US game retailer GameStop has reportedly shut hundreds of stores.
While CEO Ryan Cohen gets set for a $35 billion ($26bn) pay package if he successfully gets GameStop’s market cap to $100 billion – ten times its current value – Polygon reports hundreds of workers have been let go in a series of abrupt store closures.
Some employees are claiming that the closures came as a “shock” and with very little notice, affecting even well-performing staff and stores.
last day of open for the first wave of closures
byu/Mondo-Butter-21 inGameStop
According to the GameStop Closing List, more than 400 stores have confirmed they have closed or plan to close in January 2026. It’s the highest for any month on record and equates to 20-25 percent of all GameStop stores across the United States.
“I had heard [my local GameStop] was closing and wanted to stop by for the last time because that store was my childhood. Once I arrived it had already been closed,” wrote one unhappy customer. “I wanted to say thank you to the one manager there. He had been there since I was a kid and I always recognised him when I went to the store. Thank you for the memories. It may have just been your job but that store gave me some good memories.”
“Only one store left within about an hour of me and I’m sure that’s going to be next,” added another. “Really sucks because I enjoy walking in and buying physical on launch day, or poking through the used shelves.”
Furthermore, RNZ (thanks GamesIndustry.biz) reports that the company is also eying up closures to its EB Games subsidiary in New Zealand, too. Staff have reportedly received emails notifying them that they’re in scope of redundancy, although no “final” decisions will be made “until we have completed a full consultation process in good faith with affected team members”.
If true, New Zealand will join Ireland, Germany, and Austria as countries where GameStop has recently closed its local operations.