GameStop is closing hundreds of stores just days into the new year as CEO Ryan Cohen aims to take home $35 billion in performance-based stock options.

Reports the gaming and pop-culture retailer would soon close stores started to emerge soon after 2026 began. Some shoppers were able to find and share signage warning their location would soon shut down, offering a 20% trade-in bonus (for a limited time) as compensation.

Been going to this GameStop for over 12 years. Sad to see it go. All the best to the guys Jose, Nick and more. Check them out before they close on the 8th. This is the 18th av location in Bensonhurst Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/hV8NxgESUO

— Brooklyn Games & Arcade (@ArcadeBrooklyn) January 3, 2026

“This store is closed effective 1/8/26,” a different sign posted to Reddit January 2, 2026, says. “Thank you for being a loyal GameStop customer.”

Signs then instruct customers with game or memorabilia reservations to travel to new stores to pick up their purchases, but the sudden nature and wide reports left GameStop buyers with more questions than answers. With reports of what seemed to be dozens of store closures online, a blog that tracks GameStop activity using employee reports and the company’s store locator claims to have recorded 390 store closures (via Polygon). An additional 10 stores are still in the process of being confirmed to have shut down, which, if accurate, brings the total to 400 shuttered GameStop locations a little more than one week into the year.

It’s another hit to GameStop’s physical presence in the gaming market, with a December 2025 filing from the company noting it had ceased operations at 590 locations in the U.S. in fiscal 2024. Now, the once-titan known for giving “power to the players” seems to be keeping with its future plans, too, with the same document saying it anticipated “closing a significant number of additional stores in fiscal 2025.” For the last ten years, GameStop has closed more stores than it has opened in the U.S. each year, with closures often numbering in the hundreds.

Meanwhile, GameStop announced earlier this week that Cohen, who took over as CEO in September 2023, is up to receive a staggering $35 billion in performance-based stock options. For Cohen to receive the payout, the company’s board of directors states GameStop would need to reach a market capitalization of $100 billion and, before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, achieve $10 billion in cumulative performance. GameStop’s market cap currently sits at about $9.5 billion.

“The award is designed to incentivize Mr. Cohen to achieve extraordinary growth,” the announcement says.

GameStop has looked to new, bizarre ways to gain traction in recent years as it continues to double down on collectibles and memes. August 2023 saw the company pull out of crypto, moving to shutter its short-lived NFT marketplace just a few months later. More recently (and much to the dismay of its employees), it held its first-ever Trade Anything Day, which saw customers bringing in literally anything for trade-in credit at their local stores. Earlier this week, The New Zealand Herald reported that GameStop’s EB Games branch had made a proposal to close its remaining stores in New Zealand.

Photo by Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).