GameStop has more Wiis, PS3s for Black Friday

by Ross Miller { Nov 21st 2006 at 9:45PM }

During an investor conference call, GameStop has confirmed that both Nintendo and Sony have sent the retailer new shipments of Wii and PlayStation 3 consoles just in time Black Friday, which is only a few days away. Even better, GameStop has also expressed confidence in a weekly shipment of each console, although did not provide specifics on how large any of the shipments would be.

Other information from the call, as reported by GameSpot:

Unsurprisingly, Resistance: Fall of Man and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess were big sellers for their respective consoles. Other standout hits include Madden NFL 2007 for the PS3 and Red Steel for the Wii.
According to their sales, the game-to-console ratio for the Wii was 3, while the PS3 was about 1.5. GameStop attributed the disparity to the prolific eBay PS3 auctions and said it should grow once the consoles get in the hands of "real gamers."

A constant stream of consoles is a good sign of trying to keep up momentum, but we'd be happier if executives could pin down a minimum number of consoles per shipment.

Tags: game stop, GameStop

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Give me Stars or Give me Death! @ Nov 21st 2006 9:57PM

Silly GameStop, PS3 isn't for "real gamers".

Anonymouse Rep @ Nov 21st 2006 9:57PM

"Executives said that they've never been satisfied with their launch-day allocation of any new machine"

Well, guys, you did pre-sales on the 360 without ANY permission from Microsoft, and it turned out okay in the end.

However, the question is going to be, are they going to actually place these shipments in their stores, or are they going to hold them in their distribution centers so that more than 2 or 3 consoles hit stores at a time?

That's what Best Buy did with the 360 - held ALL consoles in their DC so that they could put them in the ad with a minimum of 10 per store, instead of just letting 2 consoles at a time hit each store.

Ryan @ Nov 21st 2006 9:58PM

Is this just for retail or also the Online Web Stores?

Pixelbox @ Nov 21st 2006 9:58PM

It probably goes without saying that the Wii shipment will be at least ten times the size of the PS3 load.

Radon @ Nov 21st 2006 9:59PM

Well the Zellers I work at got 15 Wii's in today and we aren't that big of a game seller so I would guess that GameStop will be getting a lot more than that.

Matt @ Nov 21st 2006 10:01PM

The thing to remember is that EB/Gamestop promised to do this very same thing (weekly shipments) with the 360 last year, and I can tell you from having worked at an EB that such a thing didn't go down very well. To me, this is just marketing spin, and I would very much be suprised if they actually followed through with this promise.

I'd take the announcement with a pill of salt the size of the lap-sided rear SIXAXIS "flappers". ;)

Also, a company like EB/Gamestop isn't going to care about amassing more than 2 or 3 (the amount that fit in a box) per store, as they don't run local ads and they know the systems will sell immediately after acquisition.

Matt @ Nov 21st 2006 10:03PM

#5

That's what people said when Wal-Mart and Target got 25-50 per store, and Best Buys and Toys'R'Us stores also received about as many consoles per store. Guess what? EB/Gamestops averaged 8 Wiis per location. ;)

th3_droP_Shot @ Nov 21st 2006 10:09PM

hmm, A lot of buyers are going to be dissapointed when they come home with a wii and a copy of red steel, It is bombing with an average of 67 on metacritic right now.

I-Want-Wii @ Nov 21st 2006 10:13PM

PLEASE TELL US IF ITS ONLY IN STORES OR INTERNET OR BOTH!!!!!!!!!

Shaymus22 @ Nov 21st 2006 10:24PM

Well of COURSE they do...

Jason @ Nov 21st 2006 10:38PM

I already have my consoel.. I need more controllers, are they going to have controllers this day? Also will circuit city have it? I'm already camping out at Circuit City and it would be nice otj ust get it there and be done with it. Guess I could call up Gamestop tomorrow

B @ Nov 21st 2006 10:53PM

I smell last weeks fights...

Willie @ Nov 21st 2006 11:06PM

I just got back from Gamestop and EB. I can say that one store (EB) has confirmed a new shipment of PS3's and Wii's. As of right now, they only got in the 20GB models of the PS3s (did not tell me how many). They are expecting the 60GB models to arrive tomorrow(though there is a chance they might not come in at all). They told me for the PS3's that they will fill the existing preorders first.

However, if they only recieve the 20GB models, they will offer them to the people who reserved the 60GB version first. I was then told, if the 60GB people don't want them, they may ship the 20GB models to other stores of those 60GB people who do want the 20GB model. It sounds like that the 60GB preorder will be offered any Playstations before the 20GB preorders; which is a bad move!!

pangit @ Nov 21st 2006 11:26PM

#7

the eb and gamestop 2 miles from my house both got 36 wii consoles. i cant fathom the gamestop/eb stores getting an average of 8 per store. for an average to be that low then a lot of stores would have only gotten like 2-3.

evilsaywhat @ Nov 22nd 2006 12:19AM

The PS3s that were shipped were to cover preorders, and there weren't even enough sent out to cover them all. If a store has extras they're supposed to be shipped to other stores with unfilled preorders. We were also told there would be no more PS3s through the holidays. I wonder who got lied to...and can only hope it's me.

gamerfan82 @ Nov 22nd 2006 12:21AM

nintendo packs 3 Wii's per box and sony packs 2 PS3's in each box. so at bare minimum (saying the store gets both 20 and 60 GB versions) would be 3 Wii, 2 20GB PS3 and 2 60GB PS3. but lets hope each store gets at least 2 boxes of each

dsub @ Nov 22nd 2006 12:38AM

don't get your hopes up guys. You are forgetting that EB/Gamestop wasn't able to fulfill all the pre-orders they had initially for PS3. At the store I work at there are still 6 people waiting for their PS3's and we are only getting 4 on Thursday. So as far as the store I work at, and most of the stores across the country, there WILL NOT be PS3's available on black friday. Wii's however, should be in all stores.

shase @ Nov 22nd 2006 9:00AM

is anyone supriosed the 1.5 game -to -console ratio on ps3? i got resistance and rr7..

