On October 31st, GameStop CEO Paul Raines told analysts and investors that games such as Halo 5, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, and Star Wars Battlefront were underperforming. Although Star Wars Battlefront was released after that date, GameStop President Tony Bartel made note that Star Wars Battlefront should be included as well.
Bartel said that the Halo 5 sales were believed to be much higher then average, as Microsoft reported $400 million in Halo sales, while for sales in the US alone, GameStop earned only $119 million. The differences are taken into account by the fact that NPD only reports US sales, and that there were two additional days of sales not mentioned by Microsoft. Bartel claims there is no reason to believe that the digital sales were higher for Halo 5, despite Microsoft claiming that this is one of the highest digital sales ever for a video game. “We are in full understanding and full belief that there is no game that was launched this quarter that was materially above a normal digital percent at launch.”
Bartel expects Star Wars Battlefront to rebound in part thanks to The Force Awakens, and Black Friday sales having already been announced at the time of Star Wars Battlefront’s release. Industry Analyst Doug Creutz did update later, saying that “We especially have a hard time believing that Halo 5 digital units remain in the 20-25% range, as Gamestop management suggested on the call,”