GameStop Controls 21 Percent of US Market

[Keane Ng]

GameStop Controls 21 Percent of US Market

Just how mega is megaretailer GameStop in the United States? According to some people's math, it controls a fifth of the entire market in the country.

We all knew GameStop is doing big business in the US, but now we've got an exact number. According to Gamasutra's figures [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23425], the retailer holds sway over a somewhat underwhelming 21% of the entire games market in this country. That's when it comes specifically to hardware and software sales, though. It doesn't count sales of accessories and PC software, as the data regarding how much revenue GameStop pulls in from those categories isn't explicitly stated in their reports.

So what exactly does it mean that GameStop "controls" a fifth of the market? Well, as Gamasutra puts it, that "marketshare defines the power it wields when working with publishers."

The percentages were extrapolated using GameStop's own revenue reports and the sales data compiled by the NPD every month. GameStop's fiscal year is roughly equivalent to the month-by-month periods that the NPD tracks, so holding up the NPD numbers to the GameStop numbers and doing a little bit of math got Gamasutra its estimates.

With the amount of stores in this country, you'd think that GameStop would control a more dramatic percentage of the market, but apparently there are still plenty of people (79% of the market, to be precise) going to "other retailers" like Best Buy.

21% is nothing to scoff at, though, and Gamasutra's other research shows that the company's presence in the US is maybe even more widespread than you may have imagined. There are 1.4 GameStops per 100,000 people in the United States, according to their figure. The state with the highest density of GameStops? Delaware. I know that's because Delaware's tiny, but I like to imagine it has a GameStop on every other block, too.


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[KDR_11k]

So, how does Wal-Mart compare?

 

[Skizle]

So, how does Wal-Mart compare?

Walmart doesn't even apply.

Your average Walmart Electronic department is staffed by a caveman who can just about point in the right direction when asked where certain things are without going into a catatonic fit.

that just about sums it up, however some gamestop employees are like that as well

 

[bue519]

So, how does Wal-Mart compare?

Walmart doesn't even apply.

Your average Walmart Electronic department is staffed by a caveman who can just about point in the right direction when asked where certain things are without going into a catatonic fit.

Must be from being locked in the store all night. But seriously I think Gamestop would have high sales figures if they stopped crapping on the pc market. As it stand I don't even buy console games from them anymore because of this,

 

[Micah Weil]

So, how does Wal-Mart compare?

As a Wal-Mart employee, I can say that we don't. I'm surprised we don't have Gamecube games still on the shelves. Comes from dealing with a client base that evolved out of the remaining beer inside a discarded Budweiser bottle.

Though the fact that the Wal-Mart I work in is right down the street from a college town makes it a little bit better than most.

 

[LeonLethality]

Gamestop is becoming the Starbucks of gaming I geuss.

Overpriced games generaly worse quality than the small-time game traders, yeah i'll say you are spot on

AND in the mall near my house theres an EB games on the second floor on the first floor A GAMESTOP EBgames is run by gamestop... makes you think...

 

[GonzoGamer]

Gamestop is becoming the Starbucks of gaming I geuss.

One can only hope they run into the same problem of over expansion as starbucks did.

I hope the one by me needs to close first. It's worse than useless because the employees and management are beyond incompetent.
Normally I don't wish being laid off to anyone but those guys aren't just morons, they're total jerks too.

 

[dnnydllr]

I have no problems with gamestop....cheap games, and the staff is usually pretty cool.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Gamestop is becoming the Starbucks of gaming I geuss.

Not until you've seen a Gamestop RIGHT across the street from another Gamestop.


I would have thought that they had 50% of the market...I buy a lot of my game there still, but now I'm starting to buy them off of Gamefly more often.

 

[KDR_11k]

So, how does Wal-Mart compare?

Wal-Mart isn't doing so great. They're not even the top fortune 500 any more.

Dunno, last I heard they were about 50% or more of the videogame retail market in the US.

So, how does Wal-Mart compare?

Walmart doesn't even apply.

Your average Walmart Electronic department is staffed by a caveman who can just about point in the right direction when asked where certain things are without going into a catatonic fit.

So it's just like Gamestop then, eh?

I meant the market share, not the competence of the people they employ.

 

[frank220]

There's a mall a town or so away from me that has EB games, GameStop, and an EBX.

 

[The Invisible Goldfish]

Wow...can I move there?

 

[APPCRASH]

Good ol' South Dakota the bottom most state on their list. WE DON'T SELL OUT!

 

[kommando367]

Dothan, AL. has 4 of them, They're taking over and must be purged.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Gamestop/EB games is a hit or miss. I've met employee's who admit they've heard the horror stories, but that theirs is different. Usually the more cosmopolitan a place is the shittier it's employee's are, it seems.

Really though, having worked in retail I got to ask what do you expect? They can't populate EVERY job with gamers, which means not every person is going to have passion. That means your going to get dicks, assholes, and barely there bodies that get nothing done, like with any retail job. If your lucky these people are in the minority because they take customer service seriously, but every retail place has at least 1 lazy employee, one dickwad (usually middlemanagement or in charge of the budget), 1 employee who never shows up on time and has to be constantly prodded to work so you wonder WHY they aren't fired, etc etc.