32_Footsteps @ Nov 22nd 2006 9:35AM

"is anyone supriosed the 1.5 game -to -console ratio on ps3? i got resistance and rr7.."

I am... I thought that many places were going to force bundles on people and inflate the attach rate. I guess I was wrong.

Farseer @ Nov 22nd 2006 9:37AM

@ th3_droP_Shot

Why would anyone get Red Steel now that the console has been out for a few days? Like you said, it's gotten horrible reviews. If someone picks up Red Steel instead of one of the other 5 or 6 well-reviewed launch titles, then they deserve to be disappointed.

Lex @ Nov 22nd 2006 10:38AM

Lol yeah, I'm one of the people that bought AND returned Red Steel to Gamestop. When I did the guy didn’t even ask me why I was returning it since they had 12 Red Steel returns that same day. He was nice enough to exchange it for Trauma Center and I am happy with it.

They should do a poll on how many people returned Red Steel. I know of four personally, plus the 12 that I was told returned it. And the game hasn’t been out for that long. The Wii realllly needs a good fps. I mean hell… I got more enjoyment out of the tech demo erm Wii Sports, that’s a free pack in; then Red Steel. I like lock ups, buggy controls and pixilated graphics as much as the next guy but Red Steel tested my limits.

As it is, Red Steel makes my top 10 worst games list, at number 2. Right after Club Drive for the Jaguar. Although Im sure if I spent more then 10 hours on it, it would have eventually taken the #1 spot.

KaosDG @ Nov 22nd 2006 10:52AM

My question is will they be making the uninformed masses purchase crappy games and unneccesary accessories in order to get either system?

Alondo @ Nov 22nd 2006 11:05AM

The story is definitely true, as I got the call from EBGames yesterday for my PS3 preorder. Under the tree it goes until Christmas...

Patrick @ Nov 22nd 2006 4:13PM

Guys, don't listen to them. My mom called my friend, who knows a guy working at a gamestop, and they said they can't give them out, only to the people with the ones that had problems[The Wiis]

Matt @ Nov 22nd 2006 8:12PM

#14

I'm sorry, I meant most stores received 8, and the average would be maybe 12. That being that, sure some stores got 24 or 36, but most had 8. In the region of my store (7 for those keeping track), my entire district received 8 Wiis per store, and most others also obtained the same number of systems.

Larger cities (if you stop and think of the city you are in, this will make sense and prove my point) obviously are getting or had gotten more systems, this is a given. But most, as in the average store, would have gotten a much lower amount. Most units seem to have went to the Toys'R'Us' and the Wal-Marts of the country, not that this is a bad thing. Gamestop (and EB as a result) has gotten progressively worse as a business for the past year, more particularly since February of 2006, when the merger began to take an operational impact on the company as a whole.

Dave @ Nov 24th 2006 11:46AM

I AM INCREDIBLY PISSED OFF BECAUSE I WAITED IN FRONT OF MY LOCAL GAMESTOP AN HOUR BEFORE IT OPENED AND WALKED IN THE STORE AND THERE WERE ONLY FUCKING 2 SYSTEMS!!! I WOKE UP AT FUCKING 4:30 IN THE MORNING!!! Now I am walking around my house all day in a slightly vegetative and depressed state and eating comfort food. Please, if anyone knows when the next shipments of Wiis are going to be appearing in stores, e-mail me at fresh_2.life@yahoo.com. THANKS

Fatty Lumpkin @ Nov 24th 2006 7:25PM

I am so angry i woke up early this morning to get a wii, and was waiting on line, and freakin gamestop had 2 wiis, so messed up.

Fatty Lumpkin @ Nov 24th 2006 7:26PM

seems like we all got the same problem :/

mary @ Nov 25th 2006 4:12PM

Worst black friday ever. Ebgames here had 0 playstation3 and 3 wii with 50+ people waiting in line since 2am. They really should announce they have very limited amounts so people could move on to other stores. How can they advertise they have the ps3 when they don't?

Jered Gaspard @ Nov 25th 2006 9:25PM

Well, I'm sure it would be easier to get your hands on a Wii if it weren't for the goddamn scalpers picking them up just to flip them on Ebay for $400. Go ahead, search Ebay for "Wii" and see how many of these auctions are closing each minute. Multiply that by the number of minutes since launch, and you'll see that a HUGE percentage of these consoles are being scalped by scumbags trying to mock the gamers that just want to be a part of the Wii's advent into the gaming market. My advice to real gamers out there: DON'T BUY FROM THE SCALPERS!!!! Let their auctions close with no bids, and maybe they'll take those consoles out and play them, and maybe they'll end up being real gamers, instead of broke little fools trying to make a quick buck.