A
Andy Meek
Guest
- GameStop announced something of a Hail Mary play late Monday -- the addition of some retail industry heavyweights to its board of directors, including former Nintendo of America president and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé.
- Fils-Aimé led Nintendo during a time of dramatic change throughout the gaming industry, and he did it quite well. Under his leadership, the company's revenue quadrupled from 2005 to 2010. He launched products that defined big moments in the industry, from the Nintendo DS to the WII, 3DS, and the Nintendo Switch.
- Some of those products helped people who wouldn't have otherwise considered themselves gamers become fans of and quite attached to the Nintendo brand. The thinking is that perhaps he can bring those same skills to the ongoing turnaround effort at GameStop.
- Visit BGR’s homepage for more stories.
GameStop's business has fallen off a cliff over the past year or so, with the video game retail chain facing considerable challenges not unlike those seen elsewhere across the retail landscape -- like at bookstores, which got hollowed out by Amazon and e-readers. The thing that's killing both of those is really the power of convenience, with digital distribution pretty much rendering a trip to a physical location of any kind of retail operation mostly obsolete now. That's why when you visit your local Barnes & Noble, for example, what do you see -- a massive selection of books, yes, but also everything from vinyl to bottled water to all kinds of other tchotchkes like desktop calendars and other pointless crap that the store is hoping, if you won't walk out having spent money on a book, maybe we can at least pry some money out of your wallet some other way. It can leave the smell of desperation wafting from a retailer, and GameStop has been pursuing its own version of this same approach as customer traffic to its physical stores drops off and people do more gaming online.
Up to this point, GameStop has been throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks (and almost nothing has). When you visit a location, you're often accosted about pre-ordering the latest hit game. Used titles have famously been marked up so much it leaves a bad taste in many shoppers mouths, and when you couple all that with the length of time it's been since new consoles have launched and driven a wave of new business, the chain is in something of a vicious downward spiral right now. Which brings us to Monday, and specifically to some new additions GameStop announced to its board of directors.
Continue reading...
Today's Top Deals
- $200 Sony wireless noise cancelling earbuds are $87 today on Amazon
- All it takes is $40 to speed up your internet and eliminate buffering forever
- Today’s top 10 deals: Surprise Fire Stick sale, $6 smart plugs, $16 Wi-Fi range extender, $135 robot vacuum, more
Trending Right Now:
- PS5 specs might’ve finally just leaked
- Google Maps just got an amazing new hidden feature
- Big Tesla Model Y leak reveals key specs
Reggie Fils-Aime made people fall in love with Nintendo. Can he do it again at GameStop? originally appeared on BGR.com on Mon, 9 Mar 2020 at 23:34:01 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Via BRG - Boy Genius Report