GameStop: 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 4,' 'Fallout 76' Failed to Meet Expectations

Even though Activision and Bethesda are seeing huge sales for their latest Call of Duty and Fallout games, GameStop doesn't seem to be benefiting as much.

The game retailer has posted its recent sales results for third quarter 2018, and even though it saw some great numbers during Black Friday weekend, it posted a huge loss.

Based on the report, the company lost $488.6 million for the quarter, with falling share prices contributing to said loss.

Said CFO Rob Lloyd, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Fallout 76 did well, they didn't do well enough, as the games were "not as successful as we had hoped."

He also noted that Fallout 76 may have been affected by low ratings from critics and fans alike. "Obviously, you can see in the market what the Metacritic scores are around Fallout 76, and that's impacted its sell-through. I'll probably just leave it at that."

The company did note that there were some top-sellers in its midst, such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and Marvel's Spider-Man, which saw strong performance over the past few months. But whether it will keep the company afloat in the long term has yet to be seen. It also noted a 10.4 increase in new software sales overall, showing that the industry is thriving, though just as much with digital sales as physical.

The nearly-$500 million loss is hard for the company to stomach, especially considering that it was actually making a profit of around $59.4 million the previous year. Management pointed out that this was due to an "impairment charge" of $587.5 million, thus where the declining share price comes into play.

The retailer has seen a tough year all around, and earlier this year was discussing the possibility of accepting a buyout with a competitor. So far, it doesn't look like progress has been made on that front, but it may be doing some looking around, especially after the loss. We'll just have to see if it bounces back when end-of-the-year numbers get revealed sometime in early 2019, and if digital sales have a further effect or not.

Fallout 76 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 are available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.