5 ms·

I was thinking recently about how GameStop might pivot. They have retail locations, which a lot of companies don't, so they should take advantage of that. Som

I was thinking recently about how GameStop might pivot. They have retail locations, which a lot of companies don't, so they should take advantage of that. Some examples I have thought of include: * put 3D printers in the stores and sell custom objects based off of your gamer profile. * convert the stores into a gamer bar and show eSports tournaments. * host LAN parties or move into tabletop games

musingsole 6y ago
Your 1st and 3rd idea, maybe, but they'd be moving into a territory filled with competitors. It's hard to imagine my local tabletop tavern crowd migrating to a corporate equivalent. Gamestop pivoting to a gamer bar seems incredibly unlikely. Retail is not restaurants -- the business logic is all sorts of different -- and likely zoning issues would prevent many locations from suddenly becoming restaurants.
- llarsson 6y ago
  E-sport enthusiast are, as a group, sadly not very good patrons. They stay very long per visit and order very little food and drinks (relative to the extent of their stay). This is because many, if not most, if them will be teenagers or in their early twenties, and unruly enough to drive the more financially stable 30+ crowd away. So you will have all-night events showing StarCraft 2 or whatever, and only refill a bunch of drinks every once in a while. Very difficult to get a good business that way. Price sensitivity also plays a big part here. I've talked to several owners of failed e-sport restaurants. They all say the same thing. It's sad, but also the reason you don't see tons of them around, even if gaming as an industry makes billions of dollars.
  - Corrado 6y ago
    Maybe this idea needs to mature a bit. I think eSports is going to be the future of sports in general. Normal "sports" bars do quite well (well, maybe not right now) and I expect eSports bars to follow suit. But who knows, maybe now is not the right time. Besides, most GameStop locations are pretty small and not really zoned for a bar. It was an interesting thought though.
giarc 6y ago
I'm not into the gaming community but I suspect there's a big contigent in the pre-teen/teen age range. GameStop could pivot into a local gaming/community place safe for pre-teens and teens that is semi-supervised. Parents could feel more comfortable knowing their kid is hanging out at a place where there is at least one adult to make sure they aren't doing bad things.
- decafninja 6y ago
  That sounds like the LAN Cafes (AKA "PC Bangs" in Korean) of old. They were at their peak pre-broadband, but as far as I can tell, have long since fallen out of favor. Every now and then I see a new one pop up - usually focused more on consoles rather than PC games, but they seem to inevitably go out of business.
  - cyberlurker 6y ago
    As of a few years ago, they are still popular in Korea. They do well in metropolitan areas with small apartments where a gaming PC, desk, and chair might not fit comfortably.
    - decafninja 6y ago
      Even in Korea, they are way past prime though. I recall up to the early to mid 2000s you could literally find multiple PC Bangs in the same building (on different floors, etc.). Nowadays I'd say you'd be lucky to find one per block/neighborhood, if even that. And those that are still around seem much more sparsely populated.
      - desuq 6y ago
        Not sure if it's too late to reply, but as a person living in Korea now, I can turn around from the cafe I'm in and see multiple PC Bangs. Visiting one recently, my observation is still quite packed on the weekend, haven't experienced a weekday. This is in a place outside Seoul and slightly near a popular downtown area. Just felt motivated to provide an opposite perspective based on real experience.
sjg007 6y ago
That 3D printer build a bear idea sounds like a good one. You could have shops just doing that.
- throwanem 6y ago
  Doesn't 3D printing take a lot of time, though? Especially for complex prints - I'm not directly involved, so I might be wrong about this, but I've definitely seen print times quoted in double-digit hours often enough that it doesn't surprise me any longer. Between that, the typical need for hand finishing, what I gather to be extremely significant capex for machines capable of printing fast in multiple colors, and the existence of Thingiverse and Shapeways - I dunno, this feels like something that might be good to get a few people into a store, but not something that would be likely even to pay for itself, to say nothing of paying enough to keep the lights on all by itself.
  - mdip 6y ago
    Yes. When you get into commercial systems, they are faster, but there's going to be a wait time that probably exceeds the time the customer is willing to sit around. At the end of the day, the material/physics[0] have more to do with "how fast it can print" than anything. It'd make sense for them to offer some way to do this online and pick up in-store (or, hey, ship directly). But, it might bring people into the stores or you may have people that want to "feel" examples of the material they're printing the item in (assuming it's offered with different options, which would be a good idea). [0] I'm thinking FDM here, mostly, but you're basically taking a material, heating it to the "right" melting point, applying it to a surface where gravity and controlled cooling cause the layer to adhere securely to the previous layer. The printer can only print as fast as it can reliably melt/adhere the material, any faster and you either under-extrude or fail to adhere and end up with spaghetti.
  - Corrado 6y ago
    My thought was to partner with game companies and get access to the users avatar(s) [Halo, CoD, Cyberpunk 2077, PubG, TF2, etc.] This way you already have access to the 3D model and can just print them all day long. Even better, hook into the console's "store" and make it an option to buy online. Then when they come into the store to pick up their 3D printed key-chain, bobble head, belt-buckle, doo-dad you can upsell them on other things. NOTE: I tried to pitch this to a former employer of mine and they didn't really see the market.
boringg 6y ago
I don't know if they need to pivot [i.e. switch their entire strategy]. They have almost overnight just developed a legion of brand loyal customers. What they need to do is improve operations, improve their e-presence and figure out new products to bring to market (i.e. not traditional games). And of course make the people who bought into the brand happy. If they can capitalize on the goodwill and build products that people like and not over-monetize them I think they are in a position to do well over the long term as, hopefully, a lot of these stock holders are actually long term holders.
