Back in January 2021, GameStop was riding high on a wave of frustration against the powers that be on Wall Street. Nobody cries for hedge fund bros (Here’s looking at you Eddie Lampert) and the denizens of WallStreetBets on reddit were ready to stick it to the upper crust. The stock rose and rose (they even made a movie about it, entitled Dumb Money). When it was over, the value of the stock increased by over 30 times, starting around 17 dollars a share and ending up at over 350 dollars per share. GameStop took it’s newfound riches and shored up the companies finances and embarked on an ill-fated foray into NFTs which ended up being a bust. Today the company trades at 13.10 a share, having lost all of the value gained during the massive short squeeze. It faces an uncertain future as it continues to close stores, closing 119 in 2022 and 42 in 2023. So far in 2024, 13 have closed.
I am no stranger to the store. Up until the digital download revolution, I was a PowerUp Rewards member and going to GameStop was like Christmas to me. I estimate that as a middle aged gamer who was likely making up for lost time during my relatively spartan childhood, I spent about 10,000 dollars at the store over the years. I bought a brand new Zelda-edition Wii U and my Xbox One. I enjoyed walking around the store, with it’s worse for wear carpet and loud television advertising the latest games and Kongregate.com. There was always an air of quiet desperation when I checked out, as the Game Advisor pushed the latest pre-orders on me like an addict who desperately needed coin for his next bump. It turns out that GameStop is a pretty miserable place to work, much like the plight of regional airline pilots who are ill treated because they want to fly and get paid for it, GameStop uses their employees love of games against them, making the most tenuous of claims that a job with the company is working in the games industry. (I remember a book about getting a job in the games industry being sold at the counter). Their infamous Circle of Life program encouraged employees to be dishonest, going as far as hiding new games so that the more lucrative used titles could be sold. The company vision statement (“Together, we hold a passion for gaming, a commitment to our industry and a disciplined business perspective to continuously drive value with shareholders, customers, vendors and employees.”) puts employees last and shareholders first, even ahead of customers. Reddit is filled with stories of just how poorly the staff is treated and as a long time customer, I can confirm their downcast disposition. It is apparently a fairly high pressure sales organization first and while many may not realize it, it is also a pawn shop in many ways, where those who need some extra cash can sell their games for immediate cash. This brings all the problems you might expect from dealing with the general public, especially when money is on the line. Staff deal with everything from angry customers, unreasonable district managers, roach infested consoles and irate middle class fathers. The employees pay a heavy price for their involvement in the “games industry.”
GameStop faces an existential crisis. It’s core business has long revolved around selling physical games, in particular used copies. You could get games for less than full freight, sometimes significantly so. Perhaps not surprisingly, the real games industry, the Electronic Arts and Sony’s of the world are not exactly thrilled about this. They get cut out of the profits when someone resells a game and for this reason, they are no fans of the company. Blockbuster tried to bring in more non-media physical merchandise such as t-shirts and collectables during it’s slow death spiral and GameStop is trying the same. Funco POPs, Zelda shields, stuffed animals and yes, t-shirts, threaten to outnumber the games. I’ve bought a few since the merchandise is actually pretty good and is frequently on sale, but any visit to the store will likely reveal lots of items on clearance and not many customers. I personally thought the company should try to make an alliance with Sega and make another console, that could only be bought in store, to get some foot traffic, but I’m certainly no expert and my idea was laughed at mercilessly by insiders. Perhaps GameStop could convince Steam to sell the Steam Deck exclusively in it’s stores; anything to get some more traffic for without it, the company is not long for this world.
If you ever enjoyed visiting, and it has been a few years, I recommend going. Listen to the sales pitch out of courtesy and buy something, anything, and help do your part, since you are there. It’s not nice to refuse to help a drowning man, after all. I don’t think it makes me Nostradamus to predict the end, but I’ll call it, and I give GameStop five years tops. Thanks GameStop, for the memories. I’m done now, I think I’ll go download No Man’s Sky for the 5th time.
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Sources: Blogspot (store closure list) and GameStop website