'No one comes in anymore': GameStop manager says company has started layoffs

A GameStop employee shares just how slow working at the videogame store is amid the onslaught of tech layoffs across the country.

[jambola]

You mean nobody wants to come in and look at 10% games and 90% funko pops? madness

[ApocalypseShadow]

Agreed.

They're also unwelcoming as a game store to make it fun. Not like previous places like game crazy, funco land, software etc, electronics boutique, etc. Killed demo units where gamers could try games, have tournaments to win prizes, discounts, overemphasis on car salesman nonsense, barely any classic games and systems, no excitement.

I don't want them to close. Or employees to lose jobs. Just change the format.

[jambola]

Ever since it became GameStop plus it's all been downhill

[blackblades]

We have 2 gamestop and a shut down eb games which was own by it. Thats where i use to go but gamestop aint that bad. Mine as a demo units in the front like always. I bought a nice overwatch hat that always wear. I wouldnt buy any games from there cause i know how to get cheaper games under $20 hell 3cent the lowest. I'll go in just to look around and kill time. People seem to always be in there. Strip mall by the way dont know about the inside mall probably the same the last time I went.

[After10Ben]

Spot on. I don't come in because I don't want to answer no to the twenty questions I am asked. "Do you want to buy this? Preorder that? Want a subscription to this?" I can't buy a game at Gamestop without having to say no at least three times. I like the store, but do not like the format,

[ActualWhiteMan]

Former GameCrazy manager here. I’m honestly shocked GS made it this far. After they took away the used games discount with the membership I knew it was the beginning of the end. GameStop has always had a shitty vibe tbh. GameCrazy was a fun place to shop, and work. Too bad Hollywood Video was a cancer and we couldn’t break away fast enough.

[SurgicalMenace]

Yeah, I was a senior director of Game Crazy for 5 1/2 years, and those were some of the best years of my life. GS never had that welcome home quality to them, so I turned down their offer for Regional Diretor after GC closed in 2010. They've always had the most toxic environment of all the gaming retailers. I often go there to troll when I have free time, but that's about it now a days.

[SurgicalMenace]

@ActualWhiteMan

Yeah, the Joe Mallugen effect put the nail in the coffin of GC. After 2008, it all went downhill. Promotion freezes, commission cuts, and reduced discounts for customers was the writing on the wall. What region did you manage?

[TheEnigma313]

I loved funcoland. Gamestop came and bought up all the competition back in the day smh. They were never the same since.

[Ethereal]

I couldn't agree more. The last time I was in there they were in the process of turning the store into a PC building center. The physical game sections just keep getting smaller and smaller.

[JEECE]

I was in one about a week ago for the first time in about 6 years. I was trying to buy Mario Golf on Switch (I am all digital and have been for years but this was a present for someone who likes physical games still). Target's game section was pathetic and they didn't have it, so I went to the nearby GameStop and it was just depressing. A bunch of Funko pops and a bunch of licensed shirts that looked like things that hot topic would have sold in like 2008. And of course, they didn't even have Mario Golf.

[Knushwood Butt]

That punchline made me laugh.

[dumahim]

It means I don't want to go in to a store with a high chance of dealing with power tripping assholes behind the counter.

[S2Killinit]

Well soon we will no longer have physical video games stores after Gamestop leaves the scene. It will be big chains or online stores.

[Vizigoth04]

They’ll be going the way of FYE before too long. Used to go to FYE to buy CDs but what used to be a massive selection of games have been reduced down to an end cap and the rest of the store is Funko Pop clothese and Merch. This is the reality of the digital world taking dominance.

[1Victor]

@jambola or sell a game for $5 and see it sold used for $5 less than new 😡

[mandf]

I warned you gamestop years ago stop pestering about pre-orders and other crap I didn't ask for. Sell me the game and shut up.

[Terry_B]

Yeah..the one in my city closed last year as well.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Just focus on games and just downsize imo.

[Bathory666]

Gamestop is a horrible company. Poor trade in values, overpriced everything and their rewards program is no longer good.

[gleepot]

Everything is prices according to MSRP? Their prices for games are the same as other places. Their reward program seems fine to me. Trade ins definitely suck, though.

[gleepot]

also let me clarify, they are absolutely garbage as a company and I won't be too sad if they close down and they treat their employees terribly

[GoodGuy09]

I mean... physical games are indeed dying...

[GotGame818]

Yes they are, and games that need a massive patch at launch aren't completely on the disks anyway.

Nintendo is best at making games 100% physical for most games, and Microsoft the worst. I like all my platforms to play on, but some day 1 patches are ridiculously large.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Yeah but we need them around because I ain't going play games on all digital no thanks.

