So that’s it, huh? Game Informer has been shut down after 33 years. I was going to just write “shut down after 33 years,” but that would make it sound like the Game Informer staff decided to pack it up after a particularly great issue and retire. No, Game Informer was shut down by its owners at GameStop. After decades of being one of the best - and, honestly, one of the fanciest - gaming magazines, they’re now completely wiped from the internet. Articles are gone. The social media accounts are gone. Game Inf🦋ormer is gone. Which is crazy, because Game Informer was the last 𒁃good thing about GameStop.
As others have said better, Game Informer&rsquo🅰;s s▨udden drowning in a bathtub is terrible for games and gaming history. But besides that, we have to acknowledge that it was tꦯhe only good thing left about GameStop, a store that has the emotional vibe of a dental office waiting room in Purgatory. To be clear, I don’t mean Game Informer was the only good thing about going into their stores. I mean, literally, Game Informer might have been the last 𝔉saving grace of GameStop at all. Now that Game Informer is gone, all GameStop has left is - I guess - GameStop. And, buddy, god bless you on that journey you’re about to have.
Of course, a strawman I made up might argue, “But Mike, business is business and Game Informer wasn’t bringing in enough money to make the continued investment worth it.” And, yes, I understand that’s how math works. I bet the numbers people made a great case against the one division of GameStop that didn’t make people feel deeply sad. I’m certain that Game Informer wasn’t making as much money as GameStop would have liked. I’m also pretty certain that every GameStop itself isn’t making as much money as GameStop would like because literally all of their stores look like they were just robbed.
In the last five years, I have not once walked into a GameStop and thought, “Yeah, this is a successful business outside of their magazine.” Each store is run by a single, terrified employee who m𝓡ust push pre-orders and✤ memberships if they want their family to live another day. Eye contact with a cashier brings a brutal, unspoken, “Save me.” Maybe I’m nostalgic, but there used to be a time when GameStop employees didn’t look like they were punished in the back room. Maybe now that GameStop is saving money on Game Informer they could put some of that towards hiring more than one person per store? No?
Wait, wait, wait, before that, maybe GameStop could actually spend some of that money they’re saving from Game Informer on stocking their shelves? I don’t know the exact rules of retail, but the ratio of shelf-space to product should probably not be 2-to-1. My shopping options in GameStop are limited to used games that cost $3 less than a new copy and board games that look like they were delivered by getting thrown through a glass window. Maybe I’ll pick up a Funko Pop - they have two whole different characters and only on🧸e of them is sc♔uffed! Pre-order a special edition? Yes, please! I can’t wait for an email telling me that it’s been inexplicably canceled and now it’s too late to get it from an actually-working company!
Am I being too mean? I don’t care. Firing everyone is meaner. The company treats its employees like Vault-Tec treats test subjects, and they just laid off an entire magazine that’s been covering games since before half of the fandom was alive. What are they saving here? Cash for more meme stocks? It’s always good when your primary business strategy seems to be “hunker down and hope Reddit thinks it’s funny to boost our share price again.” To reiterate, I don’t believe that Game Informer was some money-printing machine, but I’m curious just what GameStop thinks it still has that’s going to move the needle. Confused grandparents who need a last-minute Christmas present? That might keep the lights on, but not a lot of the lights.
There’s a former GameStop near my apartment. It closed a while back and the place has been empty ever since. If you look inside the dusty, cloudy windows, you see it’s all empty shelves with a few little hints of gaming PR scattered on the floor. It didn't look that different when it was open, but now there are far fewer used Wii Remotes in plastic sacks. But that’s what my nearby GameStop became. Again, anecdotal evidence is not the same as data, but it’s a reminder that the business isn’t killing it outside of its former media arm. This GameStop was in a heavily trafficked area surrounded by restaurants, stores, and♉ cafes.
Nor is this really a surprise. Remember ThinkGeek? If you don’t, it was an old internet store that sold goofy, nerdy merchandise. This was a couple years before every IP got its own bespoke waffle iron, so it was a bit of a fun place to find, like, Star Wars ice trays or wℱhatever. Not everything was IP-based! They had weird clocks and little computer gadgets and gizmos and whatnot. It was a goofy store that was fun to shop at. And GameStop bought it! And folded it into its stores and website. And by “folded it,” I mean, “made it disappear forever and then went right back to their old business model.” Sometimes you still see a ThinkGeek sign under a GameStop sign, but that’s mostly just a show of impotent dominance.
With all due respect to financial reality, the financial reality is that GameStop isn’t saving itself by killing Game Informer. At best, they’re buying themselves some time. What could’ve been sold off or spun off is likely being written down while GameStop tries to figure out how to force people to buy chipped, anime-themed mugs that cost as much as some video games. The company fired all of Game Informer’s staff and took their entire history offline. So, that legacy is gone without outside help. Instead, what remains of GameStop is a teetering retail shop that seems to have completely forgotten why people used to love going there.
Power to the Player!
