GameStop sales surpassed $7 billion last year
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Mar 18th 2008 at 6:00PM }
GameStop CEO R. Richard Fontaine says that 2007 was "impressive" and the "expanding demographic profile of the video game player has moved this business into the mainstream of entertainment." He believes the company's used games model and strong '08 video game lineup will propel the company through this year. Despite the slumping US economy, Fontaine expects 575 to 600 new stores to open this fiscal year in the States -- people need something to do when they can't afford to go out anymore.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
OTAM @ Mar 18th 2008 6:06PM
That picture = truth.
John McPoop @ Mar 19th 2008 12:49AM
"He believes the company's used games model and strong '08 video game lineup will propel the company through this year."
Is "used game model" the new term they are using now. As in giving you a little over 1/3 (if new) the value of the original purchase and then selling the same game for $5.00-$10.00 less than full retail value. I suppose the purchaser can benefit if they keep their receipt and have purchased the discount card. In which case they save an additional 10% and return it within a week.
There was another joystiq forum poster who made a great point a week or so ago about how those reserves really equate to interest free loans. I think it was on the Haze topic regarding Gamestop's special refund promotion. I think he was dead on and when you combine the capital from discount cards, repeat business , trades and sales you have a juggernaut with no other speciality stores.
Sora267 @ Mar 18th 2008 6:11PM
I, for one, welcome our new GameStop overlords.
Shmil @ Mar 18th 2008 7:46PM
i would like to make a note to our new gamestop overlords
i can be used as a public figure to round up more slaves for your sugarmines
Teh_nubcheek @ Mar 18th 2008 11:27PM
Did anyone else notice the CEO's name is Fontaine? If I remember correctly, the last Fontaine I knew changed his name to Atlus and had me doing all sorts of crazy stuff through mind control. Doesn't it seem like too much of a coincidence? Huh? Huh?
NATO_Duke @ Mar 18th 2008 6:17PM
600 new stores? Starbucks will be thrilled to know they can count on sharing the space with you.
...can I have a Venti Soy Vanilla Half Caf Latte and a copy of Riiiiidge Racer 6 please!?
John McPoop @ Mar 19th 2008 12:54AM
Maybe they can have the baristas (?) at Starbucks give away free map pack downloads like Apple did with iTunes & music.
Saria the Cat @ Mar 18th 2008 6:17PM
Too bad none of that disgustingly large amount of money will be seen by Gamestop employees and lower management, the actual people doing the brunt of the work.
Marry me Mario PSN: Killjebus @ Mar 18th 2008 6:21PM
Actually, when I left in 2004 Gamestop managers were given the right to buy stock on the cheap, in otherwords...Gamestop would match 1 for 1 with 5 years or more of service.
As for DM's it was the same thing but you only needed 2 years of service, usually because Gamestop likes to promote within.
Knight Marquise @ Mar 18th 2008 6:22PM
Welcome to Capitalism.
Open up your own store, and surround yourself with your own lower management and grunts who bemoan they're making you rich, while having nothing vested in your little capital venture. No risk, minimal payout. High Risk, possible high payout.
Obviously, you don't, nor have you ever, owned your own company.
Mr Khan @ Mar 18th 2008 6:26PM
Welcome to Capitalism
The rich get richer
Unless they invested in Bear Sterns...
Saria the Cat @ Mar 18th 2008 6:28PM
@Knight Marquise: How embarrassing! You found me out! I really don't own my own company at age 20. What am I doing with my life? I know how capitalism works, thanks. Don't make Gamestop out to be like some poor struggling company helpless amongst the unforgiving tides of the video game market. Obviously a grunt isn't going to make the same salary as a high level employee. However, Gamestop could easily at least pay more than a few cents above minimum wage for lower management or provide moderately good benefits.
Knight Marquise @ Mar 18th 2008 7:02PM
Actually Saria,
It was no giant leap of the imagination to gather you've no business experience; your comments easily give that fact away.
Saria the Cat @ Mar 18th 2008 7:13PM
It's amazing that I'm considered an ignorant person for wanting good things for people I know who work hard. :) I may not be a business major but it doesn't take the vast depths of knowledge which you obviously possess to figure out that Gamestop is a company that does a lot of pretending to care about employees and not very much actual care.
