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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Leak Reveals Gamestop Is Basically Shutting Down

Camelot331, a Youtuber who has previously leaked Gamestop layoffs via an unknown source, just uploaded a video claiming that Gamestop is shutting down almost completely.

Camelot explains that the the next massive lay-off for the company is being called "Phase 3", where "Phase 1" was the initial regional manager lay-off at the beginning of August and "Phase 2" was the dismissal of over 100 corporate employees, including almost the entire senior editorial staff of Game informer. Now, "Phase 3" will see the shut down of almost every Gamestop retail location across the country.

Camelot explains that at a recent annual manager's conference, managers were told that in order to "save the company", a few retail locations would be transitioned into retro gaming and tabletop gaming stores, while the rest would be shut down. The news was extremely distressing to the managers, according to Camelot: "One guy told me that his district manager basically locked himself in his office and just doesn't talk to anybody."

Now, according to Camelot, district managers are required to create a list of employees that they "desire to keep" after the transition, that are "talented enough" to stay past Phase 3.

Gamestop operates 4,400 store in the U.S. and according to Camelot, by the end of fiscal quarter 4, over half of those stores will be permanently closed. The remaining 2,000 stores will be re-imagined as table-top/retro-gaming stores. The less profitable stores will be the first to be eliminated, and Camelot believes entire districts will be completely shut down.

Camelot goes on to hypothesize that regional managers will be eliminated all together, as the district manager position will be more than enough to cover the remaining store. He claims that phase 3 has been corroborated by 5 different Gamestop employees.

Gamestop stock has been suffering for over a year. Digital sales are on the rise, and the transition to merch and toys over the last few months was apparently not effective in bringing profitability back to the failing company. The partial closure is most likely a temporary way to give stock prices a boost before the company goes down for good. We've reached out to Gamestop for comment, and will update this story if they chose to respond.

Link: https://www.thegamer.com/leak-reveals-gamestop-basically-shutting/

Video: https://youtu.be/6on5by6zdAQ

As much as people hate Gamestop, this would be very sad news. 



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Think everyone saw this coming. Won't lie, not the biggest fan of Gamestop and rarely ever go there, but that time they had that Mario Kart 8 pre-release demo which they let me play for hours was a big highlight for me. Oh they also had a similar event for Pikmin 3 which was uber fun as well. Now where can these events be held? D:



I don't think physical media is going away, but Gamestop may be another matter. I don't think they are managed well. Whenever I go into a Gamestop nowadays I see this tiny little section for Switch games with huge sections for PS4 and XB1 games. The Switch basically has the same shelf space that the Wii U did. Is it any wonder why Amazon always over represents Switch sales? Tons of Switch customers go to Amazon, because Gamestop is just not going to be their store. They can get the Switch games they want at Amazon, but not at Gamestop.

Surely Gamestop knows that the Switch is selling a lot better than the Wii U, but they haven't changed their behavior accordingly.



The transition to retro games and tabletops is actually a great idea considering how much of a thing of the past Gamestop is.



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Damn... there goes another dinosaur. Like them or hate them, this is not good for the industry as a whole :-| Having full digital monopolism is not an idea I adore.



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The_Liquid_Laser said:
I don't think physical media is going away, but Gamestop may be another matter. I don't think they are managed well. Whenever I go into a Gamestop nowadays I see this tiny little section for Switch games with huge sections for PS4 and XB1 games. The Switch basically has the same shelf space that the Wii U did. Is it any wonder why Amazon always over represents Switch sales? Tons of Switch customers go to Amazon, because Gamestop is just not going to be their store. They can get the Switch games they want at Amazon, but not at Gamestop.

Surely Gamestop knows that the Switch is selling a lot better than the Wii U, but they haven't changed their behavior accordingly.

You must have a bad GameStop. The one near me has the Switch section out front and it's got to be the same size as the PS4 and XBO sections. They also have a decent sized section for Amiibos. 

Of course, who knows if your store is basing their layout on regional sales or it is just poor management of that store.

@ OP

I've always had a good experience at GameStop. Well, minus the hounding about preordering. Sometimes you get a good employee, who knows people hate it, and he'll ask once quickly and be done with it. But, other times you'll get the overzealous employee who asks you, you say no, but will go through the upcoming releases to try and get you to preorder anyway. I know corporate has quotas for them, but God, they have to learn that turns people off from coming back.



There's almost no chance that this is accurate as presented. Downsizing doesn't happen by getting your employees in a room and telling them that many of them are going to be laid off later this year.

With that said, Gamestop certainly knows that they need to reduce their store count, and they may well see transitioning to other types of gaming as a good move. So, it wouldn't surprise me to hear that some internal discussions along these lines are taking place. There's just no way that they got a bunch of middle managers together to announce their imminent firing.

The other problem with this scenario is that Gamestop is not in imminent danger of collapse. They've been profitable most quarters, and have, as I understand it, a manageable debt load. So, the more likely downsizing process would be one of not renewing leases as they expire, and reducing the store count in a more natural way. That's really the only way that a company like Gamestop can do it. Landlords don't just say "sure, Gamestop, even though you have some cash, go ahead and not pay the rent for the three years left on your lease. We'll just let the store sit empty." The only thing in this "leak" that seems like it could be strictly true is the transition of some stores into tabletop gaming. That would be another way that they could, in a sense, reduce the store count without a bankruptcy filing (which they can't do, because they're not bankrupt.)



The other reason to think this ain't accurate - nobody, except some Youtuber, is reporting this news. If there were truth here, the business news people would be all over it. So, unless I see those people writing stories on this today, I'll remain confident that this is either total BS, or at least a significant exaggeration.



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If Gamestop actually went through with these plans it would be a good thing for them. Like I said in the other thread, they have way too many stores. And part of the reason why Mom n' Pop game stores are thriving is because they deal in retro games that Gamestop doesn't carry. This makes them essentially antique stores in a sense and keeps their business alive.