GameStop Looks to Europe for Growth

GameStop is making money, and its CEO thinks its ever-enlarging footprint in Europe is one of the reasons why.

The gaming retailer will pay a unit of LVMH $700 million for Micromania, a French chain with more than 300 stores, in a deal announced Wednesday. It gives GameStop 5,889 stores in 16 countries, including 1,077 in Europe, according to Seeking Alpha.

On Aug. 2, GameStop CEO Daniel DeMatteo told analysts on an earnings call, “We believe we now have the number one market share of game sales in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Italy, Ireland, Scandinavia, and are closing in on it in the Germanic countries. Therefore, we believe that we have many opportunities for expansion in all countries we operate and continue to look at new countries to expand into.”

However, also in August, for the first time in 27 months, the video game industry failed to post double-digit growth, according to NPD. Most retailers would kill for 9 percent year-over-year percentage growth, but the gaming folks wrung their hands. Did the Olympics, politics and, um, summer keep people otherwise occupied? Were folks waiting for September price cuts? Seth Gilbert of Metue.com points out that the industry is up 32 percent on the year, not exactly shabby.

During the Great Depression, the movie business boomed as people escaped their troubles by watching “It Happened One Night,” “The Thin Man,” and “The Wizard of Oz.” Now, to take our minds off mortgage-backed securities and Sarah Palin, we steal cars with “Grand Theft Auto,” rock out with “Guitar Hero,” and interfere in imaginary people’s lives via The Sims. What does this say about us as a culture? Not sure I want to delve into that too far.

Image by chrisjohn23 via Flickr, CC 2.0