Game Crazy Buyer Says Crazy Things

You probably know GameStop, Earth's number one videogame retailer (in terms of dollars, not quality), but have you heard of their only direct market competitor (in the U.S.), Game Crazy? To put some perspective on their market holdings, in QP's hometown of Philadelphia there are three Game Crazy locations -- as compared to 10 GameStop locations littered throughout the City of Brotherly Love.

Know 'em or not, their word means something when publicly expressed, especially when it's regarding a controversial subject like the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Daily Game recently spoke with Game Crazy's buyer Dave Hulegaard about how he thinks the release of GTAIV on both Xbox 360 and PS3 simultaneously will affect the console war. Daily Game even goes so far as to preface the piece with, "[And] he uses some concrete pre-order and sales numbers to illustrate his point." Not so much -- this is what they're calling "concrete pre-order and sales numbers":

"In the past when there has been a multi-platform release, the Xbox 360 version generally had higher sales. However, [based on pre-order information at Game Crazy and general console trends] we've been seeing a much closer split between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. For example, Devil May Cry 4 sales had one of the closest splits between the two consoles than any other major title to date."

We humbly offer to him that, as the established base of Playstation 3 consoles grows, the pre-order statistics (specifically pre-order statistics and especially of titles like DMC4) for Xbox 360 and PS3 games will reach an almost perfect 50/50 equilibrium. There may never be an equal number of PS3/Xbox 360 consoles in houesholds but pre-order statistics don't necessarily reflect established user base numbers, nonetheless on a one-to-one basis. Pre-order statistics are a poor reflection of mainstream saturation, unless we're talking blockbuster, Halo/Mario/GTA territory and we're measuring more than the number two videogame retailer in the United States.

While his piece makes some valid points that are worth reading, we're now more likely to turn to Michael Pachter for our fiduciary advice. So what about you, dearest QP reader? How do you think GTAIV will affect console sales?