[JEECE]

But the thing is, even if you are still doing physical, GameStop isn't even the best place to buy. Obviously Amazon is the best, but even Best Buy and Walmart have better game sections now that GameStop is dedicating so much space to licensed T-Shirts and similar nonsense.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

I agree man

[andy85]

Maybe slightly. They're still selling more than digital in the UK. It'll be a sad day for me given gaming costs me about 80% less physically

[EazyC]

I buy physical only and I think it's funny that people are down voting you. It's categorically true.

However, I do think you'll always have physical fans like me. Like music, you'll always have a contingent of folk who just like physical media in principle.

[NotoriousWhiz]

It used to be that every game was physical and only a handful were digital. Now every game is digital and only a handful are physical. Largely, this is because a lot of really good indies may never have happened due to the high cost of producing and distributing physical copies.

[Elda]

My nearest Gamestop is pretty cool. I've been going there for years now. I know the staff by name as they know me & they're accommodating including whenever I pre-order most of the time it's there for me to pick up. I also have accumulated lots of store credit,many points including I'm always accommodated with store coupons along with membership coupons. If the store goes under I'll be pretty disappointed..lol.

[HyperMoused]

EB here always has the highest prices anywhere, i used to go in to price match as i wanted to support EB, then they brought in they would only price if the other store was in that shopping centre and in stock and even then only so much off, wont price match over a certain amount, $20 i think. They made it so hard i got tired of trying to support them, last time was for Elden Ring i got told no as JB didnt have it in stock, went and bought it from JB they did have it in stock. congrats to whoever tightened price matching as i wont even go in there anymore unless i have too.

[jznrpg]

That’s too bad for the employees. The business practices with the store filled with non gaming stuff turned me off . The hounding of buying a magazine and supposed to be new games that were opened and had a sticker on them sold as new I hated thoroughly . Another thing was their rewards program was crappy . Add it all together and I haven’t been there in many years .

[XxINFERNUSxX]

They give you shit for trade-in's, plus look at this The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening $54.99 pre-owned and $59.99 new? WTF yeah I hope they go chapter 11, they can shove that price up their ass. I get much better prices on ebay, that's where I go if I want pre-owned games.

[Good-Smurf]

That exactly what I paid for my pre-owned copy of Just Cause 2 PS3 back in 2010 at a Gamestop store next to Universal Studios Hollywood.

[Orpheo]

I stay away on purpose, due to corporate office pressure. I know that I won't be pre-ordering anything, trading anything in, or getting a magazine subscription, and I also know that store employees get in trouble for making game sales without those attachments. I don't want my business to be the reason for a store employee getting in trouble and potentially losing their job. Ironically, subtracting my business from that chain so that it makes less money is the only way I can help those who work there, though if too many adopt my strategy then the store closes anyway.

[Chocoburger]

GameStop has been warned for nearly 20 years over their crappy business practices, but they didn't listen. Instead they became worse, and grew more desperate, trying to cash in on those ugly Funko Pop junk, instead of trying to become a fun 'gamers paradise' type of place and build meaningful customer relationships that creates long-term loyalty.

[plmkoh]

Lmao that video has been proven fake.

But congratulations to everyone falling for the disinformation campaign.

If you objectively look at Gamestop financials you'll know they've been doing better than they ever have in years. "Lay-offs" are natural and any retail lay-offs pale in compared to how many lay-offs happened at Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Twitter etc

[MeteorPanda]

maybe because you have no games and a sea of funko figurines? Sell old games and we will buy?

[MetalNCarnet]

People still go to stores?

[gold_drake]

thats probably because there are mostly no games in your darn shops.
all i ever see are figurines and funko pops.

god, i remember bk in the day, there was a small shop near me, that had amazing games being offered. i always called in Sega shop cause it still sold megadrive games, along with n64 games. and i was too young and stupid to know what the darn sign said haha.

i got most of my guidebooks from there.

[Demetrius]

The 2 GameStop stores stores I go to here in Chattanooga have some good helpful workers and they ACTUALLY know about alot of games lol I guess the trashy service depends on the city you live in lmfao

[EazyC]

Maybe if they actually became competitive as a physical game buyer/seller.

Their offer prices are a joke. I know they need a margin but it's parasitic.

[AuraAbjure]

Physical will come back once people realize they don't have jack when they have digital. That's why all my most important books are in physical form, not just on my Kindle. It's literally a life lesson to hold on to that which is dear (and switch back and forth between letting go according to crown chakra anatomy) and I can't isolate a single one of my digital games to tangibly hold, without having to pick up my entire PC or Xbox.

[AuraAbjure]

Actually I'm just now learning that PC games may be potentially installed onto USB drives in a way that allows them to be played on someone else's computer. That would be cool if that were actually possible. That way, digital games can become physical games.

[anast]

These companies are sleazy. This is why they are closing.

[Muigi]

The last time I went to Gamestop was on the launch day of the PS5 lol.

[Kaozz1979]

I mean if you would not try to rip people off with your trade prices and prices for previously played games you may still be in business for video games.

