Despite a seemingly huge drop in sales, Game Group, the video games retailer, today said that it will make a first-half profit for only the third time in its 18-year history.

In the first 21 weeks of its current year, like-for-like sales dropped 15% because the same period last year saw a massive boost to turnover with the release of three big-selling games in the shape of Mario Kart, Wii Fit and Grand Theft Auto IV, which together boosted Game's sales by a quarter.

As ever, Game will make most of its profits in the run-up to Christmas and chief executive Lisa Morgan said there is a very strong release schedule including Wii Fit Plus, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics and FIFA 2010. It is also seeing strong growth in its trade-in and second-hand business as consumers look for better-value deals during the recession.

Morgan said: “It's now a vital part of our business, accounting for 18% of all revenues, which means that it's more than £100 million a year.”

Game said first-half profits will be between £13 million and £16 million, down from the exceptional £36.4 million made last year. While sales are falling, margins are rising, and are likely to be 11⁄2% to 13⁄4% better than last year.