UK Retailer GAME Won't Be Stocking Mass Effect 3, Other Upcoming EA Products

I pre-ordered a N7 PC copy from Game.no in Norway a few weeks ago, and today I received a email from them telling me that they had taken on more pre-orders than they could ship out, so I won't be receiving my copy at launch. While I was furious at first, I read on.

To compensate me I received a free copy of the Digital Deluxe edition, so I won't be missing the launch after all, and they will send my physical copy when the second shipment hits.

I imagine HMV will be grinning over this. After Virgin and Zavvi both went bust HMV became pretty much the only large scale dvd/blu-ray emporium on the high street. If game/gamestation go under they will also be monopolising games.

Not that I mind, HMV have always been really good (comparatively) with their trade in rates, and they are who I usually buy from anyway.

Meh, the only people that still shop at GAME are clueless relatives, The job losses are a bastard but I can't see these chains closing have a massive impact on the retail side of gaming, there are still loads of places to buy them.

@AlexW00d: Haha, I'm a bit of a grammar fiend myself, but I can't say it bothers me as much as it does you. Not sure why that is, but I certainly understand where you're coming from; I've got my own little pet peeves.

And if you want to get technical, it uses a "character" in place of two letters and a space, so it effectively omits two characters in a headline, which may not seem like much, but when you're trying to cut down to keep something in a certain frame, it means a lot. We also don't know how much he could have cut from the original draft of the title if it was too long and if there was one.

@Goldanas said:

All you UK fellows out there, was this a particularly good company? Did they have business practices that made you come back, or are they a company you wouldn't mind seeing gone, like Gamestop here in the U.S.?

GAME is the best video game retailer I've dealt with, at least when it comes to actually going out to buy things. Unfortunately, like everything else, I see this as part of the internet taking over. When I want to buy a video game I search Google Shopping and maybe eBay and usually find a better deal online. Very often I end up buying my video games from Amazon.

The reward card scheme was always nice though, I must have saved/earned between 10 and 20 quid through that.

It's kind of just evolution at this point. Retail stores are going out of business one by one and only the huge chains and specialist stores will survive. Print is slowly dying, moving over to digital. More people download and stream their entertainment media than buying it physically. Eventually we'll get 99% of our stuff downloaded through the internet or sent by post. Fuck it, I already do.

It's worth noting that until today Game were the exclusive UK stockist for the collector's edition of ME3. I missed their pre-ordering window and had to order from Amazon France a couple of weeks ago.

@Goldanas: they're ok at best. The selection was pretty slim if you're looking for good games from a few months back but most of all, the games are HELLA expensive. No comparison to Amazon.co.uk imo.

That's it. GAME will go bankrupt. It's all over for them. No way can they recover from this. I've had a love-hate (well, mainly hate) relationship with GAME ever since they started downsizing shelf space for PC games. This is just the end of an inevitable road, because management at GAME have absolutely no clue whatsoever about the games industry and culture. They are completely clueless.

Game has been pretty terrible for quite a while now. A lot of their games are ridiculously priced and it always confused me when I would see people paying £45 in a store next to a supermarket selling the exact same thing for about £30. They did have a lot of trade this new game in for another new game +£5 though and I was thankful to get rid of a couple of games that way. It has been far better to buy online in the UK for a while now, with many games coming in the post before release and at better prices.

I wonder if GameStop will buy them out and rebrand? They haven't bothered with a physical presence in the UK because the market was 'oversaturated' before, but perhaps it would be worth it if they were the ones doing the saturating?
 
GAME's share price is currently 5p, with a total valuation of about fuck all.

Just incase you guys didn't know: GAME used to be called Electronics Boutique, a really long time ago, which is EB Games in USA (owned by GameStop?).

I have been using Amazon for years as it is cheaper but sometimes if I ask for games as a present or something I will get it from there. My Dad went to buy Portal 2 from GAME but he said later on that the store guy said they don't even sell PC games anymore.

This basically happened to a chain store I worked in a couple of years ago, due to credit problems the store didn't get dragon age or other Ea games of the time.

Maybe if they had tried to come up with a better company name, they wouldn't be in the shitter right now... I mean, seriously, GAME? That's the name? Just GAME? A place that sells games is called GAME? 
 
There's a reason my Toyota dealership isn't named CAR. My Wal-Mart isn't named EVERYTHING AND STUFF.

I'm gonna get my 5 pounds of reward points, spend it all, and then never buy from GAME ever again :-/

I think it's sad to see one of these places go.

It's pretty much GAME and Gamestation, I really don't know of any other game specific shops. I also have like £20 in store credit, I feel the need to go and spend it before its worthless.

@GunsAreDrawn: I still have the EB carrier bag and receipt for my PS2.

that to me, explains why the game will be available day 1 on psn store.

Knowing that UK is ps3 centric, they couldn't afford to loose that many sales at the launch of the game.

just a thought

Having worked for them until fairly recently I can fairly safely say, yeah, this isn't gonna be the last news story like this. Probably a good idea to spend what store credit you have soon.

I've entered more than once in a GAME store. The prices there for games are ridiculous. No wonder they're having problems.

@dekkadekkadekka: Every time.

He writes in the same tone as he speaks so it's hard not to. Not sure but I think that's a compliment to him. It all just seems to flow naturally in other words. :)

@AssInAss said:

I'm surprised this wasn't posted sooner.

