GameStop’s holiday sales fell 5% to $2.63 billion in the nine-week period ended Jan. 5, driven largely by decreases in videogame hardware and software. Same-store sales increased 1.5% due partly to the timing of the release of a Activision Blizzard Entertainment’s new “Call of Duty” title, which occurred in October this year versus November in 2017, the company said.

Sales of collectibles rose 3.7% to $219.2 million, but were “constrained” by the company launching fewer promotions in an effort to improve margins, GameStop’s Rob Lloyd said.  Collectibles accounted for 8.3% of GameStop’s total revenue in the nine-week period, against 7.6% a year earlier.

Videogame hardware sales fell 6.1% to $673.7 million, due partly the launch of Microsoft’s Xbox One console a year ago. The hardware decline was partly offset by “strong growth” in sales of Nintendo’s Switch, Lloyd said. Revenue from new videogame software dropped 8.3% to $784.5 million.

Contact:

GameStop, Rob Lloyd, COO and  CFO,  817-424-2000, rob.lloyd@gamestop.com