A Micromania employee in Nice has gone viral after videos showed him standing in the doorway of his video game store on avenue Jean-Médecin as rioters tried to get in on Saturday, October 17. The shop was looted anyway. The employee, who gave only his first name, Pierre, told French public radio ICI on Sunday that he acted on instinct and now thinks he shouldn’t have done it.
The clips spread across X from Saturday evening and were picked up on Monday by IGN, Kotaku and Dexerto. It happened the same night rioters looted Team Vitality’s esports venue in Paris, which we covered in Team Vitality’s V.Hive looted in the Paris protests.
Illustration of a looted game shop; not the Nice store. AI-generated illustration
Table of Contents
What happened at the Micromania store in Nice
According to ICI, the store was targeted on the sidelines of a demonstration in central Nice about purchasing power and working conditions. Pierre, whom ICI describes as a sales assistant at the shop, stood in front of the entrance to stop people from going inside. ICI reports that he was pushed around and hit in the face by thrown objects, and that the store was looted in the end.
Kotaku describes the most-shared clip: Pierre stands in the doorway next to a Goku image from Dragon Ball, briefly leaves it to chase people away, is kicked from behind while walking back, then gets up and returns to the door after someone hands him his glasses. Photos of the inside of the store posted on X on Sunday show broken shelves and merchandise on the floor, Dexerto notes.
- Where: Micromania, avenue Jean-Médecin, central Nice
- When: Saturday, October 17, 2026, during a day of protests across France
- Nice toll (authorities, via ICI): 15 businesses damaged, including JD Sports, Decathlon, Micromania and Foot Locker; 85 people in police custody on Sunday morning, 40 of them minors
What Pierre told ICI
“At one point I stood in front to stop people from getting in, that’s all,” he told the broadcaster (our translation from French). “I can’t really make sense of what happened yet. Maybe that will come later.” Looking back, he said: “I think I shouldn’t have done it. It was a foolish thing to do. But in the moment, that’s what I did.”
He has received dozens of messages of support since the videos spread. “It’s very kind of them to support me, and to support all the shopkeepers, everyone,” he said. He also asked people not to judge the whole protest by the looting: “We shouldn’t forget it’s a minority. For the rest of the march, things went fairly well. There are a few bad apples, but they’re not the majority.”
Is there a fundraiser, and what has Micromania said?
A Leetchi fundraiser titled “Solidarité Gaming” was launched for him, and its description calls him the store’s manager, as Dexerto does. ICI, which spoke to him, calls him a sales assistant. Dexerto says the money goes directly to him; IGN says it isn’t clear whether it goes to him or to the store. IGN put the total at just over €6,000 on Monday. We couldn’t load the Leetchi page ourselves to confirm that figure. Micromania had not posted a statement on its French X account as of Monday 14:30 UTC; its posts since Saturday have been game promotions.
The October 17 protests in France
Saturday’s protests were part of a movement that began in September with a strike at a high school in the Paris suburbs and broadened into protests over the cost of living, CNN reports. More than half a million people demonstrated across France on Saturday, mostly peacefully, but shops were looted and fires set in several cities as night fell. More than 2,000 people were arrested over the weekend, and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has asked some cities to impose partial curfews. Other gaming-adjacent businesses were hit too: Kotaku points to a burned Le Coin des Barons trading card shop in Lille, with Pokémon cards strewn across the street.
Gaming stations at Team Vitality's V.Hive in Paris, pictured before it was looted on October 17. Image: Team Vitality
In Paris, Team Vitality said its V.Hive venue was looted the same day, with display windows smashed and trophies and computers taken. The club was back in the headlines a day later when LOUD beat Vitality in the Valorant Champions 2026 final.
What’s next
ICI reports that the mayor of Nice and the prefect of Alpes-Maritimes planned to visit avenue Jean-Médecin on Sunday to meet affected shopkeepers. Micromania hasn’t said when the Nice store will reopen. We’ll update this story if the company or the store’s staff comment, or if the fundraiser’s organizer confirms where the money is going. For other stories from today, follow our gaming news live page.
Sources: ICI Azur (interview, Oct 18), IGN, Kotaku, Dexerto, CNN.
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Featured image: AI-generated illustration (not the actual Micromania store)
