Aug. 20--The recession has finally caught up with GameStop Corp., as the Grapevine-based video game retailer reported Thursday morning weaker-than-expected second quarter results.

GameStop reported second quarter sales of $1.74 billion, down 3.7 percent from $1.8 billion a year ago.

Profit came in at $38.7 million, or 23 cents per share, a 32.3 percent plunge from $57.2 million, or 34 cents per share, in the same period last year.

Analysts had been expecting revenue of $1.75 billion and a profit of 28 cents per share.

GameStop also said that same-store sales -- sales at stores open at least a year -- fell 14.1 percent.

"Due to the effects of the recession and strong prior year comparisons, the video game industry experienced a sharp decline in consumer spending during the quarter," Daniel DeMatteo, GameStop's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

"Looking ahead, as the new title release schedule improves, we expect positive earnings growth in the back half of the year."

In the third quarter, GameStop expects earnings per share to range from 27 cents to 33 cents, compared to 28 cents in the previous year.

In the critical holiday fourth quarter, earnings per share are now predicted to range from $1.47 to $1.65, compared to $1.39 a year ago.

Several highly-anticipated games that had been expected to ship this year and boost sales have been moved to next year, GameStop acknowledged.

But the retailer also generates a significant chunk of its profit from older, used games, which benefits the company when recession-minded gamers are looking for bargains.

Shares of GameStop were down about five percent in early trading.

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