Used Game Make Up 49% of GameStop Q1 Profit
The sales figures represent an almost 42% boost in sales over the first quarter of GameStop's 2007 fiscal year, in which the retailer raked in $1.2B.
Sales of new video game software grew by 72%, led by GameStop's top five selling games: Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV, Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii, Ubisoft's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and EA's Army of Two.
The retailer also revealed that used video game products represented $415M, or 23.9% of total sales. As was the case in previous years, used game sales dominated the company's gross profit figures, accounting for 49.1%—or $204M—of GameStop's total profit in the first quarter of 2008.
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Quaunaut
replyThis is why Gamestop managed to make it so far up the Retail Ladder. Its good business practices, for them.
But, I'll still always buy my games new, if only to directly support the developers that much more.-
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You don't use all of your Honda up in 15 hours and then give it to someone else. People play games through their SP campaigns and resell to a Gamestop that sells it for 99.9% original price. You can't buy a dvd and then show it to a movie audience and charge them for tickets either.
As a gamer you are free to sell or give your copy to whomever you choose, but a company making half it's income off a product or product type where the product creator receives no compensation is flat out wrong.-
I really disagree with this. It's flat out against the idea of a free economy and property rights to say that you can't go sell something you own to someone else (unless you agreed to that as part of the original purchase contract/EULA) as long as you are actually giving up the piece of property and in this case, the ability to play the game. I fail to see how this is any different than the car analogy - "use all of your Honda" is in the eye of the beholder, different people have different conceptions of what the value of something is. What if I bought a car specifically to use it for one purpose, like a pickup truck for a construction project, but then had no use for it afterwards and sold it?
The entire reason used game sales exist is because there's obviously a market for it. Why don't game makers get in on that market themselves then if everyone's so concerned about this? When you buy a game you did pay the developer and publisher for it - what happens after that (aside from outright copying and piracy) they have no control over and shouldn't. They put one physical copy of their game into circulation for $59.99 and that's that. I don't see where they have a right to essentially charge multiple times for that same physical item.
I can think of so many ridiculous precedents your sort of logic would set that courts would never see the end of it. Where would we as a society stop with this sort of thing?-
There is a bit of a difference between reselling entertainment property as a company and as an individual. I'm pretty sure it's not within the rights of a cd owner to sell tickets to a playing of an album. It is however within our rights to sell, destroy, lose or otherwise do what we want with the album itself. There is a distinction to be made with selling a game to your friend that you have beaten or no longer want for as little or as much as you want.
It is another thing entirely to engineer a business model based off of the reselling of entertainment property which isn't exactly regular property. Entertainment related properties have always been a gray area treated differently than objects such as a couch. Mostly because entertainment products are seen as more 'disposable' and thusly require individual royalties from each copy sold in order to be a successful model. I don't dispute that everyone sees value of objects differently or that individuals don't have rights to do what they want with any product.
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That doesn't make any sense. Should Spielberg get *another* cut when I sell a DVD? Should authors get more money when I sell a book? Artists with a CD? What about tosy I play with for a few hours and then sell at a swap meet?
I think game developers don't get paid enough in relation for the blood sweat and tears they put in, but thinking that somehow that makes them a special case for resale revenue is just crazy.
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With Gamestop's card though, you get another 10%, so it's often about $10 difference. That, and you can return used games within 7 days if they suck.
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I dunno I always laugh when game developers get all indignant about this. Everyone should also stop renting movies or borrowing books from a friend. Why doesn't everyone get on here and bitch about how nefarious netflix is going to be the downfall of the movie industry.
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It really bugs me when the guys at EB try to push me to get a used copy. I tell them that I'm trying to support the developers, but they still keep harping on about it.
And I'm a developer myself. :(
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