GameStop has laid off over 100 people; 14% of their associate base cut to "optimize business"

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GameStop has been on shaky ground for the past few years, with a lack of innovations and failure to gauge the market slowly leading the company towards the same fate as Blockbuster and Toys 'R Us. Back in July, we saw that GameStop would be renovating a handful of its remaining stores in an attempt to get more people invested in shopping at GameStop regularly. As the company continues to try to stay relevant, more changes have been happening in the background, leading to the laying off of over 100 workers at the retail chain. On Tuesday, GameStop announced that 14% of its associate base, along with half of Game Informer's staff, had been laid off without warning. Earlier this month, GameStop also laid off many of its regional managers, HR dept, and district leaders.

While these changes are difficult, they were necessary to reduce costs and better align the organization with our efforts to optimize the business to meet our future objectives and success factors. We recognize that this is a difficult day for our company and particularly for those associates impacted. We appreciate their dedication and service to GameStop and are committed to supporting them during this time of transition.

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Lodad

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So 100 people is 14% of their associate base? Does that mean that GameStop only employed around 700 people total at that level across the whole country?
 
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sansnumen

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Wait, I'm confused. Is this 100 workers plus 14% of its associates? Or is 100 people equivelant to 14% of its associates? Because that seems like an awfully low number for a multinational business.

Well I took a gander at the article, and the layoffs affect corporate workers. GameStop seems to refer to even their corporate workers as associates. Go figure.
 

codezer0

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where it'll really hurt was more toward the east coast. back when I used to live in florida, they openly took advantage of a legal loophole some counties or communities had where it boiled down to that pawn shops couldn't carry gaming merch, but they were not deemed a pawn shop and thus could sell for whatever they want. A youth in those communities would have to go twenty miles out and pass no less than 6 game stop locations (especially post-merger) to get to the first non-gamestop that could carry used merch.

And of course, goodwill rarely ever carried anything that sitll worked by the time it was up on display.

With as many times as they've sold me damaged games as new (and I'm not talking about Bethesda, shockingly), and knowingly defective consoles as "factory refurbished", I've no love for the company. Its name recognition is poison to me.
 

codezer0

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That's a really weird law, I wonder what the reasoning behind that was supposed to be?
Probably had to do with a lot of such shops being of ill repute, and not exactly places kids should be hanging around at in the first place. :gun::cry:

Awkwardly, I scored a free copy of Sonic 2 way back outside of a pawn shop because it was on the kerb as I was bicycling on my way back home one fine day.
:hrth:
 

snobbysteven

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I worked at gamestop for a few years back in 2011, it was a really fun job, I got out right before everything started going down hill. The way corporate ran things was horrible though. It's a shame when I walk into gamestop now to buy a game and they are trying to sell me a pair of socks, coffee mug, and matching earings.
 
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Silent_Gunner

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And thus, GameStop begins their march to the retail graveyard, where all hope is abandoned.

Makes me wonder when Walmart will join in on that party...
 

jonesman99

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In all honesty, I don’t understand completely the distaste for secondhand games being sold when pawn shops have been selling games (and consoles) for decades. But on the other hand, I get their disgust from gaming companies for GameStop. They are the first household name and chain to really capitalize off of selling second hand games physically, much of it being not so consumer friendly. It just sucks for the people who work and shop there who may have to shop elsewhere and converse with other gamers in a comfortable setting.
 

ChibiMofo

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If GameStop actually does die i'll miss them
If????

GameStop is one of the very few stores where I can buy used games, so seeing the stores close would be a tragedy. If they want to stay a physical store, they need to rethink their strategies. How can a store appeal to a digital market? It's a difficult challenge, but one that is not impossible to manage.

Think about it. If we were to become a digital-only world, where everything relies on the internet - and then the power grid shuts down. Any number of reasons can cause that to happen, from a cyber-attack to something as simple as a solar flare. We'd not only be set back a hundred years or more, but it could actually cost the lives of millions! So many computers in hospitals, schools, and homes...

While this article is about GameStop, it's not just GameStop that's laying off workers. Sam's Club, Costco, Walmart, Kroger/Fred Meyer, Barnes & Noble, Target, Kmart/Sears - these and many more stores are being threatened by internet services like Craigslist, Ebay, Amazon, and several other online shopping services. These online services are convenient, but perhaps too convenient. In fact, one indie movie called Craigslist Joe is about a guy who tries to buy absolutely everything off of Craigslist!

