News - GAME to enter administration, stays open however

[HEXUS]

Company has "no equity value" and has begun a 'fire sale'.

Read more.

[=assassin=]

We all knew it was going to happen, still a shame though to have it confirmed.

[Kirano]

As such, GAME has launched a "spring clean" fire sale on its website in an attempt to raise cash....

The 'spring clean' sale has been on for one if not two weeks already and, tbh, is very lacking in good titles, at least on the PC. In fact, in the store nearest me, the majority of the PC game shelves are taken up by hidden object adventure games! :s Maybe there'll be more deals to come now that this announcement has been made.

Sad times. GAME has always been iconic for me. As a child, I was always thrilled when my parents took me out shopping with them as it inevitably included me being taken to Game where I would search through the 3 for £10 shelves with glee!

In recent years though, unless there's been a sale on, I rarely go into Game to buy; usually just to browse for titles that I'll then look up online, where they'll inevitably be cheaper! And, at least in the PC game section, whats available to browse has gotten poorer and poorer everytime.

imho, GAME got too greedy. They kept open too many stores after aquiring Gamestation. They also alientated a fair chunk of their customer base I feel, by reducing the allocation in store for PC games and replacing it with used console games, usually priced just a few pounds cheaper than buying them new!

Still, it's a shame to see them go under and all those people potentially lose those jobs. Now isn't a good time to be out of work! Though as unlikely as it may be, I hope GAME some how pulls through...

[3dcandy]

badly run by muppet managers and gone belly up! Doesn't alter the fact that it looks like they give the muppets another try after shedding loads of jobs of innocent people...

[crossy]

The report does help to highlight GAME's inability to adapt to a market that whilst changing, is in fact flourishing, with the firm operating with high in-store overheads whilst remaining uncompetitive on the web.

As said before - they were really stupid in store placement. Having Gamestation's near GAME's is bad enough, but from the comments on Hexus it's obvious that they then compounded that mistake by opening GAME's near existing ones. Mind bogglingly stupid!

If it was me, I'd try and find a way to spin off GAME stores into a separate company and then kill 'em - as far as my recent experiences go, Gamestation is better anyway.

Well, I've apparently got £7 in points, so I'm thinking that perhaps getting the last Assassin's Creed (Revelations) on the PC might be a good use of those points. Big AC fan, but I've never played it on the PC - perhaps it'd look better. Unless someone @ Hexus has got a better recommendation of course ... (please don't say Mass Effect)

[j.o.s.h.1408]

http://www.game.co.uk/en/games/xbox-360/spring-clean/?cm_sp=offers-_-mint-_-360 > rubbish deals

[Brewster0101]

So called firesale is nothing special. :-(

[Spud1]

Big shame to see it all confirmed now As has been said though, their total inability to change with the times, and incredible arrogance has led them this way.

I too have memories of going to Game and browsing their 3 for £10 or 3 for £20 ranges and coming home happy - that was when they were competitive. But now when you can still walk into a game store, see a game at £45 (!!) and then walk next door to Grainger and exactly the same game is £25..they just don't have a chance.

Then you have the smaller things that just take the michael - charging people for a reward card? That's pure arrogance in this market. Opening NEW game stores next door to a gamestation? That's just idiotic..can understand the ones they kept open due to lease dates/cancellation costs, but really..new stores?

I've never had a problem with their service, and up until about 4 years ago the prices were at least competitive on the high street..but when even non gaming stores like WH Smiths can undercut them.

If no one rescues them and they really are totally screwed, I hope that grainger games start to expand further..there are so few national gaming specialists now that someone needs the fill the void.

I can't be the only one willing to pay the extra £5 for a pre-order to guarantee to get it on release?

[RickD]

Im going to have a visit tomorrow and see if there is anything worth picking up. I did manage to pick up a pre-owned kinect for £59.99 with Kinect Adventures last week, they were still advertising it in store at a higher price though.

I can't understand companies like this. Who on earth pays Retail price for this sort of thing any more? yet it all gets blamed up a recession or the banks, when it basically boils down to a poorly run company. Its the same with a lot of these businesses that go down the pan. A lot of them were on life support before the "credit crunch" and when time came to actually lend responsibly, these companies found themselves unable to get another loan to pay the rent or pay wages.
I know it doesn't help the people put out of work by mismanagement... but maybe something decent can rise from the ashes. As it would be a shame for specialist games shops to vanish from the high street.

[shaithis]

Seems some stores have GOW3 Collectors Ed for £12.

[MSIC]

Am standing in my local 'Game' right now. Other than the above mentioned spring clean, no signs of any decent prices.
HDMI cable reduced from £19.99 to £14.99 being a typical example. I feel sorry for the employees but they aren't getting my money.

