GameStop is about to make a huge change to its business, suggesting that they are planning to close around 400 to 450 stores around the world in the near future.

Initially saying that they were planning to close around 300 stores back in March, and covered in an article here for CNN, the company has now revealed a higher number planned to close in the near future, with the Chief Financial Offcier suggesting that more closures will also happen in 2021.

Having faced criticism for its handling of the coronavirus crisis, where many staff were forced to work with reduced pay, a lack of PPE and more, the company has yet again shown disregard for its staff, with the closures potentially causing a huge number of layoffs around the world.

But why is the company doing so badly?

It’s easy to blame the issues with the company on the recent pandemic, however, the issues are actually far deeper within the company, primarily due to poor decisions by staff in high positions.

Covered here in an article for Business Insider, the company has shown “inaction” towards huge changes in the market, choosing to disregard changing times in order to stick with outdated models and poor practices that can’t keep up with modern advances.

The company also has a history of taking large-scale gambles rather than taking note of marketing trends, for example in the way GameStop decided to invest in the mobile market, despite having done little research on market trends. This lead to the company stocks dropping by 11%.

Can GameStop come back from the brink and halt their slow decline?

I think that depends on the higher management.