. WHO THE HELL WOULD WORK AS AN ASM AT GAMESTOP WITH AN EDUCATION LIKE THAT?

  • StSk8ter29

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 5:43 pm PT

    I worked at gamestop for a while but had quite a few issues with them. First, I never really felt like I was a gamer talking to another gamer because they have this dumb dress code where you have to wear a polo and tan pants. I would rather wear something game related like an xbox shirt or something that would make the customer feel less like I was a car salesman and more of a fellow gamer. Second, their computer system is a complete piece of junk. As an employee you have to memorize three digit numbers for every console (different than the accessory numbers) and when you finally get to the right screen you have to type *whatever* to search for something. Not to mention the store i worked at didn't even have a mouse so i had to use shift-tab to get anywhere. It would have been so much easier just to have tabs for every console that you could click and search under with subcategories for new games, used games, and accessories (the main screen would have three options, buy, sell, and trade; with other options for advanced stuff in the bottom corner). It's like the people that designed the program never even used it, i know it's not that bad compared to some other computer programs out there but that doesn't excuse the fact it's a hassle to use. How can you expect customer satisfaction to be high if the employees have a hard time using the computers? Third, the drawers behind the counter weren't even marked with the exception of the "WoW" drawer that was filled with time cards. Oftentimes i found myself opening the wrong drawer searching for the right system which was never really too far away from where i guessed it would be but if it were marked i wouldn't have had that problem (or anyone else for that matter). These things are very minor but all three should really be changed to make the exchange of the games a lot more efficient. Then they could make more money next year.

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