Reggie Fils-Aime joining Gamestop Board of Directors

I just read an article on Polygon about Reggie Fils-Aime joining Gamestop's board of directors (https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/9/21172177/reggie-fils-aime-joins-gamestop-board-of-directors-nintendo). My first reaction was something along the lines of "is he crazy?!?". As was my second and third reaction. But then I started thinking about how it must seem like a great challenge, and wondering if the composition of the Board/the vision they presented was just that intriguing. Which was, not exactly exciting, but certainly interesting.

But I don't really know much about major corporations and how Boards of Directors work. What do you all think - just a nice way to fill some time in an appropriate social circle, a chance to have a real influence, simply the good feeling of following a vision, or something else?

This news comes to us from the near future, April 1st let's say, through a wormhole which bends the space time continuum to its own nefarious will.

He's gonna put us in the Game Zone!

It’s fine for him - he will either right the ship or move on somewhere else.

It was good news for Game Stops stock price, but nobody's leadership is of much use unless GameStop creates a new business model.

Selling new and used games, Funko Pops, and plushies; while trying to flip-sell smartphones is not a long term business model. The bubness mode shoudl answer WHY should someone come down to a shopping mall? Why did they psycslly need toi be in our stores? Or, what can we do in our stores that would be worth being pyschilly present- what services cna we offer that fit within of gaming, pop-culture brand?

Because, "Well, some people still like to buy physical games" does not answer the questions of why someone PHYSICALLY has to come to a store. And, they have to think about this at teh very moment that going to the malls to have physical contact with other humans being is a "trigger" for CONVID-19 discussions.

This doesn't change very much on the surface. Sales are still poor, and Reggie or no they still need to figure that part of it out. They still claim that the extended console cycle is in part to blame, but when their recent results have proven worse than many of the most pessimistic of predictions then I'm not confident that Reggie's presence will do much of anything. Consoles themselves aren't particularly profitable to Gamestop, and with fewer people buying physical games then the new consoles may only give them a minor bump for a quarter or two before plummeting back into the same situation as they now find themselves.

The experience of going into those stores has been too unpleasant, or merely adequate at the best of times, for too long. A lot of the challenge will be trying to come up with a way to encourage consumers to disregard their negative memories. I just don't have much confidence that anybody could come up with enough of a spectacle for that to happen to the extent that would be required to finally meet their estimates.

@yourbrain: having some family and friends with direct experience serving on boards i can confirm that if viewed in purely mercenary terms, being on a board is a tremendous way to make money without doing anything. also, since you don't do have to do much, you can potentially serve on multiple boards at the same time. getting paid tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars to attend a handful of remote meetings and do some light document review every year is good work if you can swing it

Interesting! My only experience with Boards is with mid-small town non-profits, where the experience is the opposite. High prestige, but unpaid. Not only that that, Board members were actually expected to be big donors (again, non profits) and/or put a lot of work into fundraisers, meet & greets, etc.

I wonder if at heart it's not a case of "never enough" - never enough work, accomplishments, and cash.

In any case, and regardless of any one person's contribution, I kinda hope against hope it works out for Gamestop. Both independent game stores in the small (35k) town I work in closed over a year ago, so Gamestop is the only physical location left. I like online shopping as much as anyone, but nostalgia - if not logic, would prefer a physical store exist.

I think you really hit it on it there. Their store experience isn't currently offering anything by its existence. Most games these days are sold digitally and for people who want a physical copy they aren't selling anything that you can't get at someplace like Target, or, if we're talking used games, off of Amazon. Really, the only thing they "offer" is increased hassle from salespeople trained to push a bunch of pre-order non-sense on you.

Personally, if I were in charge I would shutter even more stores and focus on making the ones that are left super high-end. They need to try to get it to feel like an exclusive experience going there rather than some random gathering place in the mall. Focus more on high-end hardware than games, maybe by adding in some top-shelf PC stuff on top of consoles. For the games they do sell, curate the collection so it's only the best new stuff and the truly classic and/or hard to find older stuff.

It's sort of like care dealerships. Right now, GameStop is the skeevy used-car lot off the freeway - cheap, run-down, and probably trying to scam you. Ideally, they'd be more like a Lamborghini dealership - super high-end, super-exclusive, and a more than a little bit snobby but selling the dream of buying a car as much as the car itself.

Step One: I think once CONVID-19 passes (Janauary 2021?) All Game Stops in malls that are not about to shutter, (yeah, this whole thing will wipe out so many malls and shopping plazas that are on teh edge), should find larger spaces and become places where people can play D&D, Magic, Yugioh, etc. Basically an "all gaming" center: video games, role play games, card games, etc. It maybe sound crazy but so what independant hobby shops have been doing - act as a local center for card & RPG gaming. So, teh first step is get stable ized doing gaming hobbies.

Step Two: Now we get into expansion beyond gaming hobbies into all hobbies. Corner the market on "commercial" Makerspaces - wood, matal, plastics, welding, building, and other makinbg activites . Big cities have co-op makerspaces, but small cities and the suburbs don't because you need seed money for all those expsive tools, teahers, etc. Yet, isn't a "Makerspace" a real reason to be somewhere PHYSICALLY! And with shopping malls becoming empty there is a TON of space to convert to leasable 'shop' (as industrial arts) space. Want to build a 12ft boat, but don't have a garage? Want to learn woodworking or welding, but done have the money to buy every tool? Want access to a high-end 5 axis mills and 3D printers? Old shopping malls have the space, while modern homes, apartments, and condos are build ar made WITHOUT garages and workshops!

Even better, makerspaces need other retailers to sell raw materials to build with. A Makerspaces needs Lowes, Home Depot, Joann's Fabrics, Radio Shacks, CompUSA, and all the other stores that sell "raw" materials for projects and hobbies! And if you put those IN THE MALL that is a makerspace you can walk to get supplies. I don't need Banana Republics or a Forever 21...but I sure could use a pace where I can lease a 12" x 12" space to build a boat and a lockup for my tools. Maker spaces are places you PHYSICALLY need to be in!