Gamestop announced that sales for the last quarter of 2016 – That is, the holiday season – were much lower than they expected. So much lower that, to help buffer costs, the company is planning to close about 3% of its stores worldwide, which equates to somewhere around 150-250 stores, depending on your source. This might well be the tip of the iceberg for them, and it’s honestly a long time coming.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t hate GameStop. I have had my troubles with local stores before, but things have been good the past few years for me shopping there. The companies policies, like the “circle of life”, the nepotism in their hiring practices, their general lack of good customer service, forcing credit cards and protection plans on people who shop there, and more have all done their toll on the customer base who often previously only had a single GameStop in their area, alongside normal big box retailers.
These days, one-off stores are more common than ever, and chains like Game Xchange are also spreading across the country, tapping into the niche of used games GameStop ones dominated. As for new game sales, well, big box stores have always, and still dominate GameStop, even, reportedly, being a key point in the lost revenue the past holiday season – they simply had better console bundles than GameStop, or so the story goes.
I’m not going to dwell too much on this and try to figure out every little detail – I don’t think I need to hear, as anyone who is familiar with GameStop and especially anyone familiar with actual retail and corporate business will know what’s up and see what may well be the beginning of the end for GameStop.
I’m not saying this is it, and GameStop is doomed. What I am saying is, their poor treatment of their customer base and general shitty reputation may finally be catching up with them, and that tends not to bode well for stores in the long term. Time will tell though.
In any case, enjoy this video from Rich, of ReviewTechUSA, where he gives some more details and his thoughts on the subject.