Despite year-over-year gains in net sales for the quarter ending October 30, 2021, GameStop overall closed Q3 with a sizable loss compared the what the retailer saw way back in the third quarter of 2020.
Looking solely at Q3, GameStop's net loss came in at $105.4 million for Q3, down from the net loss of only $18.8 million the year prior. On the sales front, GameStop reported $1.297 billion in net sales for the quarter, up roughly $290 million from the $1.005 billion reported for the same period in 2020.
That jump in net sales isn't tied as closely to the usual video game suspects as you might expect. Instead, the company credits the increase to new and expanded relationships with Samsung, LG, Razer, and Vizio.
GameStop also notes that it poured more cash into stocking up its pre-holiday inventory this time around in order to dodge the supply chain woes facing many industries this year. At this point in 2020, GameStop had $861 million in inventory compared to the $1.141 billion it now has as of October 30, 2021.
At the open of its earnings call, GameStop leadership assured investors that it is focusing on initiatives that'll pay off for the company in the long term, shortly before mentioning the GameStop's emerging interest in arguably controversial NFT, blockchain, and web 3.0 technologies.
"Our focus on the long-term means we will continuously prioritize growth and market leadership over short-term margin," said a GameStop representative during the brief call.