The shift from physical games to digital ones has decimated GameStop. Anyone who’s been inside one of its stores recently will know that toys and collectibles, like Pokémon cards, now outnumber the Switch 2 and PS5 games sitting on shelves. One of the only reasons to still buy games from GameStop is its Pro Membership program, which has some significant benefits for people who buy lots of new releases each month. Unfortunately, it’s about to lose one of the big ones.
A memo that went out to story employees this week, a copy of which was shared with Kotaku, indicates that the points system will soon be removed from the GameStop Pro Membership program. Currently, Pro members get 2-percent rewards on most purchases. The points earned that way can be redeemed for coupons to get discounts on other purchases. Say you buy one new game a month at $70 each. At the end of the year you’ll have roughly $17 worth of points in addition to the program’s other discounts. It’s not amazing, but it’s better than nothing.
But GameStop is even planning to take that away as it closes stores and tries to cut costs. “Pro Points accrual will end for new members beginning July 15, 2026,” reads the internal update from the company to stores. Existing members who renew before then can keep earning points until August 15, 2026, at which point all remaining points will expire for everyone. That’s a bummer, but the wilder part is that GameStop doesn’t appear to be changing anything else about the membership.
GameStop Pro will still cost $25 a year despite becoming worse. For anyone who hasn’t used it in a while, it no longer comes with a subscription to Game Informer, either. Some employees are also wondering if they’ll still be expected to upsell customers just as aggressively on the membership despite the nerf. “Customers were already frustrated when I told them I couldn’t redeem their points through my POS repeatedly over a three-month period,” wrote one user on the GameStop subreddit. “I can’t wait to tell them that GameStop has told them to go f*ck themselves and killed points entirely instead of fixing our backend!”
While CEO Ryan Cohen is trying to meme-stock his way into the c-suite at eBay, staff in GameStop’s stores have had to put up with increasingly challenging working conditions as the company downsizes and tries to pivot to its next payday. Employees are held to absurd sales metrics and given outsized responsibilities for below-market pay. One apparent employee on the subreddit even called for others to boycott the Pro program over the new changes.
“I say this for a reason,” they wrote. “If we ALL drop in PRO, they can’t blame any single store. They will be forced to realize their decision was stupid AF. Do not confuse that with me saying that they will care… but they will have to realize it. Just… stop trying.”
GameStop did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
