GameStop: We Want to be Devs' "Friend"

GameStop is not a popular entity among the developers at the 2009 DICE Summit.

Acclaim's David Perry dubbed it "Used GameStop" during his presentation Thursday. And a few snickers were audible during J. Paul Raines' address Friday morning. The GameStop COO is the first retailer to present at DICE.

The elephant in the room, says Raines, is whether used game hurt the sale of new releases. "No," he says. "Only 4 percent of GameStop's used game sales are current titles." Trading, instead, is used to test drive new genres and franchises, or as credits towards new game sales.

The preowned games market has been met with opposition by some game companies, as they don't see a penny from the sale of a used game. Meanwhile, GameStop is cashing in on used games, with around 42 percent of overall gross profits coming from the preowned business. Pacific Crest Securities recently estimated that GameStop's used game sales would amount to $2 billion this fiscal year, or over 20 percent of total annual revenues.

Raines defended GameStop's used business, saying that within the first 60 days of a game's release, some 14 percent of new game sales are funded by trade credits, and 70 percent of trade credits are applied towards the purchase of new game sales.

Without used games, says Raines, there would be a lot fewer new game sales.

Category specialists like GameStop drive consumption of videogames, he adds. "The per capita consumption is elevated in countries that have specialty shops; it is important to have advocates in these countries."

Raines also offered an array of statistics during his presentation:

• Among core game players, that 35 percent buy games at GameStop, 17 percent buy games at Best Buy, and 11 percent buy games at Walmart.
• Moms prefer GameStop, where 26 percent of them purchase games for themselves or others. Best Buy accounts for 22 percent of purchases and Walmart snags 16 percent of sales.
• Game consumer demographics are changing: 43 percent of game consumers are female; 47 percent are over the age of 30; 60 percent play games less than 15 hours a week; 63 percent are married; they play all genres; two in five new gamers are females; and nearly half of new gamers are 35 or older.

"We want to be the developer's friend, and the developer's supporter," says Raines. "We would like to support you in anyway we can and find a way to grow with you."