Safiel @ Mar 18th 2008 7:37PM
From the things I've heard, gamestop treats it's employees pretty badly. Example: you get a higher gamestop employee discount from working at barnes and noble then gamestop. They may have taken some steps to start correcting this. Why do you get constantly asked to preorder games? because if the employees don't meet their quotas they get fired. On the other hand though, they just don't have to treat their employees well, because there are always more willing folks to take their place.
capt_carl @ Mar 18th 2008 9:09PM
@Safiel:
Yep, and managers get bonuses depending on their stores year-end used sales, subs, and revs. As we all know, shit rolls downhill, so you don't need to guess anymore.
Eh @ Mar 18th 2008 9:38PM
They dont exactly pass that money on to customers either. Their used games deals have only gotten worse to benifet gamestop more and the customer less, and they were already extremely bad to begin with. They are the fast food of game sales, they treat everyone badly and offer a terrible but convenient service. Like fast food they only make money through sheer volume of stores.
They have very bad business ethics and are one of the most immoral and despicable retail stores in America. Its not suprising that stores like this which treat their employees like garbage are the ones that make a senseless amount of money which goes absolutely nowhere besides a few people's pockets.
markhill66 @ Mar 18th 2008 10:20PM
I'm with you Saria. Don't fall into this Knight guy's trap. If you read the rest of his comments, he's just an instigator that likes to sound smart.
Why do people feel the need to pick fights on here all the time?
Saria the Cat @ Mar 18th 2008 11:08PM
@markhill66: Thanks. :) I did feel a lot better after looking at his comments and discovering how arrogant they were. All of them are about him being rich, having a successful company, or owning 5 Xbox360s with gold membership on all of them. Knight's comments are a testament to his complete lack of a soul. I guess once you get five 360s, though, everyone else with only one 360 must look like a complete idiot.
phihexy27 @ Mar 18th 2008 11:59PM
"Actually, when I left in 2004 Gamestop managers were given the right to buy stock on the cheap, in otherwords...Gamestop would match 1 for 1 with 5 years or more of service.
As for DM's it was the same thing but you only needed 2 years of service, usually because Gamestop likes to promote within."
Stock option is no longer available to employees. As far Gamestop promoting from within, yeah I guess so, but this is most likely the case because someone coming in off the street would expect more money than Gamestop is willing to pay. Plus if you've been with Gamestop long enough to receive a promotion most likely you already know that it's a shitty company to work for (that or you don't care) and therefore you would be less likely to quit after a few months.
Marry me Mario PSN: Killjebus @ Mar 18th 2008 6:19PM
Dick and Dick sure have their shit together. As far as mega rich execs go....one is a hippie the other is like a cool grandpa. Neither one of them is an asshole, in fact....they are easy to talk to and they do not treat you like the little peons we really are to execs.
DarthDavid @ Mar 18th 2008 6:24PM
They can go to hell...I'll stick to Best Buy were I can get my games, blu-rays, and music (plus my BB reward points) without ANYONE bothering me =)
Curtis the Claw: Brawl Code 1075-0441-3284 @ Mar 18th 2008 6:38PM
Your Best Buy is definitly in the minority then. The second I walk in to mine I have someone asking if they can help me, I then look at some CD's and have another person per row of CD's ask if they can help. I then move on to the games and have a person per row ask me if I need help. I avoid Best Buy at all costs because of how annoying it is to have someone ask you if you need help every 10 seconds!
micklol @ Mar 19th 2008 1:56AM
Hmm the ebgames here in Canada don't bother you at all. In fact, you need to ask multiple times before you can get some service here....
ChooChooCharlie (Brawl: 1504-5357-9285) @ Mar 18th 2008 6:46PM
@ Curtis
It may be annoying, but at least you can FIND someone to help you there. Whenever I need someone to open up the game case at places like Wal-Mart and Target, they turn into a friggen ghost town.
Curtis the Claw: Brawl Code 1075-0441-3284 @ Mar 18th 2008 6:53PM
@ChooChoo
That's the great thing about Gamestop and Best Buy, you don't have to have someone come open up the glass case. Whenever I go to Best Buy now I just ignore anyone that talks to me.
Saria the Cat @ Mar 18th 2008 7:20PM
@Curtis: Wait, are you complaining about getting good customer service?
Curtis the Claw: Brawl Code 1075-0441-3284 @ Mar 19th 2008 12:00AM
Define "good". The few times I actually ask for help I get an "uummmm I dunno" or I get a completely f'd up answer that is completely wrong.
