GAME Shutters 277 Stores, Lays Off 2,100 Employees

I feel sorry for the people who lost their jobs.

Never a good thing to see anything close down. Those effects trickle down through lots of people and companies.

Really surprised the one at the end of the Country hasn't been closed (yet), who'd have thought us shut-ins from Penwith give them so much revenue?

@AhmadMetallic said:

I still don't understand why this retail titan fell.

@Jimbo: Amazing.

They were an awful company. They charged a ridiculous amount for games, used and new, bought exclusive rights for almost every collectors edition, then charged stupid amounts for them.. They just absolutely refused to try and compete with online retailers and even other stores who were completely undercutting them.

Also, I live in a fairly small city and we had three GAME stores within 10 minutes of one another.

Whoa, no refunds for pre-orders that have had deposits put down to secure them? That sucks.

I live in Northern Ireland. Certainly not going to be in any way bothered about there only being 3 stores across the entire country. Though the job loss does suck.

@CookieMonster said:

Elsewhere, EuroGamer is reporting that all remaining GAME locations have been instructed to suspend all exchanges, refunds, and gift card purchases. This includes any pre-orders that included money already put down. No refunds will be issued for those pre-order deposits at this time.

Thats fucking shitty. Are they even allowed to do that?

I'm pretty sure they can't legally do that.

That's sad, the real world is sad, I'm sad.

But seriously, everytime I hear about big layoffs, like this, the day becomes a bit darker. I hope everyone moves on and find great jobs.

Tell us a story about big hirings, wont you, Alex?

So, good move or a bit dickish?:

This is from ShopTo and is why ShopTo is currently trending on Twitter in the UK. Lots of people are split, my opinion is that the consumers win, so I'm all for it.

Was there another Game in Birmingham or was the tiny useless one in the Bull Ring really their "flagship"?

Edit: oh, the article is actually referring to the Gamestation on New St, which was huge and awesome.

They made some poor business decisions, so I can't say I'm shocked.

That said, feel for the employees. The unemployment figures already suck.

@MattyFTM said:

@CookieMonster said:

Elsewhere, EuroGamer is reporting that all remaining GAME locations have been instructed to suspend all exchanges, refunds, and gift card purchases. This includes any pre-orders that included money already put down. No refunds will be issued for those pre-order deposits at this time.

Thats fucking shitty. Are they even allowed to do that?

I'm pretty sure they can't legally do that.

It's because they're in administration, which is a weird loophole where they can avoid paying out creditors

Bummer, sucks for those who lost their jobs.

Sad news indeed. After working there as a temp over the Christmas holidays I made some amazing friends and spoke to many game enthusiasts. Luckily the store I worked at in Chester is safe (for now), let's just hope that it stays that way as it would be sorely missed from our high street. Commiserations to all those who have lost their jobs today, all the best for the future.

@eroticfishcake: Order them off Amazon is the only thing you can do i suppose.

GAME over, man. GAME over.

Too bad, I liked my local Game store.

@Fallen189 said:

@MattyFTM said:

@CookieMonster said:

Elsewhere, EuroGamer is reporting that all remaining GAME locations have been instructed to suspend all exchanges, refunds, and gift card purchases. This includes any pre-orders that included money already put down. No refunds will be issued for those pre-order deposits at this time.

Thats fucking shitty. Are they even allowed to do that?

I'm pretty sure they can't legally do that.

It's because they're in administration, which is a weird loophole where they can avoid paying out creditors

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 should still apply though, which contains plenty of legislation to protect customers in situations like this.

I would say this has affected me but it hasn't. Our local GAME shut down about two years ago and the nearest one is a good few miles away in the city. I have always bought my games and will continue to be my games in HMV. No hassle. No video game discussion. Just buy your shit and get out. Also, the fact they have all the pre-ordery stuff and still charge around €5 less for new releases is pretty nice.

They owe a whole load of people money, if you wanted you could probably register with the administrators stating they owe you money but you'd be at the back of they queue to pick the bones

@MattyFTM said:

@Fallen189 said:

@MattyFTM said:

@CookieMonster said:

Elsewhere, EuroGamer is reporting that all remaining GAME locations have been instructed to suspend all exchanges, refunds, and gift card purchases. This includes any pre-orders that included money already put down. No refunds will be issued for those pre-order deposits at this time.

Thats fucking shitty. Are they even allowed to do that?

I'm pretty sure they can't legally do that.

It's because they're in administration, which is a weird loophole where they can avoid paying out creditors

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 should still apply though, which contains plenty of legislation to protect customers in situations like this.

Like they said though, I think theyre set to revise it once they know whats going on

Can anybody explain to an American how this company even got so big? I originally came to ask what happened to them, but it sounds like they were just charging absurd amounts of money and overexpanded, is that correct?

Kinda crazy. Been coming for a while now though. I know someone who's lost their job, luckily for them it's only a part-time Uni job but still sucks. Be interested to see where we go from here.

What happens to GAME stores outside the UK? Same fate?

@MattyFTM said:

@Fallen189 said:

@MattyFTM said:

@CookieMonster said:

Elsewhere, EuroGamer is reporting that all remaining GAME locations have been instructed to suspend all exchanges, refunds, and gift card purchases. This includes any pre-orders that included money already put down. No refunds will be issued for those pre-order deposits at this time.

Thats fucking shitty. Are they even allowed to do that?

