UK Retailer GAME Officially Enters Administration

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Game can get fucked.

I order most games from Amazon these days because it's cheaper and easier.

The only time I ordered anything from Game was when they had the collector's editions of games I wanted locked down so no other stores could stock them. And there would always be some problem with them too.

Cunts.

Sorry to see people losing jobs, especially when it's as hard as it is over here to get work,except for any decision makers at that company, who have no one to blame but themselves.

Sucks for the 6000 employees involved, no real care to its practice. The fact that they could charge you £45/$72 for a new game where as other places you can get for as low as £30 or so is baffling, it's time to move on to the real future of entertainment distribution.

My local Gamestation during my term time at University were staffed my really knowledgeable people, and it was awesome, and didn't try and sell you anything else and just did their job. I found many a gem in their retro section, including an original non-platinum version of Silent Hill for £6.

GAME are the most expensive place to buy videogames around here, so fuck them. They deserve this.

Their employees, on the other hand, do not.

Anyone with points or store credit spend it very quickly, once a company goes into administration they very rarely let you use vouchers etc. I lost £80 to Zavvi when they went into administration (bricks and mortar wise, online is separate company apparently) because I had a gift card they then wouldn't accept.

I look forward to the influx of new competitors, if it happens.

There used to be a variety of independent and national stores that sold games in my city around the PS2 era, at least 5 or 6 different stores.

Now there is only GAME and the others stores they bought out, as well as 1 or 2 other national chains (and they don't even specialise in only games, they sell other media also).

GAME got high on the hardware sales of this gen, and as that market shrunk, their stupid over-expansion and blind profiteering has finished them.

I feel sorry for the employees of these 600 or so stores. The failed mis-management from the board has done this, not used game sales or the increased digital sales - I read that 70% of the UK still buy physical media.

Anyway, I hope that whatever company next gets into this market next, has at least some knowledge of the industry.

And lo, my maniacal laughter at their misfortune begins. Which has nothing to do with the local branch having clueless staff, refusing to employ me years ago and went for morons that looked pretty, nor their inability to sell games at a vaguely OK price for normal people...

I imagine there must be quite a few people on this site who work at Game/Gamestation. Not that they are definitely shutting everything down, but I wish you good luck with whatever happens anyway!

As for the difference between Game and Gamestation, to me it always seemed like Gamestation was slightly cheaper, was generally less tidy, the store wasn't lit as well and had a tendency to smell worse than Game (just me? Ok). I'm not kidding though, this appeared to be the same at Dover, Canterbury and Cambridge

@Jazz: Really though, ever since Gamestation was bought there was really very little difference.

Curiously enough Game has bought up and rebranded the biggest videogame retail store chain here in Czech Republic not even two years ago. Venturing in those I can see why they failing. The price is just too damn high. If they want $20 for used copy of 5 years old game for xbox360, there is really no wonder they are going under.

The GAME near me already closed... Didn't even get any cheap games from it.

Bummer, that people are losing their jobs though.

Man, the high-street chains of my childhood are dying off fast. No Borders, no Game - very soon no HMV...

Jesus that is a big ass store front in the picture...My local game stop is about 1/4 of that size...

@PK_Koopa said:

@AlexW00d said:

@Jazz said:

Shame about Gamestation, Game on the other hand..ergh

But they are the same company, how is there any difference?

Surprisingly enough, there actually is a difference. They have better deals than GAME in terms of 3 for 2 and stuff like that, and while they did get more expensive once they were bought by GAME, they were still cheaper. Even their employees are better. At first I thought it was just a particular Gamestation store that had good people working their, but I went to quite a few places and they were generally kinder and more enthusiastic about what they were selling.

It's gonna be a shame to see them go.

Oh ok. It's kinda the opposite here, the staff are nicer and more approachable in Game. Gamestation also has the most pitiful PC section I have ever seen. They have like, a shelf of WoW, then like Mass Effect, and then a couple old games at the bottom, it's ridiculous.

Ahhh sweet, not that people are losing jobs of course, but that I may be able to buy some awesome games at closing down sale prices!! Come on sales...

@AlexW00d said:

@PK_Koopa said:

@AlexW00d said:

@Jazz said:

Shame about Gamestation, Game on the other hand..ergh

But they are the same company, how is there any difference?

Surprisingly enough, there actually is a difference. They have better deals than GAME in terms of 3 for 2 and stuff like that, and while they did get more expensive once they were bought by GAME, they were still cheaper. Even their employees are better. At first I thought it was just a particular Gamestation store that had good people working their, but I went to quite a few places and they were generally kinder and more enthusiastic about what they were selling.

It's gonna be a shame to see them go.

Oh ok. It's kinda the opposite here, the staff are nicer and more approachable in Game. Gamestation also has the most pitiful PC section I have ever seen. They have like, a shelf of WoW, then like Mass Effect, and then a couple old games at the bottom, it's ridiculous.

Wow that's weird. Guess I got lucky then.

I stopped using game a few years ago. all my pc games I get digitally and my consol games pretty much all come from shopto.net, in fact shopto started sending out e-mails last week advertising the fact that they where selling games that GAME where not stocking,

It sucks that people are going to lose their jobs, it sucks that the shitty management behind GAME's death are going to walk away richer than ever despite running the stuck into the ground and down into the earth, it really sucks :|

I have a few friends who work at GAME who I hope come out of this well but GAME was a terrible shop. Generally the staff (in my local shop) were clueless or snobbish. Their prices were awful too: I once saw a pre-owned copy of armoured core 4 for £15 more than the new copies! It was £55 and there was nothing special about it at all.

