Since the turnout of the 2020 pandemic, there has been a culture shift for GameStop. While a degrading business model as digital continues to grow, the shift in leadership have continue to bring new meaning to the company. With Ryan Cohen’s addition to the firm in 2021, GameStop has shaken its business model in many ways from prior leadership.
Materializing from last year, ‘GameStop Retro’ program has returned legacy hardware, games, and accessories to brick & mortar locations. Additionally, the firm is also entertaining midnight releases as well. Already, one was held at participating store in fall 2024 for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. There is to also be one for the Nintendo Switch 2 next month as well.
On the matter of its refocus on product, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen explains that one of its major decisions – to counter the overtake from digital purchasing – is to aggressively integrate collectibles in its locations. Funko Pops were a common commodity, but other extensive items as well as trading cards & card grading were also made available more prevalently too.
“We need to get the costs under control,” Cohen said. “[We needed to] shift the business from being so reliant on video games to collectibles which we’ve done so now there’s a big focus on trading cards- we’re doing grading in a bunch of stores and we’re selling a lot of trading cards in sports & TCG.
He adds: “The company is profitable today in the US and we’ve gotten our costs under control.” Cohen spoke on this as the firm recently bought a couple thousand Bitcoin on behalf of GameStop. On the firm’s presence in other countries, locations in Canada are returning back to EB Games. You can read the full report by heading here.
Are you for or against this shift by GameStop?