I'm pretty sure they can't legally do that.

It's because they're in administration, which is a weird loophole where they can avoid paying out creditors

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 should still apply though, which contains plenty of legislation to protect customers in situations like this.

GAME: Classy until the end.

Thanks a lot, Steam and Vita.

But in all seriousness, my heart goes out to those who lost their jobs.

So it goes.

GAME admit to the whole "No refunds can be given for any pre-order deposits which have been paid" thing in their own administration announcement on Facebook.

@MattyFTM: Probably you will be able to theoretically claim back your money through Small Claims Court. But that would be years from happening as it'd need for the entire administration process to be wrapped up first from what I remember (my parents tried to buy a carper from a guy who took the money & ran, got about a 10th of it back) & you aren't going to get it all. Most people would only be owed a few pounds so it just would not be worth it. Unfortunately

The GAME that I actually liked happens to close down but the garbage shit one full of assholes is still trading. That makes me sad.

@scaramoosh said:

No refunds from pre orders.........

kinda fucked up

@hollitz said:

Thanks a lot, Steam and Vita.

But in all seriousness, my heart goes out to those who lost their jobs.

You said it, man.

I really feel sorry for them. Thank you GAME for everything.

@Jimbo: I have that Transformer coke can, I won it from Burger King some 20 years ago.

@Winternet said:

What happens to GAME stores outside the UK? Same fate?

Yup.

The Gamestation in my town has closed now, bummer. GAME is still open as far as I know though...

It's so rediculous that practically the ONLY specialized gaming retail store in the UK failed this much. They had a stranglehold on the market and they messed up this bad.

Good riddance I say. Hopefully a couple new and reasonable stores will rise up from this.

And of course, I also feel sad and angry for those at the bottom getting screwed over.

Good riddance to the store and good luck to the staff

@masternater27: They got big by doing pretty much the same thing GameStop is doing. GAME is excactly like GameStop but purple, instead of black and red.

I will be honest, GAME was manned and run by complete morons, the extra strain of 2k hopeless unemployable drooling imbeciles could have even wider ramifications, not least on my tax bracket. Besides who still goes shopping outdoors? That's just strange.

@Humanity said:

It would be crazy if Gamestop bought them out and now there were Gamestops in Europe only under a different name.

We have GameStops here in Spain. I don't really remember when they started popping up, but if you ask me, good riddance to GAME. It won't be missed.

@Bowphat said:

As a fellow unemployed person, i wish those people that got laid off the pest of luck.

Can't tell if serious... :P

This includes any pre-orders that included money already put down. No refunds will be issued for those pre-order deposits at this time

I was in a Gamestation today. They said its weird knowing that your company is a third smaller than it was this morning- and not really knowing if you're even going to have a job tomorrow, because the next third could be cut just as easily.

Good luck to the staff on their search for new jobs.

@Azteck said:

This includes any pre-orders that included money already put down. No refunds will be issued for those pre-order deposits at this time

What the fuck kind of bullshit is that? Seems super shady

Not really. Depends on regional laws of course, but the whole point of bankruptcy is you no longer owe creditors, which is what a pre-order deposit makes you, and someone else has to distribute what assets are left over in a particular order. The "at this time" part makes me think the best case scenario is the courts (or the new owner) will wade through customer deposits after liquidating most of the assets.

In some ways it's good, because it means the company going under can't arbitrarily decide who gets what's owed to them, like if manager's nephew runs a carpet cleaners with $250,000 of overdue invoices. These laws are pretty old and they are meant to protect creditors fairly, if not always equally. (e.g. you get 100% of your $10 deposit back, the cleaners get 60% of their $250,000.)

People here seem to be talking about consumer protection and bankruptcy laws as if they're mutually exclusive, and they are not supposed to be.

@AhmadMetallic said:

I still don't understand why this retail titan fell.

@Jimbo: Amazing.

They were an awful company. They charged a ridiculous amount for games, used and new, bought exclusive rights for almost every collectors edition, then charged stupid amounts for them.. They just absolutely refused to try and compete with online retailers and even other stores who were completely undercutting them.

Also, I live in a fairly small city and we had three GAME stores within 10 minutes of one another.

@WinterSnowblind said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

I still don't understand why this retail titan fell.

@Jimbo: Amazing.

They were an awful company. They charged a ridiculous amount for games, used and new, bought exclusive rights for almost every collectors edition, then charged stupid amounts for them.. They just absolutely refused to try and compete with online retailers and even other stores who were completely undercutting them.

Also, I live in a fairly small city and we had three GAME stores within 10 minutes of one another.

They did? I don't know about new games but I've purchased tons of cheap used games from GAME online and they were all dirt cheap. I haven't found any other store that have had nearly as low used games prices. I'll miss them.

So not selling EA games including Mass Effect 3 was a bad business idea i guess ?

I feel really bad about all those that have lost their jobs, but lets face it, in the future, we get our movies, games and music over the internet.

I don't get the hate for Gamestation/GAME personally. I found their prices to almost always be competitive, and they were great for trade ins if you didn't want to fuss about with mailing. I used to often trade in 3-4 games at a time, and walk out with another 2 or 3 games and some left over store credit.

It's sad to see them like this.

@Fallen189: It's not a loophole, it's the whole point of administration. You find money to pay as many creditors as you can, but there's obviously not enough to pay everyone.