Can't say that this will affect me, while it's obviously bad news for the guys that will lose their jobs which is the last thing the UK needs right now. But I found going there a pretty horrible experience, the usual "do you want to buy an extra £30 of crap in addition to what you're already buying?" spiel, but hey, retail will always be retail I guess.

So there are not going to sell FIFA in the UK? Well GAME, it's been a good run.

Nope! Chuck Testa

Man if game goes bust then gamestation will go bust too, as they're owned by the same company. I'm not sure there even are any other dedicated game shops in the uk.

But whatever, I buy all my games off the Internet.

I've never particularly enjoyed going into any of the Game stores near me. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with a large, public-facing company selling video games, but I never felt that Game was very respectful of their customers, especially regarding prices. I tend to buy online now, or from supermarkets, which can be over £5 cheaper than Game for new releases. Still, let's hope they get those favourable credit terms and prevent any further job losses.

I think this could be the final nail in the coffin for the GAME/Gamestation stores. Ultimately it's a great shame to see the only real brick and mortar games store in the UK financially screwed. The main issue for me will be trade-ins for new games, something I have found my cash-strapped self relying on recently.

It really is a shame, but from what I've read and heard from news articles and people who have worked there is that it isn't a particularly well run company, and this isn't the first instance of them not being able to bring in stocks of certain games, though this is by far the most prolific instance of it.

@Goldanas: They're ok. Usually decent staff and they're nowhere near as bad as what I hear about Gamestop in terms of the preorder/strategy guide bullshit.

That said, they weren't cheap unless you were looking for console bundles or old ass PC games.

I Just got an email telling me this from Game, thing is I already cancelled my preorder and ordered one through origin. they are offering money back and £5 credit in store on your next visit.

i dont get it, if they are in trouble then why not stock up on a popular title? I'd have understood if they decided not to stock up on lesser titles, but this?

If i was the entire human race, i would NOT come to terms with EA. Suck my dick EA, Fuck you.

@GunsAreDrawn: I always thought it was Gamestation who were EB? In York there was a point where we had both a Game and an EB. Then the EB closed, we gained a Gamestation and another Game, which cropped up facing the original on the same street. Weirdness.

Get it on Amazon UK. Problem sold, mate.

I wonder if they'll use the "not enough shelf space" excuse again.

So many people i know never shop in the stores (Game or Gamestation) unless there is a good deal.

Their prices are always really high and alot of the staff dont know much about what they are selling.

They dont push pre orders etc but they do rip the arse out of the used game market. New game for £42.99, pre owned normally £38.99. But then in other stores close by the same game new can be got for £34.99.

@Vegetable_Side_Dish said:

@Mr_Skeleton: Read the article next time, bro.

I did read it "bro", but that doesn't change the fact that they won't deliver a game that I preordered months ago and doesn't even bother to send me an email to to tell me that.

The treatment of its customers is the one thing that rubs me up the wrong way, i hated going into the stores because of the unethical selling methods they used, the constant pressure to but the pre-owned version for £2.00 less than the sealed new copy, and the recent selling of pre-owened titles as new games.

Online was better but now i get three emails for 3 different games from 3 different publishers they are no longer stocking games for that are all due out in the next week and a bit? Now theres running around to be done trying to secure special edition of Mass Effect but what really pissed me off? The follow up email saying that Assassins Creed 3 was now available for pre-order...really? They think im stupid enough to fall for that again? They wont even be around when the game launches!

Rumour has it that the US chain Gamestop is looking to expand in Europe and wants to snap up the ailing Game/Gamestation business.

They don't want the Aussie shops (they already have the EB shops down under) so that may be a sticking point, but Gamestop seemingly is doing pretty well and has no debt at the moment.

With the share price of GAME plummetting I wouldn't be surprised to see them getting bought.

We need specialist shops around on the highstreet. The only alternative at the moment for consoles are the supermarkets and online. Supermarkets only shelve the blockbuster games so if you want to see anyhting thats not Modern Warfare disappear from the market then we need to support shops that have a wider range.

Well they are fighting for survival. Let them do this if they want it. But video game retailers have been doomed for quite some time now, at least the ones who's business model is to rely on lazy and/or uninformed parents and the used sales market. Bad business is bad.

@SimplyTron: Frequent and obvious troll is frequent and obvious.

I've always had decent experiences at GAME, so it is kinda sad to see them go. But that seems inevitable at this point.

Shame to see them in trouble don't shop at GAME much but Gamestation is usually my go to if I don't get it from Amazon.

I haven't bought anything from their physical store in about 3 years and the same goes for GameStop, but with the release of Wii U I'll probably end up trading in my Wii for it at GAME, as usual, if they're still around then.

GAME's prices have been rubbish for years. I used to love buying from EB as a child, but once they were rebranded as GAME I found myself going to Amazon.co.uk for things, and never looked back. I wont miss them.

I'm sorry to see Game slowly going under but there are loads of online retailers were you can buy games from so I can't really see the UK games industry taking a hit at all. If you want to get rid of older gamers to fund new ones, just use eBay.

Game got greedy, that's all there is to it. They bought out any competition that existed, their used game prices are £1 cheaper than brand new and they sell games much higher than what's available online. People got savvy to buying on the internet and Game didn't lower their in store prices. I went in there recently and I saw just how expensive some of their games can be. On average, they sell new games for £42.99. CoD: MW3 was £44.99 and they even raised the price of Skyrim. The same can be seen with Gamestation. Once a great shop with competing prices (new and used) now have the same prices as Game since they were taken over.