GameStop will close a “significant number” of retail stores in the coming fiscal year and will start investing in Bitcoin. The retailer has gone through wild ups and downs over the past few years as brick-and-mortar game sellers have struggled to keep up with digital alternatives and meme stocks have given the company momentary boosts. The future could hold more of the same as GameStop further downsizes its operations while putting stock in a potentially profitable but volatile asset.
Recent times have not been kind to the iconic video game store. Despite being the biggest player in the physical gaming retail market, GameStop has been closing stores across the U.S. amid falling revenue and a shift toward digital sales in the video game space. The company has tried several strategies to stay afloat, but its latest is one of its boldest moves yet.
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According to GameStop’s latest annual SEC report, the company expects to close an uncertain but high number of stores throughout fiscal year 2025. That follows the closure of 590 stores in the U.S. alone in FY 2024 as the retailer kept up its pursuit of profitability amid struggling in-person sales performance. As part of this trend, GameStop announced plans to sell its France and Canada operations, which represent several hundred additional stores. While the number of GameStop locations may be shrinking, the services these stores provide will grow. The SEC filing also highlights the company’s plans to offer new products and services, including working as an authorized PSA dealer, which lets it grade collectibles like Pokémon cards.
GameStop Plans on Closing Stores and Allowing Bitcoin Trading
A more surprising part of GameStop’s future plans is that it has opened the door to trading Bitcoin. The SEC filing announces that its board will allow the company to invest some of its cash in the cryptocurrency. There’s no limit to how much Bitcoin GameStop will allow itself to buy, and it states that it may sell any Bitcoin it acquires, should it deem it necessary or profitable to do so. It’s an unusual path for a retailer to take, but the announcement led to a bump in activity from the kinds of meme stock investors that drove up GameStop stock prices in the past, so it may help the company, at least in the short term.
Cryptocurrency is infamously volatile, so it’s unclear how this strategy will work out for GameStop in the long run. The company may feel pressure to take any chance it can, though. Times have been tough for brick-and-mortar stores, and at least one analyst claimed GameStop sales will hit unsustainable lows eventually.