[Mama Sumae]

They had what others lacked, the brand and market presence with customers and companies to launch a serious online distribution service and keep up with times.

Having physical stores meant they would hurt somehow with the decision (competing with themselves) but they could have at least used their presence to cement and connect their new business plan and perhaps even save some of their stores.

Instead they decided to buy stores some time and slowly kill the whole company, haven't used them since NWN 2 came out and wont be particularly sad to see them go.

[Whiternoise]

The lack of PC games is a compound problem. GAME operate a stock system where titles are spread around the country such that shops that are selling loads of a particular thing get stock from stores that aren't selling as much. If you live somewhere were PC games aren't in demand, you won't see many on the shelves.

Additionally the amount of stock you're allocated is closely linked to the number of pre-orders you get, it doesn't cost you anything to do as a customer and it's not binding, but that's why staff always try to push you into doing it. If people don't go in and ask to reserve said games, the stores don't get any stock.

Steam, in combination with Amazon, has almost completely obliterated the PC game market. It's nice having the box, but it's always cheaper online. Saying that you could often buy PC games fairly cheaply in GAME a few weeks after release.

So part of this is moving with the times, the rest is actually down to you, the consumer to just ask for titles. Remember, you could always preorder and then say no once they arrived in store if the price wasn't right.

I may be biased as ex-staff, but GAME did have some upsides. Most of the 'GAMEware' or whatever they called it was reasonable quality and certainly at least as good as the branded stuff. The console insurance policies were actually very good - £12 to cover a DS against all accidental damage repeatedly, with no premiums, for two years is an absolute steal (it was also cheaper for the 360 if you got RROD'd). Preowned wasn't too bad, I always showed the disc to customers to make sure they weren't getting scuffed stuff and if the disc is in good nick, why pay full price?

The problem was up high, as usual. The sales staff I knew were all top people, knowledgeable about their gaming and wouldn't hesitate to give advice that would be detrimental to profits if it was needed. So we'd happily tell people not to buy certain titles over others when our manager wasn't around. But, it's a heavily sales driven environment, always pushing targets and clearly the senior management were sat on their laurels because they were running the only gaming franchise in town.

[OilSheikh]

Dammit! I bought a USED XBOX 360 w 60GB HDD off them. It comes with 1 year warranty. What's going to happen to my warranty if GAME no longer exist ?

[OilSheikh]

Well, I've apparently got £7 in points, so I'm thinking that perhaps getting the last Assassin's Creed (Revelations) on the PC might be a good use of those points. Big AC fan, but I've never played it on the PC - perhaps it'd look better. Unless someone @ Hexus has got a better recommendation of course ... (please don't say Mass Effect)

AC on the PC does look much better. I tried playing the PS3 AC games and just could not get myself to like the graphics. PS3 graphics wowsm was caused by using lighting - its either bright or dark. There was no depth to the graphics at all.

Definitely get the PC version for AC games. Btw, I 'pirated' the latest AC game when it first got released and finished the sigle-player

[crossy]

I may be biased as ex-staff, but GAME did have some upsides. Most of the 'GAMEware' or whatever they called it was reasonable quality and certainly at least as good as the branded stuff. The console insurance policies were actually very good - £12 to cover a DS against all accidental damage repeatedly, with no premiums, for two years is an absolute steal (it was also cheaper for the 360 if you got RROD'd). Preowned wasn't too bad, I always showed the disc to customers to make sure they weren't getting scuffed stuff and if the disc is in good nick, why pay full price?

That was my experience too (and I'm not ex-staff) - customer service at our local GAME was top notch. As a result they got a lot of my gaming business - nice to be dealing with folks who were enthusiastic, knowledgeable and friendly. The insurance, the prices were such that you didn't necessarily feel "ripped off" the same way that PCWorld/Currys policies are, and I think I only got the "hard sell" from one member of staff.

The problem was up high, as usual. The sales staff I knew were all top people, knowledgeable about their gaming and wouldn't hesitate to give advice that would be detrimental to profits if it was needed. So we'd happily tell people not to buy certain titles over others when our manager wasn't around.

Again, my experience. I remember trying to buy some WWII shooter on the XBox, and the manager saying (quietly) that it was p*ss-poor and I'd be better off either forgetting it or going for something else. And dammit he was right - I think I spent longer reading the instructions than playing it. I've also had occasions where I've tried to buy an official accessory only to be pointed at the (cheaper!) Gameware alternative - last time being the TV mount for Kinect.

When they closed that GAME, I was pleased to see that some of the staff managed to transfer to the local Gamestation. And that store too, seems to be a den of "enthusiasts" - if that one closes too then I suspect that I'm going to be gaming a good deal less, (which'll do wonders for my bank balance), because I'll be a lot less inclined to impulse buy from HMV or supermarkets, (although an Amazon Prime combo deal might be a small temptation)