Gaming is one of the fastest changing retail spaces, and trends have conspired to keep GameStop’s category in a slump. Console game designers are stretching what is already the longest design cycle yet (at seven years) and have nothing new to excite gamers. Sales of game discs, consoles and accessories continue to tumble while the popularity of social, mobile and PC games has skyrocketed. GameStop is expanding and restructuring business accordingly, opening new stores while closing underperformers, including those in the U.K., Northern Ireland and Portugal. In 2011 it acquired Spawn Labs, a streaming technology company, and will need to redefine its new role in the gaming world in order to stem its brand value decline.