Gamestop to close Irish operations

the problem is so many people buy games online, or just download games from xbox, playstation store the no of people buying physical games is falling ,gamestop make money on people trading in games or buying preowned games .i think in 5 years time gamestop will not exist or maybe they,ll be online only .

in a few years time game stores selling games might be few like stores that only sell music on cds and vinyl. i think theres something special about browsing in a shop and being able to buy an old game for 20 euros ,hopefully cex will keep going as they sell phones, dvds and games .

That saddens me. I always love going into games stores and browsing the newest games. Like going into an HMV back in the day and browsing for new albums. It's just another thing we've lost thanks to the rise of online shopping and downloading.

Wtf? I thought they were supposed to be invincible after the whole memestonk thing

Yup, got a brand new, newer model Switch from them for 30 quid trade with my old Switch. Also got a dead cheap brand new Xbox One X there. These options will be less now.

GameStop is very expensive though for games and the whole market is changing to downloads, subscription, retro collecting. Smyths for now. I think Smyths isn't going anywhere since the super big toy shop you can try stuff in is a kid/kidult magnet.

A Switch is handy for pick up and play + TV mode when you want. Has a lot of Wii remasters + newer versions of their franchises+ all the old Nintendo stuff. Not cheap though.

Could see the writing on the walls for years. Their recent change from the Level rewards system to this newer, paid-for system was the nail in the coffin for me. I still frequent them, and can have a chat with most the staff in my local ones, but with digital purchases they've lost their main income stream imo. The markup on pre-owned was what was keeping them going I reckon, and because of digital purchases this is gone way down. Not to mention both of the big names released disc-less versions this generation which were quite popular.

I dunno what I'm gonna do now, as I used to buy new games physical, play them and either finish or get sick of them, and trade them in against an upcoming release, which would drop the price down to about €30. Can't do that now. Will only get crappy cash deals in CEX and Smyths don't take trade ins anymore. Maybe there'll be a good online swap/trade place. But it's a guarantee that physical game releases will be gone or so niche they'll be prohibitively expensive.

Hopefully we can come up with some way of digital trading or selling of keys/licences. Doubt it though, that would be pro-consumer. Just another sign of the times I suppose. Saying that, because no one was stocking them at the time, I bought the official Xbox headset direct from Microsoft, so maybe future consoles releases will only be got direct from MS/Sony with the odd stores doing random stocks and no pre-ordering (except on MS/Sony site, of course).

Can't see GameStop going all at once it will probably be a store by store slow decline with some already gone in the last few years but still doing good turnover in many areas the VR2 seems to still be selling well too bit the funko pops are an eyesore in many senses way too many of them are gathering dust.

Sad for anyone losing their job, i prefer physical copy of the games but a lot were 15/20 euro more expensive than Smyths and the one in Cork City, the employees are very annoying, coming up to you as you go in the door and hassling more than helping

Well that's one thing I definitely won't have a need for in CEX.

I shopped there because with the (previous) loyalty system, I was getting games for far less than other places, €35 for new releases with a trade in, down to near €20 if there was bonus trade in credit. I got an Xbox Series X for €50 by trading in a PS4 Pro and a game. Yeah, they weren't great for picking up the odd game, but if you actually used them you build up loyalty quite quick and used to get great deals.

That all changed last year though, and the new system is terrible, doesn't reward loyalty, gives everyone the same discount, expects people to pay for it (just pay for it, not pay to get a higher level anymore, same level for everyone), random spur of the moment discounts to encourage splurging, and discounts from partners who have literally nothing to do with gaming (dafuq I want 15% off stamps?!).

Seems like it went from a company that was run with gamers in mind (albeit fleecing them somewhat, but every business does that to some degree) to a company ran by idiots who think they know what gamers want. Tbh, I'm using them a lot less lately anyway, between Gamepass and PS+, I don't buy anything but new releases on the PS5 I want to play. Xbox exclusive games release day 1 on Gamepass so I haven't bought a single thing for the Xbox in Gamestop since I got it. Just gonna lose out on the trade in credit (vs cash) when buying new games now.

We are through the looking glass people they're not taking trades in GameStop.

And now the end is near and so I face my final trade in.

It's a shame for staff that will lose their jobs as, in my experience, they were the highlight of Gamestop. Their prices however were not and it was the same in the PS4 generation too. I'm a physical over digital guy so it is sad to see one option go, but Smyths (or adverts for 2nd hand) have been my go to options the last few years