Jump to content

GAME Group near to death


Monroe Transfer
 Share

Recommended Posts

Fresh off a couple of big Wii games not being sold in their stores, and days after not stocking Ubisoft Vita games at launch, all EA games will now not be sold in their stores. All pre-orders canceled.

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-29-game-not-stocking-mass-effect-3-or-ea-games-past-ssx

 

GAME Group will not be stocking any EA games past SSX in March, including Mass Effect 3, Eurogamer has discovered. This encompasses all GAME and Gamestation stores.

 

Various GAME and Gamestation staff alerted Eurogamer to this situation after a company-wide memo was sent out at around 10.30am this morning.

 

Eurogamer has corroborated this information with individual GAME Group stores. The last stocked EA game will be SSX, we were told.

 

If you have a pre-order, GAME will refund you via in-store credit, rather than with cash.

 

EA responded to Eurogamer's request for comment by directing us to a Mass Effect 3 Launch Update website. GAME's absence from the list of retailers speaks volumes.

 

This worrying text followed: "For customers who have pre-ordered the N7 Collector's Edition please re-order your copies through these retailers."

 

These are Amazon, Play, Zavvi and ShopTo.

 

"For further information regarding the Mass Effect 3 Standard Edition with the N7 Warfare Gear in-game weapons pack, please check this page later today," the blurb continued.

 

"If you have placed a deposit for a pre-order or are uncertain that your existing pre-order will be guaranteed, please contact your local retailer."

 

"Your local retailer is doing everything possible to make this process as smooth as possible to ensure you get your copy on launch day."

 

HMV told Eurogamer it couldn't comment on a competitor's situation, but confirmed it would be stocking Mass Effect 3 and the rest of EA's titles.

 

GAME Group hasn't responded to Eurogamer's request for comment.

 

Yeah, they're in big trouble. Have a look at this - http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GMG.L#symbol=gmg.l;range=1d;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doesn't surprise me at all, if I'm honest. In the toon alone, Grainger Games, Gamestation and even HMV are stronger bets for decent game prices. GAME keep things at RRP long after their competitors have knocked them down, their deals (like 2 for £20 etc) are crap and sometimes non-existant, their pre-owned stock is rubbish and I think GAME exists only because non-clued in parents go in at Christmas for their bairn's presents because they see it's called GAME. The way the game market is atm, they haven't been able to adapt at all.

 

Been coming for ages.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you dont need to cancel it

 

its been done for you! :razz:

 

Nah, just did it myself. Better safe than sorry, if the company is going tits up I want to make sure i don't get shafted ;)

Edited by Sonatine
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Worked for GAME, now work for a different retailer

 

theres no use preordering the likes of CoD because everywhere gets tons of stock but there are plenty of titles that sell out on opening weekends and whatnot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pre-orders are a complete waste of time anyway.

 

If you're referring more to the act of reserving a copy at a physical store then yeah, a lot of times it isn't worth it.

 

Pre-ordering online is a different matter though. I haven't bought a game offline in years. Even when I lived in a city, within walking distance to a store regardless of whether I was working or not, I'd still pre-order everything online. It's generally cheaper, comes with less hassle, and you'll get it at home on the day of release if not earlier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Surely with the amount of retailers, online or otherwise, it's an odd thing to do limiting yourself to just one store? I bought Child of Eden, a game with a very limited run and a very interested core fanbase who would snap them all up and I got one on opening weekend with no bother by ordering online. It's just an odd practice to me atm with the way the marketplace is going (especially with a view to on demand purchases when internet speed and console hard-drive space gets up to scratch with the next generation).

 

Off the top of my head, you've got Play, Amazon, Shopto, Gameplay, Gamestation, Grainger Games (around here), CHIPS, Gamestation, Game (though not so much atm), HMV, Fenwick, PC World, Currys, Dixons, Zavvi, Blockbuster, Boomerang, Tesco, ASDA, Sainsburys, Morrisons and Debenhams. If you go to all of those and they don't have the game you want, then it must have a run of about 50 copies.

 

I think pre-ordering consoles has some merit but I question the wisdom of buying a console at launch anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The way the game market is atm, they haven't been able to adapt at all.

