By Dan Gallagher

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) - GameStop Corp. saw earnings rise 22% during its fiscal fourth quarter as video game sales continued to grow despite the slowing economy.

The Grapevine, Tex.-based video game retailer (GME) also stuck to its earlier forecast for the current quarter. Shares of GameStop were up slightly to $26.92 in early morning trading Thursday.

In the quarter ended Jan. 31, meanwhile, GameStop reported earnings of $232 million, or $1.39 a share, compared to $190 million, or $1.14 a share, for the same period last year.

Revenue also grew 22%, to $3.49 billion. Same-store sales grew 9.6% during the quarter.

The latest quarter included income of 5 cents a share related to the acquisition of Micromania. Adjusted for that item, GameStop matched the forecast of Wall Street analysts, who had been expecting earnings of $1.34 per share on revenue of $3.48 billion, according to FactSet Research.

The results were also roughly in line with a pre-announcement from the company last month.

In the current quarter, GameStop predicted earnings of 40 cents to 42 cents a share. Analysts had been forecasting earnings of 40 cents a share on revenue of $1.95 billion.

For 2009, GameStop reiterated its prior forecast that earnings per share will increase 18% to 22%, with total sales growth of 10% to 12%.

"Looking at 2009, we are confident in our ability to increase sales and earnings, generate significant cash, advance market share, and maintain a financially sound balance sheet," Chief Executive Dan DeMatteo said in a statement.