GameStop Blames Third Quarter Sales Decline on Delayed Assassin's Creed Unity Launch

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

GameStop sales slipped 0.7 percent in Q3

New and used games retailer GameStop reported its third quarter financial results this week, which fell below what analysts were expecting. GameStop's total global sales for Q3 came to $2.09 billion, a drop of 0.7 percent compared to the $2.11 billion in the same quarter a year ago and below the $2.2 billion analysts on average were predicting. As a result, GameStop's stock went into free-fall mode.
Shares of GameStop are down more than 14 percent today with several hours still to go in the trading day. With today's plunge, GameStop's stock is down by around 25 percent since the beginning of the year when it was valued just shy of $50 per share.
GameStop pointed the finger at the delayed release of Assassin's Creed Unity as the reason why topline and comparable store sales were negatively impacted.
"Overall, most of our major product categories performed very well, but our third quarter results were impacted by Assassin’s Creed Unity moving out of October," stated Paul Raines, chief executive officer. "As we look at the holiday quarter, we are focused on relentlessly applying our competitive advantages: convenience, strong CRM, knowledgeable associates and value through our unique forms of currency, which include buy-sell-trade and the new PowerUp Rewards credit card, to deliver a successful quarter."
In a post-earnings call with analysts and media, GameStop president Tony Bartel added that he'd like to see Microsoft and Sony issue price cuts for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles, respectively.
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