It’s no secret that gamers are big fans of the games they consume, but at what point does the investment in being a fan overtake the games they are a fan of? According to GameStop, not only is that day coming, but the wheels are already turning.
During the Q2 financial results conference call for GameStop, the gaming giant announced that their collectible sales had grown more than 36%, far outpacing the growth in gaming hardware and gaming software. While this is impressive, in and of itself, GameStop also shed some light on the spending habits of their loyalty customers.
“We currently sell more of the popular Pop! Vinal characters than anyone else in the world.” GameStop announced. “One half of our loyalty customers purchase collectibles, and they spend more money annually on collectibles than they do on video games.” For reference, Pop! Vinyl characters usually sell at GameStop for anywhere between $10 and $20, compared to the usual MSRP for new video games of $60.
Furthermore, GameStop predicted that “The overall collectibles market will surpass the video game market as soon as next year.” According to the quarterly report, collectible sales reached $122.5 million this quarter, compared to new gaming software (a lose metric for video game sales) at $369.3 million. But, it’s important to note that software sales dropped by 3.4% while collectible sales saw that huge 36% growth, which could account for GameStop’s bullish prediction.
