Best Buy recently announced that revenue had dropped 1.1 percent during the recent quarter. Game software and hardware was specifically blamed for the dip.
“The gaming sector lagged our expectations,” said Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn. “We did not perform as well on some of the new game titles as we had expected, especially coming off a 20-month high in market share a year ago driven by Wii and PS3 hardware and title sales. We believe we are well positioned to grow this product segment because of our relationship with so many gaming enthusiasts, he added. In the short term, we feel very good about the launch of the new gaming peripherals, Kinect and Move. We estimate that we have a number one market share in Kinect and Move, which already have had a positive impact in November.”
As for the used business and future prospects, he noted, “We’ve just started what we’re doing with trade-in and used games. We’re very pleased with the reaction that we’re getting in the about 800 stores that it’s in. And the stores where we actually have trade-in counters inside the gaming department, which is a few hundred, the exchange rate is much, much higher than the stores that don’t have it, so that’s something we’re going to continue to expand. So we’re pleased with that and getting us into that part of the business that we virtually have zero in today.”
“As far as gaming in the third quarter, our hardware was good; our software was softer than we would have liked, and that’s basically because of the titles that were launched in that time. Last year at this time we were into a lot of Wii business and that kind of family category where we did strong in,” continued Dunn. “We were lapping that against titles that were much more core gamer, which is the share and the business that we’re trying to go after with the trade-in and used. So that’s what happened in it, but we’re optimistic and very aggressive in what we’re doing in that space going forward.”
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
