GameStop has revealed plans to grow its global operation by 25 per cent, following a rise of 151.4 per cent in net profit in its first quarter.

Net profits stood at $62.1 million for the three months ended May 3rd, as compared to net earnings of $24.7 million for the first quarter of 2007.

GameStop’s total sales increased 41.8 per cent year-on-year to $1,813.6 million in the period, up from $1,279 million – with new video game sales growing a huge 72 per cent.

Richard Fontaine, chairman and chief executive officer for GameStop, said: "We are very bullish on the future. The installed base of video game consoles grew 34 per cent in 2007, or nearly 31 million units, the highest incremental growth in the history of the business.”

Fontaine explained, “Behind the huge hardware growth is the fact that the demographic for video gaming is expanding dramatically as industry figures indicate that 38 per cent of game players are female.”

GameStop reported the top five selling games in the quarter had been GTA IV, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and Army of Two. The retailer also pointed to the strong upcoming release schedule to continue the successful period.