New Game Plus July 15 - July 21
GameStop
Things have never looked so bleak for GameStop (GME) as they do right now. In the past things have looked bad and that’s why GameStop in the past has tried innovative ways to keep the company growing including branching off into mobile phone sales with Spring Mobile which they recently sold. With an ever increasing focus on digital games the market for used games and even new games is dwindling every day. Even today a lot of games that people might buy new in physical format are games as a service like Destiny, Anthem and The Division 2 just to name a few. With constant updates these games don’t ever need to be traded in until years after the release when the market value for the title would be next to nothing. We took a deep dive on the companies stock after their last earnings report so head on over to our site and check out what we thought about it. I’ll post a link in the description as well and check back as Ill be updating it when they release their next financials. At their last earnings report it was noted that almost every metric reported was down with a few being expected including hardware and accessories as we are coming to the end of the console cycle, however certain other metrics being down is a large sign of concern and that is used games and new game sales. With install bases for these system near the biggest they will get this should translate into greater new game sales and even greater used game sales.
This week GameStop announced a new initiative for the company and how they plan to stay relevant in todays modern age of gaming and that is by selling even older games. On their site they announced a partnership with R/GA, a global innovation design firm with the goal of the partnership to be “creating unique in store experiences as part of its strategic move in reaffirming its place in the video game culture”
This seems like a slow step in the proper direction as there is absolutely a few issues with the current landscape of the GameStop store and experience. The first issue is that there are too many physical stores, as someone who used to run brick and mortar business the cost of renting or leasing retail space is astronmical and is only going up every day, there is just an abundance of GameStop stores and some of the excess needs to be trimmed. Abundance brings us to our second problem and that is the current interior layout of the stores. The stores are too busy with cardboard stands, shelves, and bins. All the while there is usually a multitude of TV’s in the store playing different videos at different volumes. This doesn’t encourage the customer to want to hang around and be part of this community which is one of the things GameStop is trying to promote. Their new focus is on 4 motivations gamers have including community, immersion, achievements and creativity. Some of the concepts for pilot stores include esport competitive sessions to stores that strictly sell retro gaming hardware and software.
I don’t think the end of GameStop is imminent due to the upcoming release of the next generation of hardware which should give the company a longer runway. Although how much longer they have in their current format remains a huge mystery. The future is clearly all digital with the likes of things like Google Stadia hitting the market as well as things like the Xbox One S that recently shipped without a disc drive. It could be possible that in this timeframe they are able to test pilot a few of their concepts with hopes in turning the whole ship around but at the current rate they taking on water fast while heading towards an all digital ocean. With new leadership at the top it will be interesting to see what the future holds for GameStop.
Nintendo Corner
Last week we got news that in the fall Nintendo would be releasing their next iteration of the Nintendo Switch, which is called the Nintendo Switch Lite. We talked about it a whole lot on last weeks podcast so if you want to hear more about it and what my thoughts were then please go check out that podcast. Personally, I don’t think I am the target for the new system and the majority of the new features and changes coming to the Switch Lite, however one feature that is always welcome for any handheld or mobile is better battery life. The original Nintendo Switch featured battery life between 2.5 and 6.5 hours. According to Nintendo, this can vary dramatically depending on what youre playing and what the conditions are. The Nintendo Switch Lite has a battery life that was supposed to be between 3 and 7 hours which is most likely increased due to the smaller screen and other changes. Finally, last week the announced an updated version of the original Switch that will feature an updated CPU that will also have increased battery life most likely due to efficiency changes. The new battery life is 4.5 hours to 9 hours, which is much better than the original Switch and also much better than the newly unveiled Lite.
If you are in the market for the Nintendo Switch or are planning to purchase another make sure to look for the models with XKW as it will feature the updated CPU. This new model and data is already featured on the official Nintendo website product page which would me to believe that these new systems are already on the shelves or soon to be.
In other Nintendo news, one of my most anticipated Nintendo games of this year is Luigis Mansion 3. It was also one of my biggest disappointments that we didn’t get a release date for the game at E3. It makes even less sense now, that just a few short weeks later we get some random Wednesday announcement that indeed the game is going to be released on October 31, 2019 as we predicted as many other people probably predicted as well. In classic Nintendo form this was just announced on their social media, it didnt even warrant a trailer announcement on YouTube. It’s a little off character for Nintendo, who generally releases their big first party and marquee titles on Fridays and October 31st falls on a Thursday this year. I guess having a spooky game come out on halloween has more buzz to it than if it came out on November 1st. The game looks like a fun time, especially in co-op mode so if you were looking forward to playing Luigis Mansion 3 in October you won’t be disappointed.