- boringg 6y ago
  Also OP good ideas to bring into the folder to continue to build community
mdip 6y ago
I hear ya. I have a bit of nostalgia for the brand, myself, though did not participate in any of the stock situation. It's a tough spot. (1) 3D Printing -- really good idea; I'm rehabbing my 3D printer for my kids, this evening, so they can print Among Us characters. If I didn't have a 3D printer, I might consider that sort of option, but I'd probably go online first. And that's kind of the problem they need to find a way to pivot away from. (2) Gamer Bar -- I think a few have panned this idea. I love it, but not for GameStop. Their locations are unlikely to be ideal for restaurant style-businesses. And while it's a different kind of business, they'd still fall under the same regulations which would require substantial reworking of their retail outlets. Assuming "bar" means "alcohol", that's going to knock out many of the retail locations -- any where getting a liquor license/landlord approval isn't possible/practical/affordable. I have no idea if this would be popular, or if it would fall victim to "teen dance club" problems[0] ... often the way I imagine things "should be" aren't they way they turn out :). (3) Tabletop/LAN Parties -- Not sure LAN parties are all that useful these days, but maybe? Moving into other forms of games seems really logical. Most hardcore gamers that I know are also into a variety of adult board games and all have disposable income. Assuming the idea is "stay retail and keep many of the retail locations open", I think the biggest problem is finding a product that they can actually sell. I know people still buy games in physical formats, but that's ending at some point. All of my game/software purchases are digital. All of my console purchases are online and all of my used/pre-owned purchases are craigslist/marketplaces. I stopped using GameStop to recoup the value of obsolete games/consoles because the prices they offered for my used stuff was never competitive and the cost to purchase (often beat-up) used items from the store were similarly not competitive. Granted, it's been years. Offering to sell used products on consignment or with a firm, low, commission would change my mind. Offering both options would cover everyone. Maybe going back to 3D printing -- perhaps providing customizable accessories to a variety of console components (i.e. grips for controllers, knobs with icons on them, etc) in-store might be an option. I don't know if that's going to be the end-all, but the cost is reasonable considering it offers a huge inventory on-demand. Focus on covering accessories that are niche but popular and offer customization since they're print-on-demand. [0] Where I live, there were a few notorious "Teen Dance Clubs" that charged cover, didn't serve alcohol, and were pretty much the most popular place for the police to visit any night they were operating for all kinds of minor crime.
ecf 6y ago
> convert the stores into a gamer bar and show esports tournaments > host LAN parties or move into tabletop games The concept of “gamer bars” is woefully unexplored and one day I hope to retire early and start up one. Get space at a prime location, completely retrofit it, make it state of the art technology-wise. The goal would be to make it a spot that high profile streamers would book months in advance for special events. GameStop is positioned to do this kind of thing but at nation-wide scale.
Macha 6y ago
They've tried to pivot once into toys/merch which was less than successful. The idea that they can pivot into tabletop hubs has been raised a few times, but I just don't see it - if you've ever talked to a tabletop game store owner, you'd realise that the "FLGS" model doesn't support that many businesses in a given area - even at 1/10th the density of gamestops, most are kept afloat by high margin items like magic the gathering cards or warhammer minis/paints. The tabletop/board game community stuff is treated either as a marketing expense or owner hobby. I don't see it sustaining a chain of Gamestop's size without serious downsizing. Gamer bars obviously have licensing requirements like any other bar. Don't know how loose it is in the US, but good luck getting a bar approved in the middle of a shopping center in my country. Also, most gamestops just aren't that big.
foxyv 6y ago
The problem is their stores are too small for anything other than retail. Otherwise they could pivot to selling snacks and becoming a local hangout like a Starbucks for gamers.
Sohcahtoa82 6y ago
> * put 3D printers in the stores and sell custom objects based off of your gamer profile. 3D printing is SLOW. A figurine only 2-3 inches tall could be relatively quick (under 4 hours), but would lack detail. Something in the 6-8" height could look good, but would take 8+ hours to print. From what I've read, most private 3D printer owners charge about $2/hour for 3D printing (plus the cost of filament and a print setup fee of some sort). > * convert the stores into a gamer bar and show eSports tournaments. Most GameStop locations are way too small for this. If they purchased larger venues, then they're competing with Dave & Busters, Big Al's, Round1, and possibly regional chains/locations I haven't heard of. > * host LAN parties or move into tabletop games I don't know how well the LAN thing would perform in the American market. I've seen pay-per-hour PC gaming locations years ago, but they don't last. The demand just isn't there, especially when game streaming like Stadia is a thing. Tabletop game stores don't make a lot of money unless they can sell a LOT of M:TG cards and Warhammer figurines, I expect WH to die off with 3D printing being a thing.
sjs382 6y ago
https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/15/21517970/gamestop-revenue-sharing-microsoft-xbox-digital-downloads-games https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/15/21517970/gamestop-revenu... > GameStop and Microsoft have entered into a multiyear agreement that gives the video game retailer a cut of every digital purchase made on any Xbox consoles it directly sells going forward, Ars Technica reports. With someone at the helm that can negotiate a deal like this, I'm not worried about GME.
- fukmbas 6y ago
  Lol we don't know the details of this agreement but I guarantee most of it is just an enterprise cloud agreement. Don't expect them to do much else

