GameStop, Now One Less Stop for Zune

About a year and a half after GameStop decided to start carrying Microsoft's Zune MP3 player, the gaming chain plans to retire those in-store displays. This could lead to a bunch of the Zune-logo-shaped neon signs that have shown up there becoming available on eBay, much to the delight of Zune freaks everywhere.

Gamers surprised some onlookers by warming to Microsoft's XBox gaming platform, and the company likes to talk about the potential for synergy between its Zune and XBox ecosystems.

However, gamers who frequent GameStop locations haven't shown much demand for the Zune. Apparently, they're either buying MP3 players online or they still want iPods.

"We have decided to exit the Zune category because it just did not have the appeal we had anticipated," a GameStop spokesperson told TheStreet. "It did not fit with our product mix."

Zune's marketing director Adam Sohn responded that Microsoft still has good relationships with other distribution channels, including Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart, none of which is remotely as cool as Apple's retail locations.

by Eliot Van Buskirk for Wired.com