GameStop, the world's largest gaming retailer, announced its plan to close up to 200 "underperforming" stores by the end of the fiscal year.
According to IGN, GameStop CFO Jim Bell emphasized the company's struggling sales with a recovery plan involving the closure of up to 200 stores in a Q2 earnings report. The video game retailer's sales were down 14.3% year-over-year with a net loss of $415 million.
While the "underperforming" stores affected are worldwide, Bell says at least 95% of the 5,700 stores are meeting sales expectations and deemed profitable. With 2019 lacking a powerhouse video game release similar to Red Dead Redemption 2, the company has been struggling all year to meet financial needs.
This comes soon after massive layoffs hit the company, letting go some 120 employees from GameStop and Game Informer, the monthly video game magazine. In August, 50 regional leaders were let go as part of a "realignment strategy." The recent layoffs and expected closures are the result of the roughly $500 million lost in the last fiscal quarter reported by the video game retailer.
IGN reports GameStop is looking into different ideas to drive sales and consumer traffic, such as hosting esports events and bringing in new products for sale like comic books. While 2019 has been rough for the company, there could be a slow increase in profit in 2020 with the next generation of consoles on the horizon.