GameStop annual sales show slight increase in 2014

GameStop has released its annual financial results for its past fiscal year, with the specialty chain reporting revenue of $9.3bn for the period.

Games Industry reports that the figure translates to a modest 2.8 per cent increase, instead of the 14 per cent sales growth GameStop had projected for the period – due to the late 2013 launches of PS4 and Xbox One.

GameStop’s hardware segment was still very solid for the year, with sales up 17 per cent to $2.03bn. Mobile and consumer electronics were up 71 per cent to $518.8m as well, but those were offset by the new game software sales segment, which dropped 11 per cent during the period to $3.09bn.

Digital revenue was down less than 1 per cent to $216.3m, while net income for the firm was up nearly 11 per cent – reaching $393.1m.

"In our core video game business, we achieved our highest market share in history with 28 percent share of next-generation hardware, 46 percent share of next-generation software and an estimated 42 percent share of downloadable content," GameStop CEO Paul Raines said.

"Meanwhile, our Technology Brands segment exceeded expectations, contributing 5 percent to our operating income and to our highest-ever annual gross margin of 29.9 percent, as we rapidly expanded the footprint of our AT&T wireless and Apple retail businesses."

Looking forward, GameStop projects fiscal year 2015 sales to range between down 1 per cent and up 4 per cent. The company will focus on more than doubling the amount of its non-gaming shops in hopes to increase its reach in tech segments. It will also look to trim operational game stores by 3 per cent.