text: American Division Pandemic Response Government efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 required GameStop to close the physical operation of all of its 3,500 stores from roughly March to May 2020, though not without some controversy in the early stages. Throughout this time, it continued with online and curbside sales. Sherman and the board of directors took a 50% pay cut while other executives took a 30% cut to offset losses. While digital sales grew by 519%, its retail dropped by more than 30% in the same period from the prior year, and the chain reported a  loss in contrast to a  for the same quarter in 2019. However, with the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 still planned for release in the latter part of 2020, Sherman expected to be able to recover from these losses.
  In mid-March 2020, GameStop faced criticism for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic in North America, with employees and social media users accusing the company of placing its business ahead of the safety of its staff and customers, in order to capitalize on an influx of video game purchases and related products for entertainment during the pandemic and related lockdowns. GameStop stated that it would suspend in-store events (including midnight launches) and the use of demo stations, perform additional cleaning, and structure lines and limit store capacity to enforce physical distancing. To prevent enlarged crowds for two high-profile video game releases on March 20 — Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal, GameStop announced that it would begin selling Doom Eternal in its stores a day ahead of its official release date.