GameStop and the house of Xbox, Microsoft, announced this afternoon that they would be partnering together over the coming years in a new deal that the companies have struck. At face value, it would be easy to assume that something involving the Xbox brand itself would be directly associated with the deal, but that doesn't seem to be the case.Detailed in a press release, GameStop will primarily be looking to "standardize its back-end and in-store solutions on Dynamics 365," which essentially means that it will be using tools created by Microsoft to help with general business operations. Some of these tasks that Microsoft's tech will help with financial, communication, and inventory aspects that are tied to GameStop's day-to-day processes. Those who work at the store will also be able to use Surface tablets to help customers from here on out.

On the customer side, however, this partnership won't mean a lot. The only major thing that is happening here that deals with Xbox comes in regards to Microsoft's Xbox All Access program. This is a service that was previously announced by Microsoft and allows consumers to essentially purchase an Xbox Series X or S as part of a larger bundle that includes 24-months of Game Pass Ultimate and pay it off over a certain period of time at flat rates rather than having to charge it all upfront. Other retail partners have already implemented Xbox All Access, but GameStop will now be doing so as well.

As someone who use to work at GameStop, I can however say that the move to working within Microsoft's structure should definitely help. I worked for the company over five years ago at this point, and even then, most of the tools that we had to utilize on computers and such felt pretty antiquated at the time. While they definitely got the job done, the process often could've been much smoother. To hear that many of those old systems will finally be going away should make the lives of current employees all the easier, I would think.