We don't want to leave home, so we rely on stuff from Amazon - but at what cost? Digital services like PayPal are actually less secure than having the paper bills locked away in your safe at home! So many times, internet banking services have been hacked. The net has never been 100% secure, not even via a VPN. Want to be 100% secure on the net? Don't use it, then. So we send the checks, but we already know that mail can be mishandled. What then?

I'm not saying that we shouldn't use internet shopping services, nor am I saying that they aren't reliable. I'm just stating that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, being too convenient. By making everything easy and convenient, you actually set yourself up for a potential threat! Better to have the "inconvenient" stores than to not be able to buy anything at all. However, being able to buy from stores is not always easy, since some countries like Venezuela make it very difficult to shop, period. In that case, either stand up against the dictatorship or leave the country.

There needs to be a balance between digital and physical. They can coexist, but one does not need to dominate the other. Relying only on the physical has been done for centuries, but continuing to do so might hinder progress. On the flip side, a digital-only "utopia" presents a security and privacy risk, and can easily be hacked, attacked, and destroyed, since data is mostly fluid anyway (by fluid, I mean that it's consistently changing). Only the smartest of businessmen can learn to use both well. In GameStop's case, I'm afraid that management doesn't know how to make this possible. At least, not yet. Only time will tell.

You may be the most paranoid person I've ever encountered. And in 24 years of buying things off the Internet via my credit cards, and 20 years of using PayPal, I have not lost a penny do to fraud. Yes, PayPal is far more secure than putting your physical credit card into an ATM machine that may have a strip reader illegally installed, not to mention losing your wallet or credit card. And when you say the Net has never been 100% secure, well neither has anything else - ever! You can hide whatever you want in your safe or under your mattress. I can still steal it. Super secure home safes are broken into every week. If you want your assets secure, become a hermit in Mongolia and make sure you have plenty of ammo. When you're ready to rejoin the human race we'll be right here waiting for you (and we'll still accept PayPal).

And if our power grid goes offline, the inability to login to your Steam or Netflix accounts will be the least of your worries. LOL! And even if eBay, Amazon and all the other evil Internet companies ceased to exist tomorrow, the old brick and mortar stores wouldn't be able to operate without the grid either, so what's your point? [Rhetorical question alert!]

When I was a kid, TWA (TransWorld Airlines) and PanAm ruled the skies. Both are long gone. So are Atari, Circuit City and Commodore. There are always winners and losers in capitalism, and whenever there is a major shift in the way consumers consume, that shuffles the marketplace. You needn't worry about WalMart, however (LOL!). They have a huge online presence and seem likely along with Amazon to be the only two major retailers in the United States five years from now. You can worry and/or whine about it all you want, but it is inevitable and there's absolutely nothing you can do to prevent it.

Gamestop has done very little over the years to deserve sympathy as they enter the corporate equivalent of hospice care. But if any of you are the least bit nostalgic for them and have enjoyed your trips there over the years, I invite you to go to one right now and take pictures with your cell phone because Gamestop won't be around much longer. Then share the pictures via social media until the power grid goes down.
 

Techjunky90

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Shame.
I don't like Gamestop but seeing them go would be really bad for gamers who buy physical and a lot of second hand stuff

Devs generally hate gamestop because of their second hand stuff and wouldn't mind them going away

Hopefully they will fix their shit and remain, because we are still not ready to go all digital with no way to resell our games or buy used ones.
Would have little to no impact what so ever. Can buy physical at numerous stores & online. Can buy second hand cheaper online & through local ads on places like Craigslist & Facebook marketplace. Devs do not give a shit about Gamestop, you act like there are no other means of buying second hand games. In fact, devs would prefer people buy 2nd hand & pirate games rather than those same people not own the game at all. Sorry but you get the idiot award of the day.
 
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Humanity

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Typical waste of oxygen businesspeople of big companies.

Galactic far crys from their excellencys the Cadburys, who made Bournville for their employees.
 
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Axido

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Man, I hate to break it to those GameStop executives, but I'm afraid that the only optimization left for them is taking that last part of their businesses name literally.
 

leon315

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Don't worry guys, all those layedoffs will find new job at amazon :)
And amazon will devour GS!

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Shame.
I don't like Gamestop but seeing them go would be really bad for gamers who buy physical and a lot of second hand stuff

Devs generally hate gamestop because of their second hand stuff and wouldn't mind them going away

Hopefully they will fix their shit and remain, because we are still not ready to go all digital with no way to resell our games or buy used ones.
Used games are cheaper on ebay, e and you can sell your used games at higher prices at same place, but certainly not at GS, you maybe just a console player, all pc mustard race owners are already SWITCHED TO DIGITAL ONLY 2 decades ago.
 

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