musingsole 6y ago

Your 1st and 3rd idea, maybe, but they'd be moving into a territory filled with competitors. It's hard to imagine my local tabletop tavern crowd migrating to a corporate equivalent. Gamestop pivoting to a gamer bar seems incredibly unlikely. Retail is not restaurants -- the business logic is all sorts of different -- and likely zoning issues would prevent many locations from suddenly becoming restaurants.

llarsson 6y ago
E-sport enthusiast are, as a group, sadly not very good patrons. They stay very long per visit and order very little food and drinks (relative to the extent of their stay). This is because many, if not most, if them will be teenagers or in their early twenties, and unruly enough to drive the more financially stable 30+ crowd away. So you will have all-night events showing StarCraft 2 or whatever, and only refill a bunch of drinks every once in a while. Very difficult to get a good business that way. Price sensitivity also plays a big part here. I've talked to several owners of failed e-sport restaurants. They all say the same thing. It's sad, but also the reason you don't see tons of them around, even if gaming as an industry makes billions of dollars.
- Corrado 6y ago
  Maybe this idea needs to mature a bit. I think eSports is going to be the future of sports in general. Normal "sports" bars do quite well (well, maybe not right now) and I expect eSports bars to follow suit. But who knows, maybe now is not the right time. Besides, most GameStop locations are pretty small and not really zoned for a bar. It was an interesting thought though.

giarc 6y ago

I'm not into the gaming community but I suspect there's a big contigent in the pre-teen/teen age range. GameStop could pivot into a local gaming/community place safe for pre-teens and teens that is semi-supervised. Parents could feel more comfortable knowing their kid is hanging out at a place where there is at least one adult to make sure they aren't doing bad things.

