UK high-street retailer GAME has pointed to “challenging trading conditions” in the country after cutting its end of year profit forecast.
Described as a pre-Christmas slump, annual revenue was down 11.4 per cent compared to 2014, leading to company shares dipping 34 per cent as a result. According to BBC News, the period leading up to December 19 in particular witnessed GAME revenue fall by 6.7 per cent to £466.8m.
In light of the marked decline, CEO Martyn Gibbs attributed the slump to PS3 and Xbox 360 sales dropping rapidly, as players make the switch to new platforms.
“Trading conditions in the UK video games market have been challenging. The switch over from the older gaming formats to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One software has impacted profitability across the UK market.
“The extent of the impact of this switch over has only become apparent in December which has been compounded by lower year-on-year High Street and shopping centre footfall.”
And though GAME has witnessed a surge in PS4 and Xbox One sales, any revenue boon was “more than offset by the unexpectedly steep decline in Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 content sales.”
