GameStop Blames PlayStation 5, Project Scarlett for 45.8 Percent Drop In Hardware Sales

[Tsing]

Why, exactly, is GameStop performing so horribly? Declining interest in physical copies? Lackluster stores? Poor customer service? According to management, next-gen hardware is what's to blame. Following a 45.8 percent drop in hardware sales, the retailer has excused itself by claiming that everyone is waiting for the PlayStation 5 and Project Scarlett consoles.

Total revenue fell by 25.7 percent to $1.4 billion. In terms of specific results, new hardware sales dropped by 45.8 percent, a significant downturn that GameStop management said was due in part to the anticipation for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett in Holiday 2020. Given the consoles are still about a year away from release, GameStop said it expects hardware sales to continue to slide in future quarters.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

the retailer has excused itself by claiming that everyone is waiting for the PlayStation 5 and Project Scarlett consoles.

A shame that can't hold water against the reports of their hardships since 2017.

PS4 Pro came out in Sept. 2016, the switch in March 2017, and the Xbox One X in Nov. 2017.

Sounds like someone trying to pass the buck before the ship totally sinks and they start looking for a new job. They couldn't regain revenue with those three console releases then waiting another 3+ years for the next gen definitely wasn't going to make difference.

 

[Brian_B]

That ship has been sinking for a long, long while now. They need to just pull the plug.

 

[Chimpee]

A shame that can't hold water against the reports of their hardships since 2017.

PS4 Pro came out in Sept. 2016, the switch in March 2017, and the Xbox One X in Nov. 2017.

Sounds like someone trying to pass the buck before the ship totally sinks and they start looking for a new job. They couldn't regain revenue with those three console releases then waiting another 3+ years for the next gen definitely wasn't going to make difference.

Especially more and more folks are buying digital. It is a shame they let Impulse rot after acquiring it from Stardock, could have done something with it if Gamestop actually put some effort into it.

 

[Uvilla]

Well I got a ps4 from them online. Actually great service.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Well I got a ps4 from them online. Actually great service.

Sadly enough that's the point. In the physical world they haven't evolved with the times. Online/digital could've been their new source of revenue but instead it's barely tapped and some genius thought hiring a firm to do a face lift for the stores was somehow going to help.

 

[Zarathustra]

I thought it had to do with a combination of digital game distribution putting an end to their used game ripoff scheme, and everyone buying hardware on Amazon.

Most they are going to sell these days are controllers when some kid breaks theirs and doesn't want to wait for shipping....

 

[Dan_D]

No one wants to buy a PS4 or XBOX One X when their replacements are due out soon.

 

[David_Schroth]

It's clearly bad karma from shutting down thinkgeek.com.

 

[Denpepe]

Digital sales, new hardware on the horizon and not getting on with the times all likely contribute.

Here in Belgium a lot of companies struggle against foreign webshops like Amazon or bol, there was some articles in the press just a couple days ago urging people to buy localy, they forget though that a lot of the local shops are gone and you realy have no choice.

Also the law here makes it hard to compete with webshops that advertise with order b4 midnight, delivered the next day as local shops are not allowed to do that.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

I thought it had to do with a combination of digital game distribution putting an end to their used game ripoff scheme, and everyone buying hardware on Amazon.

Most they are going to sell these days are controllers when some kid breaks theirs and doesn't want to wait for shipping....

That's kind of my point but I'm also calling b.s. on whatever management is trying to blame poor sales on people holding out for the next ps5/scarlett/whatever.

Three years ago reports were coming out they were closing stores. I posted about it in the beginning of this thread. Three new consoles within 9 months of each other and year after year they still couldn't recoup. That like if the PS5 came out tomorrow, poor sales and closures continue, and then another three years down the road they blame poor sales on someone waiting for the PS6.