GameStop May Be Getting Into the Pokémon Graded Card Scene

Recent rumours have suggested that GameStop, North America’s most prominent video games retailer, will start buying and selling graded Pokémon cards (and other trading cards) soon. These rumours were corroborated by GameStop employees, whom both Pokebeach and Polygon contacted.

It was mentioned by retail management staff that trading cards ‘are the future’, especially the highly collectable items that have been graded by PSA, the centralised body and de facto standard for trading card valuation.

---

In the post published recently on Pokebeach, it was claimed that a GameStop store manager said:

GameStop’s leaders believe this is the obvious next step for the company. Physical media is waning, especially for video games. It was time for the company to branch out to trading cards. They are the future.

Reportedly, the new function has some caveats. Firstly, GameStop won’t trade cards valued at more than $500, and only cards from PSA graded at tier eight or higher will be accepted for trade. Soon, GameStop will start selling Pokémon singles in-store, which means that the 3,000-some stores available across the country will start catering much more effectively to TCG collectors.

Recently, GameStop found itself in hot water after it was forced to issue a round of layoffs amid falling share prices. Last year, the firm’s CEO was fired because of the poor financial performance of the company. That being said, GameStop is persisting in the market, which is more than can be said for the UK’s counterpart, GAME. In recent months, GAME has altered its operating model and started putting staff on zero-hour contracts as layoffs loom.

Do you have any rare and graded Pokémon cards you might sell to GameStop?

---

Want more from Insider Gaming? Check out the news about the new studio set up by former Deviation Games devs and subscribe to the Insider Gaming Newsletter to keep up to date with all things gaming.

Related