After a disappointing 4th quarter, Gamestop will be closing at least 150 stores. Gamestop attributes to low 4th quarter performance to "aggressive console promotions by other retailers on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday." as well as "weak sales of certain AAA titles."
Any gamer knows this is true since they saw tons of console promotions for both catalog and AAA titles over the holiday season. Seriously, my wallet is still recovering (thanks Sony).
Gamestop is however looking to open 100 new stores globally. There are many Gamestop locations along the Gulf Coast, but no stores have been identified as closing yet.
The problem is they're just not selling enough video games. Both new and used video games accounted for 58% of its revenue in the 2nd quarter of 2016. So if they're struggling selling games, the company overall will struggle.
Would it be too farfetched to say that if they alleviated their brick and mortar upkeep and opened up warehouses (ala Amazon) across it's operating countries, they would do better financially? What if you could mail Gamestop a used game in trade for credits or cash. Amazon, has a similar process already up and running. This would be an obstacle for the instant gratification of just walking down the street to a local store.
Maybe a Redbox model would work better?
So how can Gamestop thrive in a changing video game market? Share your answers below!