GameStop brick and mortar is all but dead

[Warmsignal]

As if they couldn't find enough nails to put in the coffin, before burying this once unbeatable chain of stores. They've done gone, found another one.

As part of their most recent efforts to flounder about until the company dies, their new revamp comes with a brilliant new focus. More trinkets in store, less games. If you've stepped into the store lately, you'll find the Xbox, PS, and Nintendo walls rather condensed from what you remember. This is because they've taken away game browsing. Each game the store carries, is now located in the back, with only a generic preview box on the shelf, indicating both the NEW and PRE-OWNED price on the preview box. So much for browsing through used inventory. If you're concerned at all over condition or completeness, you'll need to ask them to pull out every copy they've got and show you.

It's kind of a non-issue for me, since I stopped buying current gen games in pre-owned condition as the prices rarely make sense when you can go online and pick up a sealed copy for the same price as a booger smeared trade-in, 99% of the time.

But it kind of represents an end of an era, short of the chain completely going out of business which is very likely to happen. I almost want to say that they deserve it, because their supply chain is freaking abysmal. GameStop. You know, the video game store.... usually has less stock of non-AAA titles than their competitors. It's so pathetic that I can't even walk into my local GS and pick up 90% of anything that's been released on Switch this fall. It's just not there. The employees look at me like "WTF is that game?". This place use to be all encompassing, everything video games. Now if you don't pre-order at least 3 months in advance, the store isn't getting that game. At all. Freaking pathetic, as a brick and mortal establishment. Even their online inventory tends to run out a lot faster than competitors, leading me to think they probably didn't have that much to begin with.

So now with this latest store revamp, there's almost no reason for me to go into one of these stores again, unless I pre-order a game and go pick it up (not to mention they often can't get the game to me by the guaranteed release date). I used to hit these places up several times per week, back during the 7th gen era. Now there's no inventory browsing, there's no niche games coming in, there's no rewards program. There's basically no GameStop. It's already dead as we knew it. Sad.

[burningdoom]

People have been talking about how terrible GameStop is for years, and they want to see them go out of business.

I've never had issue with GameStop. I've always been treated well by staff. I've gotten good deals there. And I've never felt like I was being cheated. Sure trade-in values suck, but that's why I sell my extra stuff on eBay, instead.

If GameStop does go down, that's bad for the entire physical game industry and collectors. This is not something to look forward to, it's something to dread. When GameStop goes down there goes many people's sole source of physical video games, besides the internet. And with it gone, the shift to digital only sales will probably fully happen.

I hear people say all the time that mom & pop stores will flourish if that happens. Sure, if you live in a city with one. A lot of cities don't have something like that, especially small to medium-sized towns.

That new browsing system is really stupid, though.

[seether]

Consoles will be all digital next gen.

[Warmsignal]

People have been talking about how terrible GameStop is for years, and they want to see them go out of business.

I've never had issue with GameStop. I've always been treated well by staff. I've gotten good deals there. And I've never felt like I was being cheated. Sure trade-in values suck, but that's why I sell my extra stuff on eBay, instead.

If GameStop does go down, that's bad for the entire physical game industry and collectors. This is not something to look forward to, it's something to dread. When GameStop goes down there goes many people's sole source of physical video games, besides the internet. And with it gone, the shift to digital only sales will probably fully happen.

I hear people say all the time that mom & pop stores will flourish if that happens. Sure, if you live in a city with one. A lot of cities don't have something like that, especially small to medium-sized towns.

That new browsing system is really stupid, though.

Yes, and I agree with all of that. Once they shutter, I'll just have Walmart locally, and Walmart has largely given up on physical games as well, in store. Nothing but the biggest AAA titles. Also, "mom & pop stores" are crap for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is the fact they lack the capacity to deal in new games. They're glorified pawn shops. I don't want GameStop to go, but they're doing everything they possibly can to bring about their own demise. It's hard to route for a store that wants to do everything ass-backwards wrong. If their strategy to combat digital sales is to become less like a video game focused store, I can't find it in me to support that.

[ignition365]

I actually just popped into gamestop to get my monthly free $5 eshop card.

Store is definitely less cluttered than pre-covid, but at a glance, I didn't see any video games anywhere.  I was in and out though, so I didn't really look.  Post-covid, going to GS is gonna be a wild experience for me that will lead to me basically never going to GS again.  $60 in eshop money for $15 is a no brainer though.

[kashell]

The last time I went to a GameStop it was for my copy of 13 Sentinels. I actually didn't set foot inside the store since the clerk said he'd meet me outside with the game.

Now I'm curious to see how different they look on the inside.

[kamikazekeeg]

I just bought all 3 Dark Souls games from there online, but otherwise I haven't bought a game from there in awhile and I might just go to Walmart more often, because most of their new games are 10 bucks cheaper than other places.  I've bought more toys from there than anything, so their shift to less games hasn't been too bad for me lol

[Flashback2012]

This new setup is making my trips shorter because I have nothing to look at/for. I don't know if it's an attempt to increase usage of their website but if it is, then they need to overhaul that overhaul of their site as it's a dumpster fire with a side of Taco Bell diarrhea on top. Searching for anything is super unreliable and I've had several instances now where I've found the items in store where the site said no copies were within 100 miles of me.

The setup of cover art for new is LONG overdue. This is something that should have been in place over a decade ago when I was still there. No more customers fussing about open new games and title on-hand counts would be very much the same. It doesn't work for pre-owned product though as it severly limits browsing. I know it's been nothing short of a chore to piece together items for their B2G1F or 4/$20 and 4/$30 sales they run. I know my old store is being used as a test location to put all pre-owned games $15 and under on a gondola. It's not the correct fix but it's a step in the right direction.

