News - GAME goes up for sale in an attempt to avoid Game Over

[lodore]

In Plymouth there are three game and one gamestation. one of those game stores is inside debenhams.

[shaithis]

In Plymouth there are three game and one gamestation. one of those game stores is inside debenhams.

lol, I only noticed the 3rd outside the mall omw home this evening....had no idea there was one in debs as well!

That's all within 100m of each other....

[Hicks12]

you didnt notice there was one in debenhams? Its a small bit but its big enough, its stupid that they moved gamestation to inbetween game near the bottom and the game at drakes circus, its pointless they should have just kept the one at the bottom or sold them all when they opened the latest one near the top.

They brought it on themselves, to many staff and buildings...

[kellyharding]

Not really surprising to me.

How can they be competitive running two brands with multiple stores in cities? Coventry has 2 GAME stores and 1 Gamestation alone. Close 2 of those and just concentrate on the one store.

But the writing is on the wall for them now they cannot get new stock. Still good bargains to be had for second hand games (which is the best part of such stores to some extent, especially as you avoid waiting for post to arrive).

[OilSheikh]

How much are we talking about. If I have enough money, I might buy them

[subucni]

Can't say i didn't see it coming, If you've got retail stores aswell as an online store, you have to make the retail ones at least worthwhile visiting. Game went out of their way to make sure this wasn't the case by not matching their own online prices, and making it a nightmare to try to check their instore prices and stock thanks to an awful generic call centre number.

I've had £20 on a gift card since last Feb now, have yet to find anything in Game that was worthwhile buying from them that i wasn't better off buying from elsewhere.

Guess i'll have to now, £25 PSN card probably.

[=assassin=]

Most places I've been to have both a GAME and Gamestation store. There's no need for both of them, one will do. No wonder they are losing money. Cutting out these extra stores everywhere could save a huge amount, but I fear it's all far too late.

[HalloweenJack]

2 weeks at MOST and they`re gone - a friend works there and they might not even be paid this month;

btw EA are trying to kill off second hand sales far more - rumour mill says they canned new sales to GAME because they refused to stop selling traded in games.

[vrykyl]

Tbh the whole GAME predicament doesnt suprise me - nor does it sadden me to see them exit the industry. Imo theyve always been too expensive, offered poor trade in values and generally not maintained any form of competitive pricing vs the internet. Also as mentioned already the amount of stores in close proximity is mental... noone needs that much real estate!

If anyone knows the Potteries Centre in Stoke - there are 2 games stores directly above/below one another! If theyd put an escalator inside they could have been one store! Plus an obligatory gamestation less than 5 mins walk away - its just nuts.

I think the game group (and for what its worth companies like HMV) are well overdue an exit from the highstreet - good riddance

[andrewuk]

I haven't used them for ages. Assuming you can actually find any PC games in there, they're usually 10 quid more expensive than Tescos just down the street...

Generally if it's on Steam I'll get it when they have weekend special, or just point my browser to Amazon if not...

It's the same with HMV. I mean who pays >10 quid for a CD these days? And 14.99 for a DVD? Apparently that's what the pricing gurus in HMV think people pay. Lol, no thanks I'll buy it for 7.99 in Tesco (or Amazon and just wait a day for the postman).

[crossy]

It's the same with HMV. I mean who pays >10 quid for a CD these days? And 14.99 for a DVD? Apparently that's what the pricing gurus in HMV think people pay. Lol, no thanks I'll buy it for 7.99 in Tesco (or Amazon and just wait a day for the postman).

I wouldn't buy "latest" stuff from HMV anyway - as you say it's far too expensive. Plus, I'm not into Rhianna, latest boy band, etc. On the other hand, I've always found HMV to be pretty good value for the knocked down, "last years", stuff - two CD's for a tenner, or a £200 box set at 75% off.

btw EA are trying to kill off second hand sales far more - rumour mill says they canned new sales to GAME because they refused to stop selling traded in games.

if this is true then I'm very, very, very uneasy about it - what you're saying is that EA's used it's power in the market to kill a company merely because they were doing something EA didn't like. I'd argue that this is definitely NOT healthy - e.g. how long before EA say to supermarkets etc that they're not supplying unless you agree to a minimum sale price of RRP-£1? Smacks to me of 'practises placing impediment to free movement of goods and services within the EU'.

Second point, wtf do EA want us to do with "old" games? Bin 'em, give 'em to charity? If they don't like the idea of trade-in games then I've got a very simple solution - operate a bl**dy buy-back scheme themselves! Or is EA attitude one of we've got your money, now f-off! - in which case: great way to ingratiate yourselves with the game buying punters!

And here was me thinking that Activision were the biggest load of self-abusers ... off topic rant over

[Unique]

I wouldn't buy "latest" stuff from HMV anyway - as you say it's far too expensive. Plus, I'm not into Rhianna, latest boy band, etc. On the other hand, I've always found HMV to be pretty good value for the knocked down, "last years", stuff - two CD's for a tenner, or a £200 box set at 75% off.

if this is true then I'm very, very, very uneasy about it - what you're saying is that EA's used it's power in the market to kill a company merely because they were doing something EA didn't like. I'd argue that this is definitely NOT healthy - e.g. how long before EA say to supermarkets etc that they're not supplying unless you agree to a minimum sale price of RRP-£1? Smacks to me of 'practises placing impediment to free movement of goods and services within the EU'.

Second point, wtf do EA want us to do with "old" games? Bin 'em, give 'em to charity? If they don't like the idea of trade-in games then I've got a very simple solution - operate a bl**dy buy-back scheme themselves! Or is EA attitude one of we've got your money, now f-off! - in which case: great way to ingratiate yourselves with the game buying punters!

And here was me thinking that Activision were the biggest load of self-abusers ... off topic rant over

the games companies don't mind individuals selling games on ebay etc to other individuals, what they don't like is retailers buying multiple copies of used games from individuals and selling them on the same shelves in the same stores to the same customers as the new copies

as the government hasn't/won't pass legislation regarding this, there are few legal alternatives left, so it looks like ultimately the games companies are aiming to move to download only games, which cuts out the middle man (the retailer, the wholesaler), and cuts out the second hand market as you can't resell DLC, and it reduces piracy as it's going to be harder to keep a working copy of a game that needs and internet connection to register etc

i wouldn't say EA are killing the company though. i mean would you give someone thousands or millions of pounds worth of stock on credit if you had data suggesting there was a good chance they won't pay you for it because they might go bust?

companies are free to trade to whom they want. games companies make money by selling more copies of a game. to cut out a major retailer and lose that business means there must be a better business case to do so. i doubt they would do it simply because they were reselling games, as not supplying them will new games won't stop them selling used ones

[Terbinator]

I agree with the comments on NeoGaf about this cover, it is very harsh given people's jobs are at stake.

[Smudger]

Looks like they've succumbed:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17455742

[mycarsavw]

My £130 package of BluRays and old, old, OLD PC games (Tomb Raider collection and a few other gems) arrived day before yesterday.

Just in time it seems.

[Rob_B]

Has this 'death' been a self fulfilling prophecy? or are we perhaps more clued in than 'the masses' who just thought "oh great a sale" ?

Agree on the harshness of the MCV cover, although not for the jobs, just for calling it before it has actually happened.