Recently, there were only 69 GameStop stores left in Germany, down from over 200. However, even these will close by early 2025.
What’s happening with GameStop in Germany? While many Germans are already stocking up on Christmas gifts for their loved ones on Black Friday, the end of the largest game retail chain in Germany is looming.
After initial indications of the closure of the remaining 69 stores on November 28, 2024, the employees have now been informed, according to gameswirtschaft.de. Employees are no longer accepting pre-orders, and the sale of gift cards has also been halted.
In response to customer inquiries, some employees have indeed confirmed the closure of their stores, multiple times across Germany. All stores are expected to close by January 31, 2025.
The GameStop stock was once on everyone’s lips, and now there is supposed to be a movie about it. Here you can see the trailer:
500 Employees Facing Unemployment
What will happen to the employees? As the chain is withdrawing completely from Germany, all employees are likely to lose their jobs. According to Gameswirtschaft, in 2024 the retail chain was the fourth-largest employer in the gaming industry in Germany, with 500 employees.
In 2023, GameStop already closed more than 100 stores in Germany. This primarily affected medium-sized cities or cities that had more than one branch.
The corporation’s headquarters in the USA, as well as the German company behind the stores, have not yet responded to a press inquiry from Gameswirtschaft. Should a response with an official statement be provided, we will update this article.
What about the other stores in Europe? GameStop employs over 4,000 people worldwide. After the latest quarterly figures, the US corporation had already announced plans to close stores. In this context, all GameStop stores in Switzerland were sold to the competing company Cidiverte this week.
The Milan-based company operates the Gamelife stores in Switzerland, among others. The stores in Italy are also expected to go to this company. These branches will then be operated as Gamelife branches.
Thus, the GameStop brand is almost completely disappearing from Europe. Only in France are there still stores. Whether a takeover or closure is also planned here remains uncertain. Even though the stores in Germany are unlikely to be saved, a tweet could earn the corporation a lot of money: Stock of the struggling store chain GameStop takes off after a post on Twitter
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