decafninja 6y ago
That sounds like the LAN Cafes (AKA "PC Bangs" in Korean) of old. They were at their peak pre-broadband, but as far as I can tell, have long since fallen out of favor. Every now and then I see a new one pop up - usually focused more on consoles rather than PC games, but they seem to inevitably go out of business.
- cyberlurker 6y ago
  As of a few years ago, they are still popular in Korea. They do well in metropolitan areas with small apartments where a gaming PC, desk, and chair might not fit comfortably.
  - decafninja 6y ago
    Even in Korea, they are way past prime though. I recall up to the early to mid 2000s you could literally find multiple PC Bangs in the same building (on different floors, etc.). Nowadays I'd say you'd be lucky to find one per block/neighborhood, if even that. And those that are still around seem much more sparsely populated.
    - desuq 6y ago
      Not sure if it's too late to reply, but as a person living in Korea now, I can turn around from the cafe I'm in and see multiple PC Bangs. Visiting one recently, my observation is still quite packed on the weekend, haven't experienced a weekday. This is in a place outside Seoul and slightly near a popular downtown area. Just felt motivated to provide an opposite perspective based on real experience.

sjg007 6y ago

That 3D printer build a bear idea sounds like a good one. You could have shops just doing that.

throwanem 6y ago
Doesn't 3D printing take a lot of time, though? Especially for complex prints - I'm not directly involved, so I might be wrong about this, but I've definitely seen print times quoted in double-digit hours often enough that it doesn't surprise me any longer. Between that, the typical need for hand finishing, what I gather to be extremely significant capex for machines capable of printing fast in multiple colors, and the existence of Thingiverse and Shapeways - I dunno, this feels like something that might be good to get a few people into a store, but not something that would be likely even to pay for itself, to say nothing of paying enough to keep the lights on all by itself.
- mdip 6y ago
  Yes. When you get into commercial systems, they are faster, but there's going to be a wait time that probably exceeds the time the customer is willing to sit around. At the end of the day, the material/physics[0] have more to do with "how fast it can print" than anything. It'd make sense for them to offer some way to do this online and pick up in-store (or, hey, ship directly). But, it might bring people into the stores or you may have people that want to "feel" examples of the material they're printing the item in (assuming it's offered with different options, which would be a good idea). [0] I'm thinking FDM here, mostly, but you're basically taking a material, heating it to the "right" melting point, applying it to a surface where gravity and controlled cooling cause the layer to adhere securely to the previous layer. The printer can only print as fast as it can reliably melt/adhere the material, any faster and you either under-extrude or fail to adhere and end up with spaghetti.
- Corrado 6y ago
  My thought was to partner with game companies and get access to the users avatar(s) [Halo, CoD, Cyberpunk 2077, PubG, TF2, etc.] This way you already have access to the 3D model and can just print them all day long. Even better, hook into the console's "store" and make it an option to buy online. Then when they come into the store to pick up their 3D printed key-chain, bobble head, belt-buckle, doo-dad you can upsell them on other things. NOTE: I tried to pitch this to a former employer of mine and they didn't really see the market.

boringg 6y ago

I don't know if they need to pivot [i.e. switch their entire strategy]. They have almost overnight just developed a legion of brand loyal customers. What they need to do is improve operations, improve their e-presence and figure out new products to bring to market (i.e. not traditional games). And of course make the people who bought into the brand happy. If they can capitalize on the goodwill and build products that people like and not over-monetize them I think they are in a position to do well over the long term as, hopefully, a lot of these stock holders are actually long term holders.

boringg 6y ago
Also OP good ideas to bring into the folder to continue to build community