[jznrpg]

Seling on EBay or another re-seller site is the way to go these days

[Hellcat2020]

7 GameStop stores in my area, we’ve already had 3 or 4 close in the last few years.
We also had 2 Best buy locations close.
It’s not that GameStop has a crappy sales practice, it’s just no one is spending money like previous years

[isarai]

Tbh i just really like using the in person pre-order system as a pseudo payment plan for upcoming games. But i cant say i like much else about it, especially not the nagging for upsales

[GotGame818]

Game Stop stayed open during the Pandemic lockdown. It was thriving in 2020. Before that it was on life support.

In 2019 I got a Blast From the Past PS4 bundle with 5 games for $119. In 2020 the same bundle went up to over $100 more. Game Stop should have used 2020's strong sales, to restructure. Pandemic level sales weren't going to last forever.

[Towers]

Game stores are definitely going to struggle now that digital purchases are so easy to do. I do think they're saveable but they need to change up.
Put some sofa's in there, put a bar in there. Let people play the newest games and hang out. Get a monthly challenge going where the winner gets a free game. Almost like a shop arcade.
It's quite a shuffle but if they want to survive they're going to have to learn to appeal instead of just being a place to pick up a physical copy of a game.

[GamingSinceForever]

I feel bad because I started buying digitally back in 2018. I used to love going into GameStop on launch day.

[Gamble20]

Everyone trashing GameStop and I fully understand why. However, they are not failing because they are selling funkopops or branded t-shirts. They are failing because the niche they used to fill in retail is simply not that desired anymore. Virtually every major retailers now sells video games, and used games can be easily purchased online. There simply isn’t the need for them to exist anymore.

[TheSenorCheese]

Considering how badly it treats its employees, this could be a blessing.

[Knightofelemia]

I have to preorder certain games now or else I won't get the game is a stupid idea. A game like Wild Hearts people had to preorder it and they only got 7 preorders of the game. I don't mind buying some of my anime figures there a lot cheaper then Ebay and Amazon for the same figure. The thing I still hate is the lowballing trade in price and mark it up high.

[loxim]

No one comes in anymore as they say because the store is absolute garbage now. They barely have any games for sale in the stores now, it's all shirts, posters, action figures and magazines. I went in my local one two weeks ago and there was two columns of xbox games and 80% of them both were empty. Not a single used game in sight, no old generation games in sight, nothing to look at to make you want to shop there. I used to go there 10+ years ago in a ocean of used games to dig through, it's so sad. And the worst part? Once gamestop is gone, there aren't any other retail shops worth a damn for games.

[AlphaKennyTime]

Good.

[CrimsonWing69]

man, I remember a time when game stores were like a treat to go to... granted this was when I was a kid in the 90s, but I walk into a Gamestop now and I just want to get in and get out as fast as I can.

Also, look, I don't know if Gamestop still does this, but I stopped going to them because they'd gut your game, put a sticker on it, and then put this tape sticker as a seal on it that when you removed it it would gunk up the sides of your box and dust and sh*t would collect on it.

I couldn't stand it anymore and so I dropped them all together or just had them ship things if they were exclusive.

You tend to get hounded for subs or "protection" and sometimes they'd charge you without asking. You'd only know if you looked at the receipt (now I'm sure this isn't the norm, but it happened to me and I went back in and had them remove it).

It's just not what it used to be.

[onewingnut]

I'd rather support some of the local small business owners that actual get retro and modern gaming. Gamestop is too far out of the loop on what people are actually interested in.

[CRASHBASHUK]

if game uk is not careful it could happen to them my store i visit there tooooooooo many toys in there feels like game r us lol

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

I used to love shopping at EB Games/GameStop, but I just don’t anymore. Maybe it’s the fact that I now shop mostly online, even for physical games. I think the main thing for me though is it just feels less and less like a specialized store as time goes on. I literally had to scan the back wall last time I went into one to even find the PlayStation section.

[YourMommySpoils]

Good. You mean no one is fooled by their lies anymore. Overpriced games without a price match with other stores. This place should be gone.

[myfathersbastard]

It’s kind of a shame they’re all closing down or changing from game sales to collecter/toy sales. I’ve been all digital for around 8 years. But I still have friends who’s internet isn’t up to par for that. So they still buy most games physically.
When I was younger I’d go in to EB at least once a week, knew the guys working there on a first name basis. Used to just go in and bullshit for an hour with them about games coming out of games I hadn’t tried yet. Was a good little community in there. One of my best friends had a similar experience. Now it’s all gone.

[Ultimax]

Really sucks to hear people lose their jobs because of this

[hiawa23]

Haven't been in a Gamestop in years.

[Psychotica]

Well if you would actually be open when people want to shop there that would be a big help. The store near my house doesn't even open until 12:30, should be open at 8 or 9 like most stores.

[masterfox]

kinda miss the unique odor the gamestop has.