According to Game Rant , GameStop was established in 1984 and was subsequently purchased by Barnes and Noble in 1999 for $215 million. Later, in 2002, it went public. 4,816 locations were open as of January 2021, according to GameStop through the company’s SEC filings form. According to Statista , while U.S. sales in 2012 totaled over $6 billion (with an additional $1.6 billion in Europe), they have decreased over the past ten years to $3.4 billion and $789 million, respectively.
Young people would swarm to malls and other retail venues to get their hands on the newest amazing video game release when GameStop was the exclusive market leader in physical games sales in the United States years ago. For GameStop and any other shop eking out sales in this sector, console games were particularly strong. The early 2010s were some of the most memorable for gamers before 2013 saw the release of consoles like Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Consoles were pushing the boundaries of what was possible, capable of incredible technical prowess and the rendering of stunning pictures. Despite this, gaming was still somewhat insulated from the tidal wave of streaming and cloud-based supremacy that had essentially replaced audio and visual media formats due to its still-limited storage capacity.
Another new era for the GameStop brand begins this year. GameStop is introducing a crypto and NFT platform in an effort to reinvent itself for a media landscape that has mostly moved away from physical disks, just like other formats did five to ten years ago. GameStop is reportedly aiming for a new image and functionality as a technology brand rather than the game retailer that it previously operated purely as, according to Yahoo . The GameStop crypto brand is now in beta launch, but as the company looks toward future potential in a crypto sector that is extremely mobile, continuing to develop, and commanding enormous investor power, this is expected to change soon (with multiple capital investments breaking at any given moment, via Investing ).
The most intriguing part of this change may be the NFT marketplace offered by GameStop. According to Yahoo, the technology was developed in collaboration with Immutable X. With this radical shift in business focus still in the testing and development phases, GameStop’s future is unknown. One thing is for sure, though: anyone interested in the company, gaming, or the cryptocurrency space will continue to have a fascinating ride powered by the brand’s ongoing adaptability and distinctive cultural past. GameStop might play a significant role in the development of cryptocurrencies given that Web3 promises to deliver a distinctively compelling experience for gamers and web users in the future.
