How can they save themselves, Yea Forums?

At the rate things are going most JP dveleopers are going to abandon the platform. No one wants to bend the knee to a bunch of trannies in California.

they need to become the Hooters of game stores, but with an equal emphasis on ass. also they need an adults only section

have their stores not smell like a smash tournament

Yeah what the fuck is up with the smell?
Its like every single one has it.

Simply put, the physical game market is dying as now the average consumer has access to fast internet that makes downloading games not the hassle it was last gen
And with constant sales on digital marketplaces, and being able to download pre-ordered games the second they come out, the only people who aren't dropping physical are the ones with shit internet

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Have the lowest prices for physical copies on the market.

Super simple, actually.

Take advantage of their current franchise presence as a distribution network by using the physical stores that exist NOW as primarily distribution nodes for your ONLINE business.
I mean this in the most LOCAL sense possible.
Say i'm being a drunk asshole on the web and decide I want game X as a physical copy and I want it TODAY!
GameStope needs to facilitate that. Same-Day delivery of game or whatever the fuck else orders within the reasonable region.
Your physical stores are less of a place where revenue is generated and more of a physical showcase for some people while your online presence is where you can shine.

Now how do we deal with the future where physical games are going to be pieces of the past?
Well, the are plenty of games (not video games) that rely on physical systems (board, card, RPG, etc....)....and also lets consider the "retro" game market...

let's not even go into arcade, tournament, and other situations....

There are plenty of opportunities for GameStop to fix/save itself.
Will they do them?
NOPE

put me in the game, coach.

And for people that want physical games, Amazon and other stores offer better prices. Amazon came to Australia a few years ago and ever since, I haven't brought a new release game from EB Games/GameStop.

Also the other thing that GameStop could evolve into is to be a western-side arcade provider. It would be extremely risky but perhaps profitable.

The front end of the stores being arcades while the back end is all distribution of game and game merch.

Pure arcades are never going to be profitable in the west again. Nearly every major arcade chain is adjacent to another business like food and alcohol, ie Dave and Busters, Barcade etc.

It has little to do with physical vs digital and almost everything to do with retail vs online. Their entire business model relied on mass saturation driving independent businesses out of local markets, and having insane profit margins on used games. Unfortunately for them, there are bigger fish in the market like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart etc with much better customer service that they cannot hope to compete with and it's never been easier in the history of the console industry to trade and sell used games without relying on Gamestop. Majority of the console market still buy physical games, though digital is catching up.

That's how nearly every other retail chain is trying to escape being pulverized by Amazon and newer online shopping stores, with various degrees of success

youtube.com/watch?v=TyLlVClG-hM

Stop aggressively expanding into merchandise, no one goes to Gamestop for that shit, their stock is terrible for it.

You know why Gamestop is tanking? Two main reasons. First, it's such a shit experience shopping there. Their selection is trash, they often don't bother to keep extras like cases and manuals with their used games, and oftentimes they'll sell you opened games as "new". No one buying physical copies wants any of that garbage. On top of that they bombard you with upsells like pro memberships and what have you. Even if you buy games online, they manhandle your package, so if you're buying an LE there's a good chance the box will have a dent or a crease in it. Not to mention their retro games are a complete shitshow, almost guaranteed to have no box or manual even on disc games despite charging the same or more as ebay prices, and with any remotely pricey cartridge game you're probably buying a fake since they don't bother to check. There is no reason to buy physical games from Gamestop in 2019, ever. There's much better places for that online.

The other reason, simply put, we're at the end of a console generation here. Sales are always down at the end of a gen. Everyone's anticipating the next Playstation and Xbox successors, most people would rather wait for the new shit that's around the corner than invest in an ecosystem that's going to be dropped in the next couple of years. Maybe sales will pick back up after the new consoles drop, but I expect new issues cropping up with their release. Mainly, no launch titles. But we'll see.

TL;DR Gamestop has way bigger problems than the digital market and their reputation as a retailer is complete trash in an industry where word of mouth still holds power.

They offer nothing that an online seller can't give you.
Even all their generic normalfag pop culture garbage can just be bought online.

The ONLY advantage is you can get a physical case day 1, which has also been severely limited in demand since most the cases now a days have a single notecard shoved in them with a game code to redeem online, and maybe an a single advertisement slip for who gives a fuck.