Some of this flailing about as a company could have been mitigated if they had re-branded themselves. They own the ThinkGeek brands and could have went with calling themselves ThinkGeek-GameStop in places they were certain to keep stores (stores in affluent areas or ones with heavy foot traffic). They could slowly but surely transition away from the toxic GameStop brand and focus on selling dumb shit/novelties which apparently have better margins than games do. They could still sell physical games of course or when the consoles go digital have a wall of cards to buy for digital code redemption.

Of course, they're burning the candle at both ends and burning out their already burnt out employees. People are quitting in droves because they're not given enough hours to complete tasks/man operations. COVIDiots aren't helping matters either. On the GS subreddit, it's become an even worse clusterfuck at the top of management because no matter who they put in charge, the PTB are STILL wanting to focus on metrics like pre-orders, Game Informer subs (which no longer provide decent discounts), and warranties. I get why some of these are pushed like warranties because most people will never use/need them so it's free money to them. It's unscrupulous but it's easier for executives to rake that in than actually do their job and come up with genuine revenue streams that aren't exploitive. 

I guess one good side effect of COVID is that it's shown a lot of these corporate businesses have a definite lack of long term planning. It's always "just make it the the end of the quarter before the bottom falls out. " 

[bizzarnage]

First off..

Consoles will be all digital next gen.

T r i g g e r e d


Secondly, Ex-Employee here. The reality of it is, GameStop is in the process of becoming what MovieStop was before it croaked; a novelty shop. They bit off more than they could chew with their ambitious ThinkGeek merch lineup and the problem isn't so much that they sell it but their inventory issues. They try too hard to capitalize on trends but they just don't understand their local demographics and couldn't be bothered to consider only selling what would move in stores individually.

We were obligated to try and push toys with every game sale, and had to make every game wall tie in with funko pops and blind bags, and mix our displays with expensive figures. Ask anyone who's been there long and you'll hear the same; for every 1 customer interested in these items, you have 10 who just want to in and out with their buys, and 30 looking to sell their stuff. So many of the stores I've been to had basically large cache's of old out of season toys that were being pushed out for fractions of the price in vein attempts to break even. GameStop progressively did and continues to do less to focus on their namesake and they're still trying to find a way to become  a mini Toys R US.

They're going to try their best to become a "nerd culture shop" not unlike stores like Spencers or Hot Topic, where it's just one big "niche" novelty shop... IF they manage to make it that far. But uh.. Big Doubt. GameStop is gonna be history just like CEX is.

[oldgamerz]

The last item I got from GameStop was a Refurbished PlayStation 3 slim. I am vary happy with this purchase it is sad to see them go. but nothing I can do about it. My local area has a lot of other game stores though

[bigbossman]

I never cared for the trinkets or "collectables" that they stock in their stores.

The only way I will order one of their games is if its new. I've had VERY BAD experiences ordering used games from Gamestop. Shortly after getting my PS4 (just last Christmas), I bought several used games, about 3 or 4 different orders within a short period of time. Each shipment of used games had top side scratches, which make the games completely unplayable. The new items were of course new. When you order a used game, you don't know if you are getting the game with the proper case / cover art & instruction manual.

I haven't gone into one of since that mask mandate has been in effect.

Lately, the only time I've been ordering anything from Gamestop.com is when I want to buy another WWE Network subscription card. If they screw that up, I'll stop ordering that from them too.

[wolff242]

First off..

Consoles will be all digital next gen.

T r i g g e r e d

I mean, he's not wrong. Not sure why you would claim this statement is  T r i g g e r e d when it's pretty much common knowledge.

[burningdoom]

First off..

Consoles will be all digital next gen.

T r i g g e r e d

I mean, he's not wrong. Not sure why you would claim this statement is  T r i g g e r e d when it's pretty much common knowledge.

I think he was joking, because most of us here are physical collectors.

[droaa]

Yeah Im not crazy on the whole new setup with games. While it does prevent Gamestop NEW games from being a thing, it does making browsing like before nonexistent and its something I has really come to light in the last month or so. The last few times I have gone to store were for either a store pickup or return. When I did browse, it was like why bother. Then you have the used games online which can be enticing with the promo code cag16 but you're playing a gamble with used games because you dont know if you will get the game only or everything which sucks. I got lucky over Black Friday when all the games I ordered from them came with everything no problem and even the one new game I bought was actual brand new sealed and not Gamestop NEW. I haven't gotten a few collectibles from them but only because they were on clearance and I thought they looked nice for display.

[bikingjahuty]

I have definitely noticed Gamestop stores being easy less, umm...substantial as of late. The ones in my area have a ton of unused space while most of the space that is used is statues, clothes, action figures, and other crap I could really care less about. It's as if they think people like the idea of being a gamer more than than actually being a gamer.


Of course this has meant all their games have been crammed into the back, and what irritates me the most is how they've been mixing in the new games with the used ones. I hate grabbing a game of the shelf and wondering whether or not it's used, but whatever.


Gamestop is on death's door and they have been for some time. The company knows their days are up, and with digital all but confirmed to be how most future games will be distributed and purchased it wouldn't surprise me if they don't make it through this generation. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to hear some big announcement as early as this next Springs where they announce bankruptcy and liquidiate their company like Borders or Toy's R' Us did. Despite how shitty they've become I'd still be pretty bummed to have one less game store to browse in and occasionally buy games from. Part of this is definitely their fault, however even they couldn't stop the digital wave that's been taking over the game industry for years. I guess this is them trying one last push to stay relevant, which we all know isn't going to work.