GameStop: The World Will Stand Up And Take Notice When Next Xbox Is Revealed

For the most part, GameStop has been praising Sony’s efforts with PS4, and has revealed that Sony won’t be able to meet demand for the console at launch because of how high on gamers purchase list it is. But what about the next Xbox? Well, according to GameStop CEO J. Paul Raines, who actually knows a thing or two about Microsoft’s upcoming console, “the world will stand up and take notice” when Redmond finally reveals what it’s been cooking up all these years.

That’s what Raines said while speaking to GI.biz recently, adding that GameStop wants Microsoft to be the ones to start talking.

We’ve been spending a lot of time with Microsoft, but we have to let them take the lead on this, but it will be a very hot, compelling device. They are doing some really cool stuff, and I’m eager to hear them start their announcements because I think the world is going to stand up and take notice.

Raines also held an upbeat attitude on the next generation of consoles in the face of the pessimists who say things have changed, and that the current model can’t keep up, pointing towards high demand at GameStop for PS4. He believes once the next Xbox is unveiled, the added excitement will only help the industry grow.

We don’t subscribe to that. The cool thing with GameStop is, we’ve got a lot of gamers here and we’ve got a lot of people [on the team] who’ve seen every console cycle. And what’s interesting to me – I was talking to one of our founders, Dan DeMatteo, and he was telling me every console cycle you get people who will say ‘there will never be another console,’ or ‘what else can the consoles do?’ And we just believe it’s a cycle and we just haven’t had a new product in so long. But we certainly don’t believe that the new consoles won’t be as exciting,” he said, adding that the nearly 900,000 people who signed up for the “First to Know” list to hear more about the PS4, and the 34 percent of PowerUp Rewards members who expect to buy a PS4 in the next 12 months is proof of the buzz around new consoles. “There’s a lot of demand for PS4, and I think there will be for the next Xbox as well, once it’s announced.

And what about the untimely death of Wii U that some, including me have speculating? Raines said it’s all industry cynicism.

This industry has a lot of cynicism and people love to say stuff isn’t going to work, but we think the Wii U is a real console that’s been disappointing for a couple months, but we think there’s more there when the first-party titles come out. Nintendo’s got a few up their sleeve.