Video game sales spike

DSN Retailing Today, June 27, 2005 by Doug Desjardins

This was supposed to be a flat year, at best, for video game sales as the industry transitions to the next generation of consoles. But instead, retailers are seeing an unexpected spike in sales.

After more than a year of declining sales, Toys "R" Us reported a 14% increase in game sales for its first quarter ended April 30, reversing a long video game slump. And industry leader GameStop reported a 23% increase in profits of $10.3 million for its first quarter.

Retailers attribute the sales boom to the March debut of Sony's new Playstation Portable handheld game console and continued strong sales of games for Playstation 2, Xbox and GameCube. Another indication of where sales are headed this year came at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, which drew a record crowd of 70,000 video game fans to the Los Angeles Convention Center May 17-19.