Next-gen consoles to thank for GameStop's record-breaking sales year
GameStop has the new consoles to thank for the retail juggernaut's record-breaking sales year. Total global sales reached $9.04 billion, a 1.7 increase from the previous bar-setter in 2011. The company saw a profit of $354.2 million, slamming the teeter-totter back from last year's $269.7 million loss. Sales were driven by the 29.7 percent increase in new video game hardware sales from "the launches of Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4."
"The launch of new consoles in 2013 marked the return of innovation to the video game category and GameStop's market share increased to an all-time high. Our emerging digital and mobile businesses, which did not exist three years ago, surpassed $1 billion of revenue," said GameStop CEO Paul Raines.
In its guidance for the 2014 year, GameStop plans to increase profits, but will close approximately two percent of its stores. The company currently states it operates over 6,600 locations, which would be a reduction of around 132 stores.
Update: GameStop's financial also mentions the closure of Spawn Labs, the company's streaming service that never really got flowing.
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