K2, the sporting goods manufacturer and the owner of leading paintball brandnames Brass Eagle and Worr Games has decreased its earnings outlook for both the quarter and the year. This was blamed on poor paintball sales; this segment will contribute virtually nothing to the profit picture for the company.
One of the explanations for this loss was the rise in gas prices, which has directly hit paintball product sales.
It is hard to imagine that paintball, being only one K2 sporting goods line, could have such a dramatic impact on the sales on its own.
As Rich Duprey, of Motley Fool controversially states in his article K2: Paintball Caused Downfall, “Though it has the ear markings of becoming an extreme sport, perhaps paintball still needs to be relegated to the ranks of fad recreation activities.”
However those in the paintball industry often see the success or failure of the sport is not in the sales but in the growth and popularity of the game itself.