GameStop Appears to Be Shutting Down in One Major Region

GameStop may be closing its doors in one part of the world. GameStop is still the dominant physical games retailer and is really the only major one in the United States. There are other games stores, but they're usually locally owned or much smaller in comparison. However, GameStop has struggled a lot over the last decade as digital games become more prevalent and physical games can be bought and delivered to your home from places like Amazon. These options are making GameStop less of a priority to gamers and has resulted in things like store closures, but the company did also just report a profitable quarter for the first time in two years.

Whether GameStop's days are numbered or not truly remains to be seen, but the company appears to be limiting its reach. GameStop has made some changes to its stores in Ireland that suggest that its closing up shop in that region. As spotted by GameRant, GameStop confirmed that stores in Ireland will not be taking any more pre-orders for games/will offer refunds for future titles and will even be halting the sale of gift cards, trade-ins, and many other major staples of the business. The company hasn't outright confirmed it's shutting down in Ireland... but it seems like a bad business decision to remove all of these significant parts of the business model and keep things running. Only time will tell what happens, but if you do have any gift cards, store credit, or pre-orders, you should probably make use of that/get a refund before it's too late.

GameStop seems to be doing just fine otherwise. There are a ton of major games releasing in 2023 and consoles are now being produced at a rate that ensures they're not impossible to get anymore. These things will likely help keep GameStop afloat for a while in addition to all of the other things the store sells that aren't really video game related. 

What do you think of GameStop seemingly shutting down in Ireland? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.