In a recent earnings call, Gamestop did something that we rarely see the company do: Stick up for Nintendo. After calling the Wii U console "disappointing" as recently as earlier this month, it seems like Gamestop has gained a bit of confidence in the NX. The company said that the console could bring in $7.5 billion in just two years on the market, which is about half the revenue the original Wii brought in. Mike Hogan, the Executive Vice President of Business Strategy, was even more bullish on the console. In a statement, Hogan said that "The Nintendo NX is gonna be huge!" That sounds like nothing short of an endorsement.
Gamestop definitely knows something that we do not know. After all, retailers are often some of the first to know about new products - before even media insiders find out, and long before a public announcement is made. The true question is: What does Gamestop know that allows the company to be so confident in Nintendo's next console?
Perhaps Gamestop knows the specs and price of the NX. In that case, maybe the console is powerful - at least on the level of the PSNeo and Xbox 1.5 - and affordable for consumers to pick up. Of course it would make sense in this case that revenue would probably be rather high for the console.
Another possibility, likely the most probable, is that Gamestop knows the launch titles for the NX. If Gamestop knows that the console is getting a spectacular first launch year, and believes that software can truly move hardware, then a bullish claim on the NX would also make sense. Imagine that the NX gets Mario, Zelda, a Retro Studios title, Pikmin, and Animal Crossing within its first year - that must be a recipe for success.
It is also quite possible that Gamestop has seen some of the marketing materials planned for the NX and knows what the console's main feature or "gimmick" is. If Gamestop believes in the main feature of the NX, thinking that the console will catch on, then that could also explain the company's confidence in the console.
No matter what the reason is, there is obviously something that Gamestop knows that we all do not. Fortunately, the company is rather optimistic about the prospects of Nintendo's next console - so by all indication, we should be at least cautiously optimistic as well!