The American chain specializing in the sale of video games continues its decline, and in 2026 it announced the closure of hundreds of its branches across the USA.
Sales of physical copies of games in the US during the past holiday period achieved the weakest result in the last 30 years. It is not surprising, then, that the most famous retail chain for the sale of video games, American GameStopenters 2026 with another one mass closure of its branches.
According to a blog that tracks GameStop store closures across the US, in the first ten days of the new year, closures were reportedly announced for 410 branches. I say allegedly because the information is based on tip-off and it’s not like someone is going to travel across America to check it all out.
However, it’s no secret that GameStop’s business has been going downhill for years. It has been officially confirmed that they will close 590 of their branches in the USA in 2024.
We have a similar situation in Europe. At the beginning of 2025, GameStop closed all its branches in Germanyand before that they left the markets of Ireland, Italy, Austria and Switzerland.
Despite all this, GameStop still somehow survives on the basis of selling toys and other assortment, and tries to jump into whatever trend it comes across, from crypto to NFT. GameStop’s board of directors recently came up with a plan to reward current CEO Ryan Cohen with ownership of $35 billion in company stock if he succeeds in raising GameStop’s market value to $100 billion in the future, ten times its current value.