Best Buy, IGN launch new gaming push

Best Buy has partnered with gaming media brand IGN to create a new Best Buy Gamers platform and in-store experience aimed at console and PC players. The move brings curated gaming content together with Best Buy’s physical footprint, positioning stores as places where customers can discover and try gaming hardware rather than only buying it off the shelf.

As part of the partnership, the first IGN-powered gaming hub is set to open inside a Best Buy store in Torrance, California. The space will provide a dedicated play and discovery area for shoppers, designed to function more like a specialty gaming store integrated into a big-box environment.

The collaboration targets engaged gamers by combining IGN’s content and community features with Best Buy’s product assortment and services. It aims to turn occasional console buyers into a more frequent audience for content, events and premium hardware within Best Buy locations.

The Torrance hub is intended to offer a richer gaming showcase than a standard shelf layout, with clearer upgrade triggers across consoles, accessories and display technology. Compared with large retailers that emphasize broad assortments, the format is closer to a focused gaming destination built inside a traditional electronics store.

This concept fits with Best Buy’s broader narrative of using upgrade cycles in TVs, computing and gaming to drive demand for higher-margin areas. These include membership programs, retail media offerings such as Best Buy Ads, and Marketplace activity that can layer on top of hardware sales.

Analysts expect ongoing upgrade cycles, alongside AI-focused hardware and services, to support revenue and service-led growth over time. The IGN-powered hub is seen as supporting the company’s emphasis on store and experience investments intended to deepen category authority and service attachment.

A key question around initiatives like the IGN partnership is whether newer profit streams can scale quickly enough to offset higher selling, general and administrative expenses. While the gaming hub may boost engagement and showcase premium products, there is not yet clear evidence that this will translate into measurable gains in areas such as Best Buy Ads, membership sign-ups or Marketplace activity.

The investment in experience-led formats underlines Best Buy’s strategy of leveraging its physical stores as more than transactional spaces. However, the financial impact will depend on converting gamer traffic and engagement into recurring, higher-margin service relationships rather than one-off purchases.

In a related effort to reach gamers, IGN and Best Buy are running three weeks of giveaways leading up to the release of GTA VI. From October 26 to November 13, 2026, a new giveaway will be added every weekday to the IGN Rewards page, starting with a PlayStation Portal.

Monday through Thursday will each feature a single prize item such as TVs, headsets, controllers, soundbars and monitors, with thousands of dollars in prizes available. Each week will culminate in a Friday grand prize, structured as a themed bundle that can include items like a 65-inch OLED TV, a soundbar and subwoofer set, TV light strips and a copy of the GTA VI soundtrack on vinyl.

These promotions are designed to help players upgrade their setups ahead of GTA VI while drawing attention to Best Buy’s gaming assortment and the new Best Buy Gamers initiative. Together with the in-store hub, the giveaways extend Best Buy’s presence across both physical and digital gaming touchpoints.