GameStop Partners with Microsoft in Multi-Year Deal

In a move that surprises few, GameStop has announced that they’ve made a multi-year partnership with computer giant Microsoft. Now that is a match made in…heaven? Hell? Who knows?

According to the details of this multi-year partnership, GameStop will now integrate Microsoft technology and services into all their stores. GameStop will begin to use Microsoft’s cloud-based data storage, and you can expect to see Microsoft applications in stores. Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, you know, the works. These will apparently assist store employees in learning about what customers want, and give them “real time information on product availability”. In other words, they will allow store workers to keep track of which stores have which games better. Hopefully.

When GameStop Gets in Bed with Microsoft…

In addition, GameStop employees will also soon apparently get new Microsoft Surface tablets to use in-store as part of this multi-year deal.

These tablets will allows GameStop employees to “move freely” within stores. And no, it doesn’t allow them to teleport anywhere within the store. Yet. Instead, these tablets will allow employees to help out customers without needing to be at the cash register. Although, you have to wonder how useful this feature would be with some of the smaller stores. I mean, some of those are basically the size of a living room. The cash register is just a couple of feet away no matter how far you walk away from it.

GameStop employees will also start using the Microsoft 365 subscription service, and will communicate using Microsoft Teams. In effect, GameStop will be a wholly Microsoft-owned brand now. It’s unclear if GameStop will now sell only Microsoft products now. Hopefully, they won’t, but you can never be sure with Microsoft.

We don’t know exactly how long this deal will last between GameStop and Microsoft, other than that it will be a “multi-year” deal. All we know is that GameStop is in dire financial straits lately, what with the whole pandemic and all. So it makes sense that they’d partner up with a much larger corporation.

Conclusion

GameStop is now effectively married to Microsoft now. Only time will tell how long this marriage will last, and what will come out of it. In any case, you can now enjoy Xbox All Access at your local GameStop, and thus pay a monthly charge to own an Xbox Series X instead of paying for the whole thing upfront. Let’s hope that it ends up well. For us, that is. Especially with Microsoft apparently buying up everything in sight.

Source: GameRant