Is the end near for GameStop?
The video game retailer closed hundreds of stores just before the new year. Now, it looks like there will be more GameStop stores to close as 2025 becomes fully operational.
With the move to digital downloads and other video game consoles leaving physical media behind entirely, the writing has been on the wall for GameStop for some years. However, in 2021, the meme stock craze, led by investor Keith Gill also known as “Roaring Kitty,” gave the company new life.
But, it doesn’t seem like GameStop has been able to turn things around, at least when it comes to its stores.
GameStop store closures
As of 2020, GameStop has it is closed more than 700 stores. In December 2024, just before the new year, the company closed nearly 300 stores.
Although there has been no official announcement about the latest batch of closures, the first of which will be in 2025, local media are starting to report on their local GameStop stores suddenly. For example, Michigan’s local news outlet MLive recently report that the GameStop location at Westwood Mall in Jackson, MI will close on Jan. 4.
Mashable Light Speed
But, news about this New Year’s store closing started to surface on Reddit. The GameStop subreddit has been filled with posts in the past 24 hours from employees who recently found out their store is closing and that they’ve lost their jobs.
“I was just notified that my store is closing, like many others,” the user posted Public_Direction9896. “Godspeed to you all. Friendly GameStop employee, coming out.”
“I’ve been with the company for almost 8 years. I got a call this afternoon. I’m frustrated,” wrote Razenkaji on r/GameStop.
Mashable has reached out to GameStop for comment on the reported closure and will update this story if they respond.
Roaring Kitty getting a new meme stock for the game?
Unlike GameStop employees, Gill, known as Roaring Kitty, doesn’t have to worry about finding a new job. While the company is closing stores, Roaring Kitty’s GameStop stock holders are still going strong.
Roaring Kitty last update on reddit in June of last year he revealed that he still owned 9 million shares of GameStop, at par $280 million based on what the stock is currently trading at.
The Tweet may have been deleted
Gill is said to have also dropped hints that he was looking at the stock of another video game company. On New Year’s Day, Roaring Kitty wrote a GIF of comedian Dave Chappelle dressed as Rick James from a 2004 episode of The Chappelle Show.
The post went viral, receiving tens of thousands of retweets and likes. Roaring Kitty fans quickly pieced things together and believed that the GIF was a reference to James’ song “Unity” which in turn was a reference to the video game company Unity Software. Shares in Unity quickly gained 8 percent and are still trading above where they were before Roaring Kitty’s post.