GameStop Sales Soar as It Shifts Beyond "Meme Stock" Tag with Hardware and Collectibles Push

TradingKey - Well-known video game retailer GameStop released its fiscal Q2 2025 financial report after market close on Tuesday, covering the period ended August 2. The results exceeded market expectations, driving its stock price up nearly 6% in after-hours trading.

During the quarter, GameStop achieved total revenue of $972.2 million, a significant 21.8% increase from $798.3 million in the same period last year.

Hardware and accessories sales reached $592.1 million, a substantial 31.2% year-over-year increase (compared to $451.2 million in the prior year). The collectibles business also performed strongly, with sales surging 63.3%, jumping from $139.4 million to $227.6 million year-over-year.

Hardware sales growth was partly fueled by the release of Nintendo Switch 2 in early June, which became the best-selling console in June and July and sold over 2 million units in the U.S. market before August.

Additionally, the strong popularity of the Nintendo Switch 2 and the robust game releases planned for this year and next have benefited the company, as these factors have prompted gamers to purchase older consoles, such as the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.

The company, which led the "Meme Stock" craze in 2021, is regaining investor attention through a series of strategic adjustments.

GameStop was once a dominant force in physical retail, but as e-commerce giants like Amazon became the preferred platforms for purchasing games and everyday items, its market share gradually declined. In response, the company has shifted toward digital sales to adapt to the evolving video game landscape.

The company has also closed hundreds of stores to improve profitability while turning to holding and profiting from Bitcoin holdings on its balance sheet.

Chairman Ryan Cohen emphasized that the company has achieved "significantly improved profitability," operating with a leaner scale, fewer stores, but a very strong balance sheet — with total cash and marketable securities exceeding $9 billion as of this quarter.

In March, the company's board unanimously approved an updated investment policy, formally adding Bitcoin to its treasury reserve assets, following the example of companies like MicroStrategy.

Subsequently, GameStop completed a $1.5 billion bond issuance in April and announced its first Bitcoin purchase in May. In June, the company further disclosed plans for new bond issuances, widely interpreted as preparation for additional Bitcoin purchases.

Cohen confirmed in a July interview, "We made an investment of just over $500 million into bitcoin, and I look at it as a hedge against inflation and global money printing, and we’ll see what happens.”