GameStop taps ex-Playboy exec to run digital

DIGITAL: Retailer looks to boost sales with casual-gaming emphasis

By Danny King -- Video Business, 8/6/2009

AUG. 6 | DIGITAL: GameStop has added a head of digital media to its executive team less than a week after starting a casual gaming store on its Web site.

The company yesterday said it hired former Playboy Enterprises executive Chris Petrovic to be GameStop’s first general manager of digital media. Petrovic worked with companies such as THQ and Jolt Online developing online games for Playboy.

Last week, GameStop launched a section on its Web site dedicated to online and downloadable games (www.gamestop.com/casual). RealNetworks is GameStop’s technology partner on the site.

“As the digital world of gaming and entertainment evolves, GameStop is well positioned to do what it does best—help create markets,” Daniel DeMatteo, CEO of GameStop, said in a statement yesterday.

GameStop’s fiscal first-quarter same-store revenue fell on lower console sales and record-breaking year-earlier titles. The company is looking to benefit from a gaming population that’s aiming to save money by shifting toward cheaper and often free online games as well as used titles. GameStop’s first-quarter new game sales fell 3% from a year earlier, while used-game sales jumped 32%.

Total U.S. industry sales of gaming hardware, software and accessories dropped 31% in June from a year earlier, with revenue for the first half of the year down 12%, NPD Group said last month.

Meanwhile, the number of online gamers in May rose 22% from a year earlier as more people looked to save money by taking advantage of free games over the Internet, ComScore reported last month.

GameStop releases fiscal second-quarter results later this month.