Collectibles and trading cards have played a major role in GameStop’s recent financial turnaround, CEO Ryan Cohen said in an interview Wednesday.
Speaking with David Bailey of BTC Inc. after GameStop’s acquisition of $500 million in bitcoin, Cohen briefly covered the impact of the company’s push into cards and other collectibles.
“You have a move from physical games to digital downloads, and we needed to get the costs under control,” Cohen said. “And also shift the business from being so reliant on video games to collectibles, which we’ve done.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen discusses Bitcoin acquisition pic.twitter.com/CW3dqyVX01
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“So now there’s a big focus on trading cards. We’re doing grading in a bunch of stores, and we’re selling a lot of cards both in sports and TCG.”
Though GameStop has long carried collectibles such as Pokémon cards and Funko Pops, the video-game retailer has rapidly increased its footprint in the collectibles market in recent months.
One of the first major pushes arrived when GameStop announced in May 2024 it would begin buying select PSA-graded trading cards.
In October, GameStop and grading giant PSA announced a partnership allowing collectors to submit cards for grading through the retailer. To date, PSA has graded more than 1 million cards through GameStop locations.
In March, the company reported collectibles had generated $271 million in net sales in the fourth quarter of its 2024 fiscal year, which was a significant increase from the $171 million it reported for Q3.
According to those financial filings, collectibles accounted for 21% of the company’s $1.283 billion in net sales for Q4 and 19% of the company’s net sales in 2024. Collectibles were 14% of the GameStop‘s net sales in 2023.
GameStop’s push into collectibles has also arrived alongside a resurgence in popularity for Pokémon cards. Earlier this month, GameStop announced it would limit customers to one item when purchasing the new Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: Destined Rivals set.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the Collectibles Editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.