 

Yup. Their range has gotten worse, there's far too much shelf space devoted to pre-owned games, and there's just not much incentive to buy there. They've spent loads on securing exclusive deals for limited editions and the like, which has helped them in the short term but probably harmed them in the long term. I certainly found (can't see them doing it much more now) that annoying, albeit it was rare that the exclusive DLC or whatever was actually worth the extra outlay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now rumours that the future Nintendo catalogue might not be stocked there. Mario Party 9 definitely won't be, for now at least.

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-29-game-group-not-stocking-mario-party-9

 

GAME Group (GAME and Gamestation) will not be stocking Wii game Mario Party 9, Eurogamer has heard.

 

Nintendo has issued an official statement that points out every destination to buy Mario Party 9. GAME and Gamestation are absent from the comprehensive list.

 

"Available to buy on the high street via Argos, Asda, Tesco, Dixons Stores Group, GameStop, Sainsburys, Smyths Toys, Toys R Us, HMV, Blockbuster or online at Amazon, The Hut, Play.com, zavvi.co.uk, johnlewis.com and Littlewoods.com, as well as most good games retailers," announced Nintendo.

 

Mario Party 9 is due out this Friday, 2nd March.

 

Whether this will extend to all Nintendo and Nintendo-distributed games remains to be seen. However, GAME absentee The Last Story was published by Nintendo, and GAME absentee Tekken 3DS was distributed by Nintendo.

 

It doesn't bode well for Wii-exclusive JRPG Pandora's Tower, due 13th April.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw a tweet that equated the death of these to a real changer in the industry and I completely disagree. If they were current and a mainstay of the industry as its changing, they wouldn't be closing down. They're archaic and a sign of times when game retail was a lot more defined by physical copies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw a tweet that equated the death of these to a real changer in the industry and I completely disagree. If they were current and a mainstay of the industry as its changing, they wouldn't be closing down. They're archaic and a sign of times when game retail was a lot more defined by physical copies.

 

it is a real changer. GAME are in trouble because they negotiated supply deals directly with publishers rather than a distributor and had a credit system in place basically allowing them to get stock, sell it, then pay for it, basically allowing them to operate on a level beyond their own cash reserves.

 

this no longer works for EA and (apparently) Nintendo who now want their money up front which doesn't work for GAME because they have entrenched themselves in this particular system of business so they can't afford to do that. they still do massive amounts of business within that system but you can't just flip a switch in system like that without being crippled which is what we're seeing.

 

to argue that the (potential) demise of GAME isn't a big change in the game retail industry is to be wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

GAME Group have something like 1200 stores in Europe, and until last week Gameplay.co.uk as well.

 

I can't see all 1200 stores being closed or anything like that, quite likely they'll be taken over or something. But without them on the high street, the supermarkets will capitalise on the big void. HMV are in trouble too.

Edited by Monroe Transfer
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw a tweet that equated the death of these to a real changer in the industry and I completely disagree. If they were current and a mainstay of the industry as its changing, they wouldn't be closing down. They're archaic and a sign of times when game retail was a lot more defined by physical copies.

 

it is a real changer. GAME are in trouble because they negotiated supply deals directly with publishers rather than a distributor and had a credit system in place basically allowing them to get stock, sell it, then pay for it, basically allowing them to operate on a level beyond their own cash reserves.

 

this no longer works for EA and (apparently) Nintendo who now want their money up front which doesn't work for GAME because they have entrenched themselves in this particular system of business so they can't afford to do that. they still do massive amounts of business within that system but you can't just flip a switch in system like that without being crippled which is what we're seeing.

 

to argue that the (potential) demise of GAME isn't a big change in the game retail industry is to be wrong.

 

Think we're both saying the same thing in round about ways tbh. Dodgy business practices in a changing industry means someone has to go bust. Their business model can't really be helped by merging with someone with Gamestop unless they're going to launch a Steam type service (which I heard they might following the Deus Ex faff on). Publishers don't have to kiss up with retailers because there are literally so many places for them to sell the product, they won't lose anything by not stocking it in a decling chain.

 

Surely it's all symptom of change rather than a catalyst though?

Edited by Ayatollah Hermione
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just found out that the people who still work at GAME that I used to work with really hate me now :lol:

 

Ive mentioned once or twice on FB that bee.com (who I work for now) are getting in all the things GAME aren't or can't honour preorders on and apparently theyve all taken it extremely personally, to the point of posting pics of our front window which had been smashed up sunday night as an attempted break in and having a good laugh at it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.