Gamestop CEO Paul Raines has a "high degree of confidence" that the PlayStation 4 will, indeed, play used games. In a financial call concerning the less-than-stellar year the game retailer has faced, Raines said he believes that Sony will continue to support used games on their next-gen console, which make up a large portion of Gamestop's sales.
This has been supported by several sources, including Sony Worldwide President Shuhei Yoshida. Microsoft, however, is strongly considered to be against having the newest Xbox play used games, and appears to have several measures against it for the next-gen Xbox. Obviously, having one less major console to sell used games for would be a big blow to the retail chain, however the company's digital sales have begun to blossom, thus offsetting some of the potential loss of used Xbox 720 sales. Gamestop President Tony Bartel is against systems blocking used games.
The Wii U was also a hot topic of discussion during the meeting. While launch sales of the Wii U in November were strong. sales of the new system have since dried up considerably. Gamestop executives blame several factors, such as consumers not fully realizing the system's abilities due to unsavvy marketing. The Wii U also has a lack of blockbuster titles to draw in consumers, thus leaving gamers with little incentive to pick up the new console. Once more titles are released for the Wii U, Gamestop expects that sales of the system will begin to pick up.
This financial call coincides with the company's fourth quarter and year-end reports that showed that the company had a net loss of $269.7 million. However, with the launch of the PlayStation 4 and next-gen Xbox, along with indie consoles such as the Ouya and "Steam Box" may perhaps boost sales again for the retailer.
Source: Gamespot
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
