[News] GameStop to Close 180-200 Stores Following Restructuring

I figured since this is regarding gamestop that this would fit in this category.
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Following plans of restructuring, GameStop has announced it'll close 180-200 stores by the end of the year, with more closures planned over the next 12-24 months.

"We are on track to close between 180 and 200 underperforming stores globally by the end of this fiscal year," says a GameStop representative. "And while these closures were more opportunistic, we are applying a more definitive, analytic approach, including profit levels and sales transferability, that we expect will yield a much larger tranche of closures over the coming 12 to 24 months."

During GameStop's earnings call, they also mention of their 5,700 stores, 95% of them are profitable. While that's an impressive statistic, the representative goes onto say their profits may go down moving forward with the current console generation coming to a close. Additionally, the company is expecting a lighter holiday season this year due to a lack of major blockbusters like Red Dead Redemption 2.

"We expect our year-for-year sales to be down over the next three to four quarters refecting the end of [the console] cycle," the representative continues. "Compounding this negative impact on sales is the fact that console makers have confirmed the launch earlier than they have in the past. We anticipate this will lead to much lighter title slate through the rest of 2019 and early 2020 given the end of the cycle timing for current consoles."

This news comes after the company announced a restructuring which includes fewer stores with an emphasis on e-sports and retro games. Additionally, GameStop has laid off dozens of employees recently, their CFO resigning and giving up on selling itself to another company.

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/gamestop-to-close-180-200-stores-following-restructuring/

I am unfamiliar with GameStop since I don't live where they have stores, but this comes as a bit of a surprise to me. Its equivalent here is DataBlitz, and business has been booming from what I can tell. Perhaps it is a perception thing as well as the different state of the video games market when comparing countries.

Or maybe I'm just tripping. The fact that I've reached the age when I have money to spend certainly skews my perspective, since I'm giving game stores more money now than I used to as a kid.

Cid said:

I am unfamiliar with GameStop since I don't live where they have stores, but this comes as a bit of a surprise to me. Its equivalent here is DataBlitz, and business has been booming from what I can tell. Perhaps it is a perception thing as well as the different state of the video games market when comparing countries.

Or maybe I'm just tripping. The fact that I've reached the age when I have money to spend certainly skews my perspective, since I'm giving game stores more money now than I used to as a kid.

Click to expand...

So idk how it is there in the Philippines, but GameStop's model pretty much runs on used games. People would trade in their games, and as long as it works, GameStop flips it around and sells it for a profit. That's how things were for a while. So when the rise of digital downloads were a thing, retailers like GameStop were pretty much cut out of the picture and people had the freedom to just.. download straight from their console. Why bother going to a retailer and waiting in a long line when you can just download your favourite game, instead?

The less people that trade in their games, the less profit that GameStop makes. It has essentially been their foundation, so without it, they've... been lost on what to do. What we're seeing so far is the result the digital gaming market has on it.

That, and the fact that people aren't very happy with feeling ripped off as GameStop is kinda infamous for not giving all that much for games that one tries to sell anyway. It tends to favour them 80% to 20% to the consumer.

Far more than that; The consumer and customer level and climbing the small slope are the few people or 90% that give a sh*t about games and the higher you climb the corporate ladder, the more about the numbers, stocks and investor's it becomes.

Granted, in an entertainment or any form of corporation, it's business first, customer and art second. As sad as this can sound, it's a cold hard truth and fact in order to thrive. However if your business practice doesn't see many folks coming back, then that can cause trouble or problems. I'm one of the few people in the world who doesn't like the idea behind digital media of games; I'll still head to a local game shop or even Walmart, Target or other super store and pick up a physical of game since more and more digital media becomes pulled and shoved off the network due to some CEO or developer throwing a tantrum because of what they think of others and do something like this to vex those people... Scott Pilgram Vs. The World the Game for example or the Duck Tale's Remastered; the latter of which I know is basically a clone of the NES version, but that should show what I mean.

However, on the flip side, I don't go back to Gamestop because it's not really much of a video game store. They bought out Think Geek to try and survive off of the merchandise they produce thinking it's more about the type of product they have in, though I think it's more how they operate, their Circle of Life with the Employee's, the stock and stuff they have to push on people, by asking if you wanna be a pro member and get a subscription to GamePro Magazine, setup the DLC specials with gaming companies they partner with that you can only get through them, all of it seems to be more anti-consumer like how EA, Bethesda and Activision are now suffering for their own mistakes and trying to find something blame other than themselves.

Whatever restructuring they perform, they need to pull their heads out of their asses and re-asses their mistakes.

Oh, I was wrong then. GameStop sounds like one of those specialty video game buy and sell stalls. Most of which operate in just a few areas here, with every stall managed by its own small business owner. So I guess I can understand the lost profits now.

Eventually all of them will go and we can rejoice! No longer will we be given $2 for a game that was originally $50+ lmao.

I don't even remember the last time I bought a new game from GameStop, IIRC it was 2011 or even earlier. I sometimes stop by as they have stores in every large mall close to where I live (though it's still a bit far from home so it's a once in a month thing), and even there I just look at old-gen used titles (PS3, Wii, and DS, though in almost all of them as for Wii and DS there's almost only shovelware), and even those are overpriced given how many years they've been on the market. Not to mention how used Switch games cost 5€ less than new, and any major electronics store in the same malls have them new and even cheaper. I feel sad for the employees who have nothing to do with their awful pricing policies but I'm likely not going to miss GameStop when there are still independent second-hand game/electronics stores around.

I still go to my local GameStop a few times a year, but rarely come out actually buying anything. Pokémon will likely be my only purchase of the year since I can get it on release, but otherwise it's far too easy to buy games digitally or order on Amazon and have it delivered usually no later than day of release, or next day if you're unlucky. The trading-in aspect of GS....never cared much for that. /:

For my part, I just use my local GameStops as a place to preorder Pokemon games and one of many places I buy Pokemon plushes and Pokemon cards, and the occasional system accessory if I need one these days. I basically don't buy games at mine unless I spot a rare limited edition version I like.

I really like GameStop, never once had a negative experience and I've been to 15 different locations, the employees are always awesome

Well, I'm sorry for those people who will lose their jobs as a result of this, but I am not particularly sad to see the decline of physical gaming stores. For years now trade-in prices have been disgustingly negligible when compared to sell-back prices, and full RRP is outrageous when compared to internet prices.

Well I can't go online with my Switch cause my router at my house SUCKS! If I were to get a Switch game, i'm forced to go physical. A lot of Gamestops have closed within the last two years by me, and when the one within walking distance closed, I was saddened. However, I do believe their sell back prices SUCK. Also, I heard through youtube that they're creating "Gamestop Retro" stores soon, so i'm curious the development of that.

I worked in the building next to one for a few years and damn those boys were LOUD in there.

But it was still a nice place to gather and do Smash tournaments. I'll miss what I remember GameStop being, not so much what it is now. Does that make sense?

Hope EB games aren't closing as well (as that's part of gamestop)