GameStop Expects Strong PlayStation 4 Sales As The Wii U Continues To Disappoint

Despite the fact that we still don’t know a whole lot about the PlayStation 4, video game retailer GameStop is already predicting that the PlayStation 4 will be a huge hit — so much so that Sony’s new console may be hard to find when the holiday shopping season is upon us.

GameStop president Tony Bartel said as much in a recent earnings call, as reported by GamesIndustry International (via vg247). During the call, Bartel said that its customers were already showing a strong interest in the console and that the company expects that demand for the PlayStation 4 could exceed supply.

“We do believe demand will far outpace supply within the launch window, although we have been given no official numbers by Sony,” Bartel said.

The company also cited results from polls, which GameStop claims show that 34 percent of its customers already intend to purchase the PlayStation 4.

Although 2012 wasn’t without its fair share of hits, the year was down overall in sales; retailers and publishers alike reported lower-than-expected sales across the board, and the disappointing year was punctuated by the launch of Nintendo’s Wii U console.

Nintendo has been struggling to convince consumers to pick up the Wii U, according to sales data released after the launch. For GameStop, however, the console did relatively well. One analyst queried the company about the Wii U’s sales, to which Bartel replied:

“The Wii U actually exceeded our expectations at launch. We were actually out of stock early on in the launch period. However, it has been disappointing since the beginning of the year.”