GameStop’s Q3 results buoyed by hit game sales

While other companies are screaming that the sky is falling, retailer GameStop said Thursday that sales of hot game titles helped boost its third-quarter profits by nearly 12 percent and offset a sales decline for video game hardware in the quarter. These profits just barely helped the company beat Wall Street expectations. Excluding costs, GameStop’s operating profit of 32 cents per share beat a forecast of 30 cents per share.

Net earnings for the quarter that ended on Oct. 13 were $52.2 million - 31 cents per share, up from a profit of $46.7 million - 28 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. Sales in the quarter climbed 8.2 percent to $1.83 billion; analysts estimated $1.73 billion. A year ago the company raked in $1.7 billion.

Sales of new software rose 9.4 percent, and sales of used products jumped 19 percent. These gains helped offset a decline in sales of new video game hardware. But sales at stores open at least a year, which is considered a measure of a retailer’s financial health — fell 7.8 percent. That’s in line with forecast the company offered last week - a decline of 6 - 11 percent.

So what games pulled GameStop’s fanny out of the fire this quarter? According to the company, Madden NFL 10, Halo 3: ODST, Batman: Arkham Asylum, NBA 2K10 and Nintendo’s Wii Sports Resort. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide in its first 72 hours of release as well.

For the fourth quarter, GameStop expects a profit of $1.47 - $1.65 per share; analysts forecast Q4 profits at $1.57.

Modern Warfare 2 Tops GameFly’s Most Wanted

Video game rental service GameFly has released its annual list of “Most Wanted” games ahead of the holiday shopping season. Of the top 10 titles featured on the across all platforms list, seven have seen brisk retail sales and significant rental activity for GameFly. They include Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Halo 3: ODST, Borderlands, Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Madden NFL 10. Here are the top ten most wanted games according to GameFly subscribers:

1) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - XBOX 360, PS3

2) Batman: Arkham Asylum - XBOX 360, PS3

3) Assassin’s Creed 2 - XBOX 360, PS3, DS

4) Halo 3: ODST - XBOX 360

5) Borderlands - XBOX 360, PS3

6) Left 4 Dead 2 - XBOX 360

7) Dragon Age: Origins - XBOX 360, PS3

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - PS3

9) Madden NFL 10 - XBOX 360, PS3, PSP, Wii, PS2

10) New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Wii

For more information on GameFly, check out www.gamefly.com.

Batman: Arkham Asylum DLC soon

Eidos Interactive and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced the Prey in the Darkness Map Pack, a new downloadable map pack offering two additional Challenge Maps for Batman: Arkham Asylum. The new content will be available beginning September 24th in North America as a free download exclusively on the PlayStation Network. Outside of North America, the Prey in the Darkness Map Pack will be available on both PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

In the Heart of Darkness, players will battle a mob of relentless maniacs at the Arkham Pumping Station. In the Hothouse Prey map, players will have to rely on their Predator instincts to silently take down enemies at the Abandoned Glasshouse.

Grab it tomorrow from PlayStation Network.

Batman: Arkham Asylum DLC announced

Eidos Interactive and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced that some new downloadable content is on the way for their popular super hero game Batman: Arkham Asylum. Dubbed the Insane Night Map Pack, the free downloadable map pack will be available on Sept. 17 via the PlayStation Store, Xbox LIVE Marketplace, and Games for Windows LIVE Marketplace. The packahge offers two new Challenge Maps: Totally Insane and Nocturnal Hunter.

In the Totally Insane players will take on scores of escaped lunatics as they make their escape through the asylum’s secure records facility. In the Nocturnal Hunter players take a stealthier approach, practicing their predatory skills to remain in the shadows, utilizing the Arkham watchtowers and Batman’s arsenal of gadgets to gain the upper hand on The Joker’s army of goons patrolling below.

Arkham Asylum is already available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 with the Games For Windows version launching tomorrow.

Madden, Batman surprise in August software sales

In what can be considered a bit of a non-shocker, Madden NFL 10 managed to move 1.75 million units in August, followed by Wii Sports Resort and Batman Arkham Asylum. The Xbox 360 version of Madden raked in 928K in unit sales, while the PS3 version managed to sell through about 665K units, followed by the PS2 version which moved about 120K units.

Batman: Arkham Asylum did pretty well on the PS3 and Xbox 360; 303K units of the Xbox 360 version were sold in August followed very closely by 290K units on the PS3. No doubt hardware price cuts that kicked off in August probably helped Batman: Arkham Asylum than Madden did. Full list below:

August 2009 Software Sales:

Madden NFL 10 for Xbox 360, EA - 928,000 units

Wii Sports Resort for Wii, Nintendo - 754,000 units

Madden NFL 10 for PS3, EA - 665,000 units

Batman: Arkham Asylum for Xbox 360, Square Enix - 303,000 units

Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3, Square Enix - 290,000 units

Madden NFL 10 for PS2, EA - 160,000 units

Dissidia Final Fantasy for PSP, Square Enix - 130,000 units

Wii Fit for Wii, Nintendo - 128,000 units

Mario Kart Wii for Wii, Nintendo - 120,000 units

Fossil Fighters for DS, Nintendo - 92,000 units

Warner Bros. forms DC Entertainment

Batman: Arkham Asylum has sold almost two million copies in less than a month, according to published reports. This kind of success with a DC comics-based game is one of several reasons that Warner Bros. is creating DC Entertainment, a brand new company dedicated to taking care of DC Comics properties. The new division will be headed up by Diane Nelson, the current president of Warner Premiere. Warner Bros. says that this new division will attempt to find the full potential of DC related products including games, films, television and other media.

Naturally this is a good idea given that Disney now owns Marvel Entertainment and will no doubt be doing its best to bring popular Marvel franchises to multiple fronts including TV, movies, comic books, and naturally video games.

Batman: Arkham Asylum tops UK charts

For the second consecutive week, Batman: Arkham Asylum has managed to stay on top of the charts in the United Kingdom, fending off a challenge from Wii Sports Resort and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on the All Formats Chart - according to retail sales data from ChartTrack for the week ending Sept. 5, 2009. Despite holding on for dear life, Batman’s latest adventure is not the big winner for the week - Call of duty 4 is. The PS3 version is apparently selling like hotcakes thanks to the low price of the PS3 Slim, which is also selling very well.. Full chart after the break.

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