Gaming retail juggernaut GameStop is in a really bad place these days, well, not terri-bad just really bad. The company has announced that they will be shutting down at least 500 stores throughout 2013 due to the piss-poor global economy and the job-sucking financial fart lingering over the good 'ole US of A.
Word Press blog Gamer Cheese picked up the dire news from the Business Insider and Yahoo! News, which let loose the information about GameStop, the largest brick and mortar retail outlet for video game software titles, gaming accessories and console hardware, closing up an estimated 500 stores throughout this year.
The news itself was met with a rather mixed response from the gaming community, many of which have grown tired of the money-grubbing antics of GameStop but at the same time hate the fact that the smells-like-a-turd economy will be evaporating a lot of jobs for hardworking boys and girls across the Red, White and Blue nation.
The real question is do gamers care in terms of whether they can get their games from GameStop or not? To be honest, I haven't been in GameStop in years because you can get used games cheaper at various online e-tailers. In fact, there are a few that offer bundle deals with free shipping, so you can get as many used games for consoles for a low price in the same way that you can get a bundle of PC games from Steam for less than $30 bucks.
Had GameStop embraced more consumer-friendly prices and competitive deals instead of relying on a bunch of money-scheming DLC pre-order bonuses -- honestly, I'm more inclined NOT to buy a game when I see a bunch of retailer-specific DLC -- maybe they wouldn't have to close up so many of their stores. Besides, it would be better if they included things in the pre-order campaigns with things like game-themed controllers, accessories, USB sticks and other stuff like that instead of trying to get people to unlock day-one DLC by paying early.
Anyway, the game space is changing and I'm really wondering how Sony and Microsoft will adapt with their new consoles, especially with the SteamBox set to release later this year with various-priced iterations to capture the casual couch-gaming audience. And more importantly, will GameStop even bother to adapt to the digital marketplace or will they keep trying to ride the greed train into bankruptcy?
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