What the hell even is our economy anymore?
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2026
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They honestly could just become a merch store and only carry plushies, shirts, other nick-nacks and hardware. The one nearest me is already pretty much just an authorized dealer of FuncoPop garbage as is. I'd be more inclined to visit if they carried other general video game related stuff so I wouldn't have to wait for shipping.
Do people go to gamestop specifically to buy merch, though? I always thought that that was intended like candy in the check-out aisle: you grab it because it catches your eye on the way out, after you've already collected whatever you actually came in for.
Might as well go all in on this. Merch and toy stores are popular for kids so i don't see why they won't do this. I don't know why Western companies are so afraid to branch out from their "core competencies" and fighting tooth and nail to keep the rotting corpse of their previous business models. Japanese companies have been branching out from their initial business models since forever. Nintendo used make card games but is now a videogame behemoth. Fujifilm went from photography to biotech. Sony recently eked out into finance. This branching out is why Japan has some of the oldest companies in the world because they value long term survival. GameStop could do the same by giving up on their old business model and embrace selling merch and toys instead.
I think they would if they had more than the cheap eye-candy stuff they generally have and was the greater focus of the business. They could be the Hot Topic of gaming shit.
“Software, it mattered in the past. Software today makes up less than 12% of the business, and collectables makes up over half the business. So, it’s totally, totally irrelevant.”
12% of your business is no way anywhere near "irrelevant."
The 12% is the reason people come and buy the other 88%
Nintendo sells more in merch than in software, they should stop too
It depends on what that 12% is.
Is it revenue, or is it profit? And does that Include both new and used games?
New games have a very small profit margin compared to used games and merch.
Fair but it seems like if you're trying to minimize the importance of something you would choose the metric that shows how minimally important it is.
If it's 12% of revenue but 1% of profit wouldn't you say it's "1%" instead of "12%"?
Might even mean 12% of business transactions/goods sold. The profit margins, customer retention, market stability, minimal losses etc might be in other goods favour.
Given how many codes/games/etc a store might order that do not sell (losses to account for), games are much less 'shelf stable' compared to a plushie of a pokemon first shown on TV 25 years ago. Digital codes and registering also make any return/exchange obligations a bigger loss.
I think there's several reasons a company might see games as a high-risk good when compared to collectibles.
I just wish they hadn't destroyed ThinkGeek.....
They’re not going to stop selling games, it’s just gonna be code cards now. They’ll still work out deals with the publishers for exclusive sales, and of course they’re still going to be selling consoles and handhelds.
It's going to be irrelevant, why bothering going in a physical store and get bombarded with upsells to get a GS+ subscription for getting just a download code that can be downloaded from your couch?
Download codes are the reason the PC section in all game stores is missing or extremely tiny
I mean I can’t remember the last time I purchased a games let alone at GameStop, that place is for stocking stuffers, random merch, and maybe a used controller.
I used to buy switch games from there because I don't trust Nintendo not to do stupid shit with digital purchases or turn off their store.
Now that switch games are just key carts I'm not sure I'll be back in
Literally why the only game carts I buy are any with the game still physically on it, like Mario Kart, Party, and Xenoblade
To be fair, GameStop has essentially become an overpriced merch retailer.
I’m honestly surprised they haven’t merged with Hot Topic.
They did buy out ThinkGeek, so... very close.
I still miss the ThinkGeek of old, back before they even had stores.
😭 🥀 God I wish I had gotten more of those novelty homewares while I still could. I'm an adult, I accept I need a laundry basket.... but nobody else would've sold me a collapsible radioactive waste barrel.
I enjoyed the 'bloody handprint' shower curtain, but by the time I had enough money to get such items as yhr matching bloody-footprint bathmat with intention, ThG was gone for good.
I miss thinkgeek too! 😑
So that's where that went.
I never bought anything but it was fun seeing the items
GameStop beat out Hot Topic in bidding for ThinkGreek, with a winning bid of $20/share compared to Hot Topic’s bid of $17.50
Are they going to sell gyros now?
When were they not?
Used games account for over 20% of their revenue.
This information is publicly available as they are publicly traded.
This claim is a an insult to the average readers intelligence.
These days, they are an insult to gamers.
Coincidentally, GameStop is also irrelevant to Games.
Coincidentally, GameStop is also irrelevant ~~to Games~~
Game? Stop!
No, money down!
Where's that from again? Somehow I hear Will Arnett saying that.
That quote is from the Simpsons, though Will Arnett's character had nothing to do with that episode
30 Rock had a similar bit. And again, Will Arnett guest starred in that show, but not in that episode at all.
DOTCOM: Hey, Tray! We just picked up your birthday party invitations from the printer!
TRACY: Wait! What is this? "Give to charity, please, no presents"?
DOTCOM: Yeah, that's what you told me to put on the card.
TRACY: No, Dot Com! I said, "Give to charity? Please, no. Presents!"
I remember seeing it from Lionel hutz in the Simpsons voiced by Phil Hartman RIP
No worries, our plan is just to become to games what Hot Topic is to music.
Just change the store name to Stop.
Because GAME already went broke.
Makes sense. The last 2 times I was there for a recently released game, they didn't have any copies and berated me for not pre-ordering.
Back when I commuted to the office, I'd stop into Gamestop pretty much daily. Got to know the manager pretty well.
I was surprised to find out that Gamestop purchased a pre-set amount of games for new releases, and allocated based on pre-order numbers. That meant that a pre-order wasn't even an order. Your order could be one of one, and thus the store gets nothing from the delivery. Absolute insanity.
This is the same one who thought he could buy ebay right? Doofus.
Their main focus right now is cards and collectibles. It's not really a stretch.
They are a collectibles and trading card company. The games have stopped
Sort of the joke with the meltdown over PS6 going all digital.
If they hadn't, who would be left to retail them?
They pulled a reverse Nintendo?
Well they're not called 'GameGo'