NPD
It feels just like last week that I talked about the best selling games of the May. Well before I get too deep into the weeds at how fast time flies lets jump right into the best selling games list of June 2019. All of this information was in the video from Mat Piscatella on YouTube of the NPD group. Some quick tidbits to get out of the way first is that this is just for the US and is for the 5 week period from June 2 to July 6. Without any big surprise hardware sales are down year on year but that is mainly because we are coming to the end of the life cycle for the Xbox and PS4. They are the second highest they have been in the past five years coming behind hardware sales for the month of June 2018 so not a major concern for the overall picture of gaming. Software sales remained around the same they have been for the past 5 years with the past 4 years of software sales all being around 385.
Bringing the conversation back to Nintendo, the top selling game of June was Super Mario Maker 2, which is impressive as the game came out on June 28th. It was noted that the first month sales for Mario Maker 2 were the best the series has seen in the first month. Not that its hard to beat any sales records from the WiiU.
The second best selling game of the month went to Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled. I think the strong cult following for crash bandicoot, especially the kart series combined with a great remake and good reviews helped this game take the second spot on the chart. Interesting to note that while CTR was the best selling game on the PS4 it was only the 6th best selling game for the Nintendo Switch.
Other notable entries on the list including the surprise return to top ten from last years PS4 exclusive Marvel’s Spider Man. This has to be thanks in large part to the latest entry in the MCU, Spider Man: Far From Home. This movie apparently had one of the biggest marketing campaigns to date and clearly it paid off in the theatres but all for Insomniac and Sony. The latest bump in sales the game has received has now made it the best selling superhero game in US history.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
As you probably already know, this years call of duty is a modern warfare reboot. Not only is the franchise rebooting the series that sent it into the stratosphere but it is also getting a fully new engine for the first time since. The new series teased to us at the end of May revealed a new a darker tone than previous games with a new visceral and raw feel the series has been missing we are told.
Late last week we got some footage of streamers and press playing a new multiplayer mode called gunfight. The mode is one of the many new things the series will be bringing this year. It features 2v2 combat in fairly close quarters environments specifically designed for the mode. There are no special perks or kill streaks just whatever random loadout the game selects everyone will get at the start of each round. The first team to six wins and each round had a timer of 40 seconds, which forces players into action. There have been duo modes before in many other shooters but not with these specific rule sets and custom designed environments. This might be one of the many shakeups the series needs to regain its dominance.
This week a full 6 minute video featuring gunfight was released on infinity wards YouTube in full 4K. There were a few details you could notice in the full trailer. One of the things Infinity Ward has said was that the reboot was going for a raw, visceral and gritty feel and watching this trailer that comes through. It goes without saying but the new engine looks and sounds amazing but its a lot of the little things I notice that going a long way to achieving that raw and gritty feel they are going for.
One of the biggest questions surrounding Modern Warfares multiplayer suite will be if it includes the hottest game mode at the moment….Auto Chess. It most likely will not have an auto chess mode but the serious question will be if it includes Battle Royale. I think it would be very interesting to see what Infinity Ward, a new engine and a darker tone could bring to the Battle Royale mode. I wouldn’t hold your breath for it because traditionally Call of Duty has been a three tiered approach with a single player component, a multiplayer component and some type of co-op component. The usual package consisted of campaign, online and zombies with last years entry eschewing a campaign for the addition of Blackout, Treyarch’s take on the Battle Royale mode. What we know for sure is that Modern Warfare will have a single player campaign and a multiplayer suite but the big question is what will be the third tier in their offerings. The rumour is that this year we will see a return of the co-op mode spec ops and this would mean that we would likely not be seeing a zombies/horde mode or a Battle Royale mode. I think the best thing for Activision to do would be to get a new team working with the new engine and get them designing a free to play Battle Royale mode separate from the annual entry. This would give Activision a competitor for games like the free to play Fortnite and Apex Legends.
All of these question will be answered soon as Infinity ward has announced a full multiplayer reveal on August 1st at 10am pacific time so be sure to check that out if you are interested to see what else this team has up its sleeve when Modern Warfare drops on October 25th.