Gamestop’s stock falls, Sony’s stock up since Xbox One announcement

The stock market saw some fluctuation for both Gamestop and Sony on Tuesday following the Xbox One announcement. With Gamestop feeling the brunt of it.

Stock fell 5% for the worlds largest video game retailer following the announcement that the next-gen Xbox will require gamers to pay Microsoft a fee before being able to play used games. Over 60% of Gamestop’s earnings comes from the used market so this is a major blow for the retailer.

Sony, on the other hand, had something to smile about on Tuesday as their stock went up 9.25%

The reason for Sony’s rapid increase has more to do with their plans to spin-off up to 20% of their entertainment business, although the timing was almost perfect. Thousands took this as a sign of Microsoft’s failure, although others didn’t feel the need to turn to stocks for proof of that. Gamers tuned in to see what they thought would be a presentation about games but instead were given a rundown on the Xbox One’s TV, sports and Skype functionality. Needless to say, people weren’t too happy with Microsoft afterwards. To pour salt in the wounds Microsoft later admitted the console requires an internet connection at least once a day, that it can play used games but only if you pay a fee, that it requires the Kinect Peripheral to work and that it’s not backward compatible.

Will Microsoft redeem themselves come E3? Probably. It’s likely they have a few tricks up their sleeves but no matter what it is, it may be too little, too late.