- GameStop may be the largest retailer of video games, but it’s a dying one, and it’s been for years.
- The COVID-19 pandemic fired a much-needed lifeline into GameStop as people sought home entertainment.
- An online forum sent GameStop’s share price through the roof, shaking the US financial system in the process.
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Two years ago, GameStop rapidly deteriorated, ready to become merely a relic of the video game era.
The game retailer, the largest in the industry, started fluttering over the past decade when game developers aimed to create digital versions of their games. Customers camped from outside the stores to tackle the first version of ‘Call of Duty’ to download it from their homes or stream online.
Read more: Some GameStop store employees get investment questions from customers and they are in the dark about how to handle it
Here’s how GameStop was merely a dying brand two years ago, finding a temporary safety net during the 2020 pandemic and evolving into a full-fledged ‘meme stock’ that sent earthquakes through the traditional US financial system.