GameStop Quarterly Report Reveals Nintendo Switch To Outperform The Wii

GameStop just released it quarterly report and showed that it overall hardware sales has increased thanks to the Nintendo Switch. The gaming retailer’s report also showed that the Switch console continues to outsell the Wii.

“Our first quarter results reflect the power of our leadership position within the video game market and our ongoing diversification efforts. Our international operations were particularly strong, driven by robust sales of Nintendo Switch and Collectibles,” GameStop CEO Paul Reines said. “Throughout 2017, our focus will continue to be executing our diversification strategy, exercising cost discipline and increasing our share in the video game market.”

GameStop reported that its global sales increased by 3.8 percent to $2.05 billion during the first quarter of 2017. Quarterly sales are also up by 39.1 percent to $114.5 million. The increase was led by the launch of the Nintendo Switch, which was released back in March. The retailer was able to sell 1.2 million Switch consoles in the United States within two months of its availability.

The 1.2 million sales figure is very important not only for GameStop, but also for Nintendo. It has beaten the Nintendo Wii’s 1.1 million sales during the same period back in 2006. This also means that Tatsumi Kimishima, the president of Nintendo, is correct in his prediction that the Switch would match the popularity of the Wii.

Although GameStop appears to be doing rather well, its U.S. store sales were down by 3.2 percent during the first quarter. The retailer managed to make up for it with a jump of 17.1 percent in international sales, according to Shack News. The Nintendo Switch was also responsible for bumping GameStop’s hardware sales to 24.6 percent.

“We are all veterans of the Wii launch. The fact that this is ahead of the Wii launch is significant,” GameStop CFO Rob Llyod told investors at yesterday’s conference call with investors, according to Gamasutra.

The CFO also suggested that sales of the Nintendo Switch could have been higher if it wasn’t so difficult to acquire the necessary units to meet the demand. He also said that “there is a contest among all the retailers, online and in store, with our good friends at Nintendo.”

With GameStop doing so well in terms of hardware sales, the retailer’s numbers for new software was down to 8.2 percent when compared to the same period from last year. GameStop believes that the cause for this loss is the lack of popular titles in the first quarter of 2017. In comparison, the first quarter of 2016 saw the release of “Dark Souls 3,” “The Division” and “Street Fighter V.”

Although that seems like a disappointing thing for GameStop, there’s actually something good to come out of it. The retailer revealed that it has sold more copies of “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” for the Switch than the Switch console itself.

“The bright spot within software was that we sold more than one copy of the Switch version of Zelda for every Switch console we sold, indicating that consumers are coming to GameStop for additional games and accessories,” GameStop said.