There is an earthquake in the games industry: Gamestop is apparently set to close all of its remaining 70 or so stores in Germany. The company is one of the largest employers in the industry in this country.
In the United States, Gamestop is attempting a fresh start with changed shop and marketing strategies - apparently with success. Things seem to be going completely differently in Germany. Despite recent innovations, including a grading service for trading cards, all branches of the retail chain are to close. This initially emerged from a rumor that appeared on Reddit. There, a user, apparently employed by the company himself, reported that Gamestop Germany is to close down on January 31, 2025 - completely.
Meanwhile, media reports about this are increasing. However, there is no official information from Gamestop so far. In response to a request from SpielpunktThe retail chain has not yet responded to the editorial team.
Aus comes surprisingly
In a first step, the branch managers were informed of the decision, reports the specialist portal “Gameswirtschaft”. Gamestop also left their request unanswered. In addition, employees had communicated the impending closure to customers, it was said. (Editor’s note: You can send us information and opinions via the contact form Around 70 employees work in the US retail chain's 500 remaining branches in Germany, making Gamestop one of the largest employers in the German games industry.
In any case, Gamestop seems to be in a difficult position overall in Euro terms. The company had sold its branches in Italy to the retailer Cidiverte, which had already taken over the Swiss locations around two years ago.
The store closures in Germany come as quite a surprise, as Gamestop Germany had recently introduced a number of innovations to attract customers to its stores. Among other things, it had introduced a service using water transfer printing technology that allowed fans to have their game console turned into a unique lifestyle item.
The grading service for trading cards, which Gamestop offered in this country together with the company GSG (Gold Standard Grading Service), seemed to be much more promising. Here, the German branch seemed to be following the US chain's strategy in the United States, where the collectibles sector is to be promoted in cooperation with PSA.
Apparently, the market performance of the Gamestop stores in Germany was ultimately too poor. The company recently had sales of around 140 million euros, of which just under three million euros remained as profit. One of the main reasons for the weakness can be found in the increasingly strong digital distribution of video games. Here, too, Gamestop in the USA is now taking a different approach, wants to establish retro stores and is aggressively communicating the relevance of physical games. Some fans see it the same way, but for the German stores, the turnaround attempt that has been initiated apparently comes too late. The closures are therefore ultimately probably part of the restructuring plan of the US chain, which has implemented cost-cutting measures in recent months under the leadership of CEO Ryan Cohen.
In the short term, the news is likely to be a shock, but in the long term, the closures could have a positive effect on the recovery of the US retail chain. Ultimately, it remains unclear whether the Gamestop chapter will remain closed forever - or whether the parent company will make its changed strategies available to German fans in a modified form. We will have to wait for official information on this. Ryan Cohen himself said around three years ago that Gamestop was to become the "Amazon for games". The strong expansion of the retail chain's online activities is also likely to help save costs.
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