The big four game publishers: majority of new sales

US retail specialist GameStop has revealed that in2007, only four of over 40 publishers and manufacturers accounted forthe majority of sales of new product.
65 per cent of new productsales were down to the big four – with the continued success of the Wiiand DS, Nintendo was the biggest earner for GameStop, accounting for 21per cent of new product sales, while Sony products were responsible for17 per cent.
Microsoft product made up 16 per cent, while Electronic Arts accounted for 11 per cent of new software sales.

Last month the retailer revealed 2007 sales of USD 7.1 billion, up 33 per cent, with net earnings of USD 288.3 million, up 88 per cent.
Butaside from new product, it's the second hand market that continues togenerate "significantly higher" profits for GameStop, according to itslatest financial report.
The retailer offers over 3000 usedtitles for sale compared to 1000 new SKUs, with second hand gamesselling for an average of USD 16 while new titles have an average priceof USD 42.
In 2007, used games brought in USD 772.2 million inprofit, or almost 43 per cent of gross profit, while new titlesgenerated USD 581.7 million.
New hardware contributed USD 108.2 million in profit, while "other" products accounted for USD 351.6 million.
Theretailer was also honest about its allocation of new hardware from thetop three manufacturers compared to its retail competitors, stating,"due to our strong relationships with the manufacturers of theseplatforms, we often receive disproportionately large allocations of newrelease hardware products."
As a seasonal business, GameStophighlighted that 40 per cent of sales and 58 per cent of operatingearnings were generated during the fourth quarter of 2007, whichincludes the Christmas holiday season.
Despite the impressivesuccess in 2007, the company did note that digital downloads could cutinto the company profits in the future.
"While it is currentlyonly possible to download a limited amount of videogame content to thenext generation videogame systems, at some point in the future thistechnology may become more prevalent," stated the company.
"Alimited selection of PC entertainment software and older generationvideo games is currently available for download over the internet.
"Ifadvances in technology continue to expand our customers' ability toaccess software through these and other sources, our customers may nolonger choose to purchase video games or PC entertainment software inour stores. As a result, sales and earnings could decline," it warned.