Sales at electronic games retailer Game took a bit of a tumble in the 23 weeks to January 7, with its gross transactional values (GTV) in the UK dropping by 18.3 per cent.
Across the company, GTV went down by 6.3 per cent in the same 23 week period, but in the seven-week Christmas trading period to January 7, this improved to 1.3 per cent decline.
The chain attributed its latest trading performance to the fact there has been no major new releases in the video games console market in more than three years, which led to a “softening of demand”.
However, excluding low margin hardware, GTV went up slightly by 0.7 per cent over the 23 week period and 0.2 per cent in the three-week Christmas/New Year period.
READ MORE: Game rolls out in-store dedicated gaming areas
Game also said trading over Christmas and Black Friday met their forecasts.
“Trading conditions in the UK video games market remain tough, with lower console sales, and we continue to take appropriate actions to respond to these market dynamics and to reposition and transform the business,” Game chief executive Martyn Gibbs said.
”Overall demand for new games released in the period was lower than expected but we were pleased with the group‘s performance over the peak weeks of Black Friday and Christmas, with GTV excluding lower margin hardware sales up two per cent year-on-year.
”Furthermore, over the period we continued to deliver significant operational efficiencies and cost savings whilst achieving strong growth in our new retail categories and new businesses. We remain focused on achieving further progress against these key strategic priorities in the year ahead.”
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