mdip 6y ago

I hear ya. I have a bit of nostalgia for the brand, myself, though did not participate in any of the stock situation. It's a tough spot. (1) 3D Printing -- really good idea; I'm rehabbing my 3D printer for my kids, this evening, so they can print Among Us characters. If I didn't have a 3D printer, I might consider that sort of option, but I'd probably go online first. And that's kind of the problem they need to find a way to pivot away from. (2) Gamer Bar -- I think a few have panned this idea. I love it, but not for GameStop. Their locations are unlikely to be ideal for restaurant style-businesses. And while it's a different kind of business, they'd still fall under the same regulations which would require substantial reworking of their retail outlets. Assuming "bar" means "alcohol", that's going to knock out many of the retail locations -- any where getting a liquor license/landlord approval isn't possible/practical/affordable. I have no idea if this would be popular, or if it would fall victim to "teen dance club" problems[0] ... often the way I imagine things "should be" aren't they way they turn out :). (3) Tabletop/LAN Parties -- Not sure LAN parties are all that useful these days, but maybe? Moving into other forms of games seems really logical. Most hardcore gamers that I know are also into a variety of adult board games and all have disposable income. Assuming the idea is "stay retail and keep many of the retail locations open", I think the biggest problem is finding a product that they can actually sell. I know people still buy games in physical formats, but that's ending at some point. All of my game/software purchases are digital. All of my console purchases are online and all of my used/pre-owned purchases are craigslist/marketplaces. I stopped using GameStop to recoup the value of obsolete games/consoles because the prices they offered for my used stuff was never competitive and the cost to purchase (often beat-up) used items from the store were similarly not competitive. Granted, it's been years. Offering to sell used products on consignment or with a firm, low, commission would change my mind. Offering both options would cover everyone. Maybe going back to 3D printing -- perhaps providing customizable accessories to a variety of console components (i.e. grips for controllers, knobs with icons on them, etc) in-store might be an option. I don't know if that's going to be the end-all, but the cost is reasonable considering it offers a huge inventory on-demand. Focus on covering accessories that are niche but popular and offer customization since they're print-on-demand. [0] Where I live, there were a few notorious "Teen Dance Clubs" that charged cover, didn't serve alcohol, and were pretty much the most popular place for the police to visit any night they were operating for all kinds of minor crime.

ecf 6y ago

> convert the stores into a gamer bar and show esports tournaments > host LAN parties or move into tabletop games The concept of “gamer bars” is woefully unexplored and one day I hope to retire early and start up one. Get space at a prime location, completely retrofit it, make it state of the art technology-wise. The goal would be to make it a spot that high profile streamers would book months in advance for special events. GameStop is positioned to do this kind of thing but at nation-wide scale.

Macha 6y ago

They've tried to pivot once into toys/merch which was less than successful. The idea that they can pivot into tabletop hubs has been raised a few times, but I just don't see it - if you've ever talked to a tabletop game store owner, you'd realise that the "FLGS" model doesn't support that many businesses in a given area - even at 1/10th the density of gamestops, most are kept afloat by high margin items like magic the gathering cards or warhammer minis/paints. The tabletop/board game community stuff is treated either as a marketing expense or owner hobby. I don't see it sustaining a chain of Gamestop's size without serious downsizing. Gamer bars obviously have licensing requirements like any other bar. Don't know how loose it is in the US, but good luck getting a bar approved in the middle of a shopping center in my country. Also, most gamestops just aren't that big.

foxyv 6y ago

The problem is their stores are too small for anything other than retail. Otherwise they could pivot to selling snacks and becoming a local hangout like a Starbucks for gamers.

Sohcahtoa82 6y ago

> * put 3D printers in the stores and sell custom objects based off of your gamer profile. 3D printing is SLOW. A figurine only 2-3 inches tall could be relatively quick (under 4 hours), but would lack detail. Something in the 6-8" height could look good, but would take 8+ hours to print. From what I've read, most private 3D printer owners charge about $2/hour for 3D printing (plus the cost of filament and a print setup fee of some sort). > * convert the stores into a gamer bar and show eSports tournaments. Most GameStop locations are way too small for this. If they purchased larger venues, then they're competing with Dave & Busters, Big Al's, Round1, and possibly regional chains/locations I haven't heard of. > * host LAN parties or move into tabletop games I don't know how well the LAN thing would perform in the American market. I've seen pay-per-hour PC gaming locations years ago, but they don't last. The demand just isn't there, especially when game streaming like Stadia is a thing. Tabletop game stores don't make a lot of money unless they can sell a LOT of M:TG cards and Warhammer figurines, I expect WH to die off with 3D printing being a thing.

sjs382 6y ago

https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/15/21517970/gamestop-revenue-sharing-microsoft-xbox-digital-downloads-games https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/15/21517970/gamestop-revenu... > GameStop and Microsoft have entered into a multiyear agreement that gives the video game retailer a cut of every digital purchase made on any Xbox consoles it directly sells going forward, Ars Technica reports. With someone at the helm that can negotiate a deal like this, I'm not worried about GME.

fukmbas 6y ago
Lol we don't know the details of this agreement but I guarantee most of it is just an enterprise cloud agreement. Don't expect them to do much else