Best Buy CEO says gaming engagement will continue across platforms even as people return to in-person activities

Best Buy CEO Corie Barry told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday that she believes consumers will continue to seek out gaming and products related to it, even as in-person activities abound.

“Gaming is much bigger than any cycle. It is social, it is [virtual reality], it is console, it is computing. It is for fun, but it’s also in competition. Gaming, the definition of it, has expanded massively,” Barry said in an interview on “Mad Money.”

“This is about how we communicate amongst each other, especially how my kids — I watch them, that’s how they talk to their friends. And so, I think this is about more than any one cycle. This is about continued, we believe, engagement in gaming across a multitude of platforms,” she said, adding that gaming computers are at the highest end of computers that Best Buy offers.

Barry’s comments came after Cramer asked if the gaming cycle is “running its course.” While an uptick in omicron BA.2 cases in the U.S. has led some institutions to tighten Covid restrictions, many people are still opting to spend time out and about after being cooped up inside during the pandemic.

The chief executive, who spoke about her optimistic viewpoint on the future of home technology upgrade demand in her last “Mad Money” appearance, maintained her position on Monday.

“We believe the future, the way we live in almost every aspect, will be lived using technology. … This isn’t just about a want anymore, this is about a need and a way of living that fundamentally has changed faster than we ever thought in the last two years,” she said.

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