At the 2025 Annual General Meeting, CEO Ryan Cohen announced that GameStop will shift its business focus from traditional video games to card exchange as its core.Cohen said this adjustment is a natural extension of GameStop's brand legacy, not a sudden entry into the Pokémon card field, but a repositioning of strategic priorities.

According to Ryan Cohen, the exchange card (whether it is a Pokémon, Sports card or other collections) is perfectly in line with GameStop's existing trade-in system.These physical commodities have considerable profit potential and are naturally matched with the company's retail model.However, GameStop's practical strategy is indeed controversial, such as the recent incident in which a store pinned the receipt directly to the Switch 2 packaging box.

Although Pokémon cards seem to be "reviving", in fact they never really fade out of the market.Admittedly, since the popularity of "Pokemon TCG: Pocket Edition" at the end of last year, a new round of craze has begun, but this is the norm for Pokemon - there are always new players pouring in.

Even Pokémon GO, which has been in operation for nearly a decade, remains popular, maintaining its vitality through continuous updates, monthly events and regular launches of new Pokémon.As for physical cards, some rare cards are worth considerable.So it's no surprise that GameStop sees it as a golden opportunity - the company is betting on this trend that has stood the test of time.

At the shareholders' meeting on June 12, Cohen pointed out that GameStop finally achieved profitability in the first quarter of 2025, the first time since 2019.This recovery is not accidental, but comes from all-round cost reductions: clearing off excess inventory, streamlining personnel, closing inefficient stores, and focusing on core business fundamentals.