GameStop to close ‘significant number’ of stores this year

GameStop already slashed the number of locations it operated and more cuts are coming.

The company said that it closed 1,000 locations globally, with 590 locations in the U.S., in the past year and will close a “significant number” in the next few months.

The exact number has not been released.

About 3,203 GameStop locations are still open around the world, but they had a company high of 6,000 about 10 years ago.

GameStop suffered as gamers’ habits changed from buying hard-copy games to opting for streaming and buying digital downloads.

“We have also initiated a comprehensive store portfolio optimization review which involves identifying stores for closure based on many factors, including an evaluation of current market conditions and individual store performance,” the company said in its latest SEC filing.

The company is also branching out into crypto, investing some of its “cash or future debt and equity issuances” in Bitcoin.

Analysts called it “a defense against irrelevance.”

GlobalData Retail analyst Neil Saunders said GameStop’s move was “an odd thing as it’s basically saying the strategy isn’t retail but to act as some kind of cryptocurrency investment vehicle.”