GameStop Teases Unannounced Nintendo Switch Games

GameStop is looking to have quite a windfall for the next few quarters, and most of it is in part due to the Nintendo Switch.

Answering to investment firm Oppenheimer & Co’s Managing Director at GameStop’s March earnings call, GameStop CEO Mike Mauler, said that GameStop is poised for a strong year due to the strong slate of games that Nintendo is going to release for the Switch, even teasing that many of them have yet to be announced.

Question: Brian Nagel — Oppenheimer & Co — Managing Director

Got it. Thank you. And then, one more if I could just slip it in, with regard to the Switch, clearly, itself was a big sales driver to you in 2017. As we look out and see, basically, how, I guess, the Switch phenomena continues to evolve, will it be similar to other platforms where, over time, you get a better and better attachment rate just because you have this installed base of hardware?

Answer: Mike K. Mauler— Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I think that’s a fair question with Nintendo. We know what happened with the Wii U. I’d say this is definitely a whole different platform that we saw in the past. We have visibility to the software… So, last year was a tremendous year for their software as well as hardware, between Zelda and Mario Odyssey and all the games that they had, it really drove a lot of hardware sales as well as software. I think, this year, when we look at the slate of titles — many of which haven’t been announced yet — this year looks also very, very strong. So, I think, at least for 2018, we’ll continue to see the strong software slate drive additional install based on the hardware and increase attach rate. We don’t have, really, visibility for ’19 yet, but for ’18, it should play out that way.

It is interesting given that the quote was made after Nintendo’s March Direct which showed off a whole slew of games Nintendo had planned, including Smash and Captain Toad. Maybe at E3 we will get to taste the full slate of very, very strong Switch games