Curtis the Claw: Brawl Code 1075-0441-3284 @ Mar 19th 2008 12:00AM
Define "good". The few times I actually ask for help I get an "uummmm I dunno" or I get a completely f'd up answer that is completely wrong.
Dio @ Mar 19th 2008 4:06AM
Are you daft? Best Buy employees are required to ask if you'd like magazine subscriptions. I'm pretty sure that falls into the same category of "being bothered by anyone" as in any sort of game store employee asking whether or not you'd like to preorder or get their special card that gets you a discount etc.
DMeisterJ @ Mar 18th 2008 6:37PM
Pretty good for a glorified pawn shop.
When most of their money comes from screwing developers, it's dirty money. "Pre-order haze, and if you don't like it, trade it in for full store credit, so we can sell it used for $55 and make 100% profit on it".
I loathe Gamestop, and avoid it at all costs. I wonder if they can tell us how much of this money was off of selling used games?
capt_carl @ Mar 18th 2008 6:56PM
$288 million. =P
Phillip @ Mar 18th 2008 7:16PM
"trade it in for full store credit, so we can sell it used for $55 and make 100% profit on it"
...ummm. If the customer returns the game and gets $60 back (Gamestop "buys" it for $60), then Gamestop sells it for $55 how is that profit? Far as I can tell $5 just went South!
capt_carl @ Mar 18th 2008 7:18PM
@Phillip:
GameStop buys back a new game that sells for $60 at say $25. They resell it as used for $55. There's your 100% profit.
finnith @ Mar 18th 2008 7:56PM
I thought the profit came from the store credit for Haze specifically. As for other games, they make more than 200% profit since they can offer cheap prices for used games since they are the most accessible outlet to sell used games to. Some may argue that eBay is a possible outlet, but it's a hassle for the everyday gamer to do that each time they tire of a game, or make a bad buy.
Safiel @ Mar 18th 2008 8:06PM
I don't know any exact numbers, but there is a certain amount of profit to be made on the whole store credit angle. Giving store credit is kind of like the whole gift card system, they are getting the product now (your used game) but they give you a loan for product (the store credit). Of course you can redeem that credit whenever you like but not everyone will do so right away and the difference in time means extra money for best buy (through things like reinvestment or even just interest). Also, gift cards are a guarantee sale on which they will probably be making a bit of money off that sale itself too, or you might never redeem the credit in which case they make even more. Basically a system like this is great for a store on several levels.
Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ Mar 18th 2008 8:33PM
You people also forget that the preorder system is 100% free money for them. That $5 gets invested and they make money off your money.
phihexy27 @ Mar 18th 2008 11:59PM
"When most of their money comes from screwing developers, it's dirty money. "Pre-order haze, and if you don't like it, trade it in for full store credit, so we can sell it used for $55 and make 100% profit on it"."
You really think that they're going to sell it as used? My guess is they'll shrink wrap it and resell it as new. The deal is only if you keep the game in new condition with instruction manual - neither of these things are required when normally trading in. I highly doubt that Gamestop would take any kind of loss by giving 100% back and then reselling it at used price. The company is just to shady to do anything like that.
moominsean @ Mar 18th 2008 7:58PM
while i hate being bothered about preorders, savings cards and magazine subscriptions, it's nice to be able to get new releases on day one without a preorder (there are two gamestops and one babbages all in one mall here, seriously). best buy NEVER has anything until like the saturday after. fry's is all over the place, sometimes getting stuff, sometimes not, probably depends on their shipment days. i have never in 20 years had a good experience at circuit city. that pretty much leaves the internet and gamestop. no wonder they make so much money.
Deck @ Mar 18th 2008 8:27PM
Alexander, I love the image! Funny indeed!
More Pre-Orders ftw! Err... I didn't mean that. *sigh*
jaybcorreia @ Mar 19th 2008 3:09AM
joystiq I must say your lil comics u have goin r getting funnier like the Comcast free map one and this. as for Gamestop they will definently get theres sumthing will happen and they will feel the pain lol its called Karma
baby sea tuna @ Mar 19th 2008 8:36AM
Try that one more time...in English, por favor.
Bleu @ Mar 19th 2008 10:56AM
Gamestop are a bunch of crooks everyone knows it...."power to gamers yea right u mean more power to money in their pockets" I say dont buy new games from them and only go their for "old" games.
hvnlysoldr @ Apr 9th 2008 1:32AM
Quick hit its weak spot for massive damage.