GameStop Sets Sights on PC Gaming in New Digital Push

While Reddit may have brought GameStop back from the abyss, there is no denying that the company still needs stronger future prospects to sustain itself. And at the moment, the primary prospect for broadening the company’s horizons (and profit margins) seems to be PC gaming.

In a packed Q4 2020 earnings call yesterday, GameStop CEO George Sherman revealed the company’s intentions to make a mark in the digital marketspace through PC gaming and a range of other things. To quote the new CEO, GameStop plans to grow its offerings

“across PC gaming, computers, monitors, game tables, mobile gaming, and gaming TVs, to name only a few.”

GameStop CEO George Sherman

Historically speaking, GameStop has, for the most part, stayed away from PC gaming and relied solely on consoles and gaming paraphernalia. But with companies like Nvidia, AMD, and Intel always competing to have the top CPU or GPU in the market, PC gaming is a very profitable vertical to be in. Additionally, this move via digital is the right thing to do for GameStop as the company’s current financials are not the strongest.

As highlighted during the investors call, sales declined by 9.5% as compared to the Q4 2019, with net sales for 2020 down to $5.09 billion compared to $6.4 billion in 2019. But on the plus side, overall operating expenses went down from $1.9 billion to $1.5 billion, and e-commerce sales jumped 191%, contributing 30% to overall sales. With the PS5 and XBox Series X/S consoles releasing in 2020, console sales were also quite strong and are expected to remain so for the rest of 2021.

There was no mention of GameStop’s infamous, market-breaking stock rally on the call which in January climbed to an all-time high of $480. The stock is currently priced at $120 and remains as volatile as ever.

This move to digital is already in play as GPUs from the RTX 3000 series are already listed on GameStop’s website Sooner or later, interested players will find other PC components and/or pre-built machines there as well as the company works on beefing up the inventory at GameStop.com/PCgaming.

About GameStop

GameStop Corp. is an American video game retailer that sells gaming merchandise like game titles, consoles, and accessories through digital and physical formats. It is a Fortune 500 company and owns over 5,000 stores across various countries.