GameStop Partners with Major Esports Brands

Gamestop announced a partnership this week with Infinite Esports (owners of OpTic Gaming and the Houston Outlaws), CompLexity, and Envy Gaming (owners of Team Envy and the Dallas Fuel). The sponsorship includes a series of gaming classes and clinics for gamers at Gamestop locations over the next year.

GameStop announced a major partnership today with OpTic Gaming, CompLexity, and Envy Gaming today. It serves as an initial move to court esports players and fans into their failing stores. The partnership includes a plan to open the GameStop Performance Center with CompLexity Gaming. GameStop says that the Center will be “the most advanced esports facility in the country.”

Additionally, it will serve as the new headquarters for the CompLexity Gaming Brand. According to the press release, the 11,000 square foot GameStop Performance Center will serve as a public gaming area for esports fans and will feature “cutting-edge performance training via data analytics, enhanced gaming equipment, a video studio and a merchandise wall.”

Jason Lake, CEO and founder of CompLexity Gaming, had this to say on the GameStop Performance Center: “The opening of the GameStop Performance Center represents Complexity’s vision to further professionalize the esports industry and leverage the learnings from the Dallas Cowboys who also call The Star home. We are creating a world-class facility that will engage fans both in person and online and positively impact the entire industry for decades to come.”

Gaming Clinics

As well as the aforementioned Performance Center, GameStop and its partners will play host to “Gaming Clinics” wherein fans of esports can interact with team employees. In a separate press release, Envy Gaming announced that fans “can expect to see Dallas Fuel head coach Aero and assistant coach Jayne participating” in these live clinics.

Envy Gaming Chief Marketing Officer Frank Hamlin said that the sponsorship aims to position both Team Envy and GameStop as “the local neighborhood hub for amateur esports.” Expounding on the partnership, Hamilin said, “…we are thrilled to collaborate with Envy Gaming and their players so they can help inspire and educate the gaming community at the grassroots level.”

The clinics also enter the online realm, presumably meaning live streams and videos related to esports content. The announcement also positioned GameStop as an official sponsor of the Collegiate Star League. Included in this pairing is the provision that GameStop will serve as the official retail partner of the CSL.

Saving Private GameStop

GameStop has been hemorrhaging funds for the past several years, posting a $488 million-dollar loss in the third quarter of 2018. Additionally, websites like Reddit are filled with AMA’s from past and present GameStop employees detailing strict and unforgiving store policies, including firing employees for failing to meet preorder quotas. Recent moves attempted to save the dying brand, but it's inability to keep a CEO or find investors have been met with failure.

GameStop has always focused on console gaming, and the move seems to be a last-ditch effort to reposition a dying brand. It’s a good time for it too; research shows that esports, and gaming in general, will see record-breaking growth in the next four years.