Recently, the GameStop chain of stores revealed its financial report for the last quarter of the fiscal year and for the whole of 2016, where the numbers were not so encouraging, however, the chain managed to expand its business to items related to video games and technology, as in the case of collectibles and miscellaneous products. But the important thing was that at the conference held with shareholders, the chain of stores revealed information about Project Scorpio, PlayStation VR and an encouraging panorama on Nintendo Switch.
During the last quarter of the fiscal year, GameStop saw a decline in its overall global sales, which fell by 13.6% because of poor sales performance in the holiday season caused by low sales of some AAA titles and aggressive competition from other chain stores, which were winners on Black Friday and Christmas.
In terms of hardware and games, sales of the first recorded a drop of 29.1%, while the sale of games was also impacted as it fell by 19.3%. At the same time, GameStop reported that in terms of total sales for the year 2016 there was a drop of 8.1% compared to 2015. However, the store remains positive as sales of products related to technology and video games represented an increase Of 35.9% of its operating profits.
So far the picture may seem a bit negative, but the company held a conference with shareholders that was motivated by the performance of Switch, PlayStation VR and what comes next as the Project Scorpio.
As for Switch, GameStop reported that the demand for the new Nintendo console is impressive and that when resuscitating with new units in the branches, these are exhausted quickly. In addition, the purchase of Switch and copies of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, made it possible to consider a ratio of 1:1, while the analyzes show that the intention to purchase the new Nintendo console is to the levels of the PS4.
Now, at that same conference, GameStop revealed that they are motivated with Project Scorpio and have great expectations about the new Microsoft system. At first, the store believes that the good performance of PlayStation VR has put some pressure on Project Scorpio, especially in the virtual reality section; Along with this, the store sees Project Scorpio as a very powerful system in which great games will be made. Aside from these statements, GameStop CEO, Tony Bartel, stated that with a depleted PlayStation VR players will not want to miss the latest in video game technology, so they will wipe out Project Scorpio.
Finally, GameStop reported that the PlayStation VR units with which its branches are stocked sold out in a week, a situation motivated by the great virtual reality experience provided by Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
What do you think about this current and future panorama of the main video game systems? Will Project Scorpio revolutionize the industry in technical terms? Will Nintendo Switch remain with that positive inertia? Will PlayStation VR increase its production? Let us know in the comment section below.
