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GameStop earnings call adds to Guild Wars 2 release date speculation
Since players aren't tremendously happy with ArenaNet's answer of "when it's ready" every time the question of the Guild Wars 2 release date comes up, any hint of further clarification is something to be prized. As a game retailer, dates are the sort of thing that come up in GameStop's earnings calls. Covering the Q1 conference call released today, Gamespot has CFO Robert Lloyd stating that Guild Wars 2 has been bumped out of the current quarter, putting its release sometime after July. It's worth noting that as of this posting, GameStop's online listing still had the Guild Wars 2 release date as June 26th. As has been repeated countless times by ArenaNet devs, no information should be treated as official unless it's directly from them. Don't let that stop you from pulling out your favorite tinfoil hat and cooking up some speculations, though.
GameStop details a bright (profitable) future with DLC
During today's presentations at the 18th Annual BMO Capital Markets Digital Entertainment Conference, GameStop head chairman Dan DeMatteo (alongside CEO Paul Raines, CFO Robert Lloyd, and investor relations director Matt Hodges) spoke to the future of the top video game retailer in North America. After detailing cannibalistic markets (terrifying!) and market share (isn't business about taking, not sharing?) for 25 minutes, the crew finally got to the Q & A session, where one audience member stood up and asked DeMatteo to clarify GameStop's DLC distribution agreements with Microsoft and Sony. "I won't get into the details of the agreements, but obviously we get paid for selling the digital content. We get paid less than what we would get paid for a typical new game [retail game], because we don't have inventory carrying costs, shipping costs, etc. But needless to say, we believe it will bring operating margins similar to new games," he responded, indicating a perhaps unsurprising low return on in-store DLC sales. Still, DeMatteo sees good reason for continued sales of digital content. "We see it as additive. It's additive for us. It's additive for Sony, for Microsoft, and it's additive to the publisher. The amount of add-on content now being developed for the big games is just phenomenal. You got a new level coming out for Halo: Reach in December, we have new Call of Duty map packs coming after launch, etc. We look at our ability to sell that to the original consumer -- given that we know who bought the original copy -- to be extremely strong," he explained, referring to his company's ability to track individual customer's purchases via the Power Up Rewards card. And in the coming years, GameStop intends on becoming a much larger player in the digital realm. We expect to have market share of DLC much like we have market share of boxed product," he assured attendees.
GameStop appoints new CEO, promotes several executives
Gamestop seems to have decided that all of its executives needed promotions. Former CEO Dan DeMatteo (last seen talking up EA Online Pass) is now "Executive Chairman" of the company, with J. Paul Raines (formerly COO) now stepping up to the CEO position. Executive Vice President Tony Bartel will now occupy the new position of "President," with Robert Lloyd (formerly Senior Vice President and Acting Interim CFO) as CFO. Michael K. Mauler is now EVP, GameStop International. It's like musical chairs, but there's a chair for everyone playing, and it's much softer than the one you're sitting in. DeMatteo suggested that the moves would help GameStop's goals of "expansion into new markets and continued focus on strategic initiatives such as our new loyalty program, downloadable content (DLC) marketing and sales, and the evolution of GameStop.com into a robust digital platform." Which, if all goes correctly, will bring in enough revenue to allow GameStop to create some more executive jobs. [Via IndustryGamers]
GameStop CFO Catherine Smith resigns, joins Walmart International
Still-nascent GameStop CFO Catherine Smith, enticed by a retail giant that makes the games business look like small change, has resigned. The company this morning issued a press release stating that, effective immediately, Robert Lloyd has been named CFO and senior vice president in Smith's stead. Brown is said to have become a person of Walmart International, but even with her gone, CEO Daniel DeMatteo remains confident in the current "strong executive team" in place, also noting that her replacement, Robert Lloyd, has been a part of GameStop for 14 years now. "He has been instrumental in guiding the company through its tremendous growth and success." We might argue that the company hasn't seen too many lean years in its lifetime, but let's not bother with that right now. It's your special day, Mr. Lloyd. Live it up.
