GameStop sales double thanks to the launch of Pokemon GO
It’s no secret by now that GameStop was a little worried about their future with digital gaming taking hold over many folks. Their sales dwindled greatly over the past few years due to more people embracing digital gaming.
But it could be digital gaming that’s responsible for the company’s renaissance. Pokemon GO, in particular, has been responsible for injecting many of their locations with sales spurts of more than 100% in recent days. Company spokesperson Paul Raines said they surveyed their stores and found that 462 of them were listed Pokestops or Pokemon Gyms.
After surveying, GameStop experimented with family events around Pokemon GO and saw that all of the participating stores enjoyed a big jump in sales. Did Pokemon GO itself suddenly make people want to buy as many other video games as they could?
Not likely. GameStop is still suffering when it comes to physical game sales, however they have a pretty significant merchandising business to back them up, and the biggest piece of that business just so happens to be Pokemon.
With Niantic launching sponsored locations soon it only seems natural that GameStop would explore the potential to become one of the premiere Pokemon GO destinations in the US, and with them being the biggest distributor of Pokemon games and collectibles in the world we imagine Niantic and The Pokemon Company wouldn’t mind having that conversation, either.
[via Venture Beat]