Yesterday I tweeted the following,
“GameStop should turn all their stores into LAN centers selling games and gaming hardware. Have brands bid on being the official headset/mkb/controller/pc/console/etc provider of the LAN center.
Charge by the hour on stations.
Sell products.
Sell concessions.”
Then the joker in me followed that tweet up with this one,
“I just saved their brand. They should give me double on my Xbox one trade. $ 3.75 would work, I guess.”
The point behind these tweets was to draw attention to a brand I love and to shine a light on how worried I am about their brand. That said, I’d like to take this time to talk about GameStop and my vision for their brand.
LAN centers. I firmly believe the gaming and esports space 100% needs a national brand to support LAN centers in every state in the United States. Name a brand in a better position than GameStop to make this happen?
Some of you are thinking, WOW, Scotty, LAN centers? Nobody would even care, wrong… GameStop could be the official LAN partner of every single video game that remotely has an interest in esports. With my idea, you would have GameStop running qualifiers that would lead to state championships for state titles. So many people think that people with the most significant followings on social media speak on behalf of everyone; this isn’t true.
Everyone wants to talk about esports viewership numbers, but they should be talking about esports participation numbers!!! Esports fans are not equal to traditional sports fans… traditional sports have a distinct pathway to being a pro, and once you fail at becoming a pro, you are forever labeled a spectator.
This is what makes esports so unique, you can be a top-level pro in an esports title regardless if you can’t run fast, you can’t jump high, you’re too short, too skinny, or too big, for the most parts, you’re not held back by the same physical limitations that would hold you back from being a traditional sports pro.
GameStop stores are not fresh, fun, or exciting, and they 100% need to be. GameStop should celebrate the playing of video games, and they should celebrate the best players of those video games. They should celebrate the professional scene of those video games.
With publishers like ATVI moving Overwatch and now Call of Duty to localized esports titles and professional sports leagues like the NBA doing the same thing by having city-based esports teams am I the only one who sees this as an immense opportunity? GameStop has the infrastructure to run local/state/national championships for any game/esport.
Lastly, I need a reason to hang out and take some pressure off your core business before it’s too late. You must reinvent your brand now, not later… start today! PC Bangs are super popular overseas, and here in the states, you have bars/restaurants that focus on gaming and esports, and they are blowing up because of it.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn with any feedback you may have!
Gaming and Esports 