@scraz: There is no Gamestop UK. Wish there was, but there's now no real dedicated videogame retail chain in Britain any more.

Although it is sad for any company's employess when the ship is sinking i am not in the least bit surprised that this is happening.  Game is always overpriced and rarely stocks what i am after. The few times that i have been in there i have almost never bought anything. Actually, the only  thing i got from Game in the last 5 years was Rayman Origins just after release for £17 when it was labelled with the wrong price and the guy put it through. At least brick and mortar people will still have HMV, it can't compare to online though.

I've worked in one of these stores, And its a shame that thousands will lose they're jobs over this. Where else can gamers work with other gamers, and talk about games all day. Business practices aside its still a sad day for gaming in the U.K.

I've been disappointed by GAME so many times over the years. Losing my preorders for no reason, charging me full RRP on discounted games, not receiving my reward points or preorder bonus'c the cancellation of my DA2 and ME3 Collectors Editions, and still I was a loyal customers. My most memorable moment in my local store was when I went in to preorder Skyrim, I asked the girl how much it was retailing for, who promptly told me she too was highly awaiting the game. Repeated my question, and she replied that she wasn't sure when it was coming out (and here I thought she was 'highly' anticipating it) before stating that 'You don't really want that game anyway, you want Modern Warfare 3!' upon which she tried (despite my protests) to take a deposit for MW3. Cue facepalm, a huge sigh, and me promptly leaving the store. Despite all their shenanigans, I'm still sad to see them go.

Is MCV like the Roman MC5? We gotta kick 'em eunt!

It would be cool to see chips buy a few of the stores, they used to have a shop in orpington when I went to college there. was run by a father and sun I think, Really nice people and always had a chilled atmosphere.

@PK_Koopa said:

@AlexW00d said:

@PK_Koopa said:

@AlexW00d said:

@Jazz said:

Shame about Gamestation, Game on the other hand..ergh

But they are the same company, how is there any difference?

Surprisingly enough, there actually is a difference. They have better deals than GAME in terms of 3 for 2 and stuff like that, and while they did get more expensive once they were bought by GAME, they were still cheaper. Even their employees are better. At first I thought it was just a particular Gamestation store that had good people working their, but I went to quite a few places and they were generally kinder and more enthusiastic about what they were selling.

It's gonna be a shame to see them go.

Oh ok. It's kinda the opposite here, the staff are nicer and more approachable in Game. Gamestation also has the most pitiful PC section I have ever seen. They have like, a shelf of WoW, then like Mass Effect, and then a couple old games at the bottom, it's ridiculous.

Wow that's weird. Guess I got lucky then.

No I've got that experience where I am too. I get on well with the people in Gamestation and actually have a level of loyalty to the shop beyond, 'hey thats cheaper here'. It's a tiny store and most of the games you actually want won't be there but it has a decent atmosphere and the second hand stuff can be cheap. First time I went in I actually got stuck in the town centre here for 4 hours with nothing to do so I just hung out and played the kinect with the people who worked there.

Some of the regs they took on after merging with game though were ridiculous. Can't date anyone in the same store etc etc..

@Brodehouse said:

Is MCV like the Roman MC5? We gotta kick 'em eunt!

I see what you did there.

Shepard

That's all for now.

Shepard

I want to know why this happened in the first place.

Of course nobody wanted to buy it. with it so close to administration they want to cherry pick the stores and offer creditors 10p in the pound. Someone is going to get this company on the cheap.

This reminds me of when borders went into administration. It's a real shame for all involved, but it just shows that the world's moving away from brick and mortar. I buy all my games from a combination of Steam and Amazon now so no big loss for me really.

All chart games are just as easy (and quicker) to buy in ASDA, Tesco and Sainsbury's as they ever were from Game, and for older games and pro-owned games the internet is always the way to go. The only thing that Game could have done to differentiate itself would have to have been a specialist store and offered proper purchasing advice, but they sacrificed that in pursuit of profit.

Obviously people losing jobs always sucks, but seeing GAME burn couldn't make me happier.

People don't like GAME , its where your mum used to go and get games for your birthday before they stocked them in every supermarket. The hole that is left behind is filed in within seconds by a plethora of cheaper, faster and better alternatives.

When i don't buy my games at GAME i use amazon.co.uk, i wonder how many people will do the same.

Are they still euphemistically calling their closing down sale 'Spring Clean'?

I'm glad to see this company die. 
 
Went in today and they still have everything (except preowned stock) at full price XD

I have like 7 years worth of GAME points, I should have used that shit.

@TheHBK: How long have you got? Very briefly its a combination of the market, the economy, and mistakes on the part of GAME Group itself that have lead to this happening.

hmm hopefully can pick up tons of cheap games from there

though at xmas time it seemed like they were getting rid off stock, i picked up child of eden for 5 quid brand new :)

@Chindie said:

Bye bye job.

Sucks :|

Unfortunate news. The digital future can't come soon enough.

If games aren't going to quickly become bigger in capacity than DVDs, then it's almost idiotic not to offer them digitally at release. The whole retail thing hasn't worked out exceptionally well.

I order most of my games from Amazon, and after installing them immediately, the disc is practically useless. Must be a damn sight cheaper too, selling someone some data rather than data, on a disc, in a box in a store.

I'm glad to see this company die.  Went in today and they still have everything (except preowned stock) at full price XD

@GS_Dan: Yep. Ah well.

I had said I wanted to leave soon anyway, I needed to get into a 'proper job'. I'd hoped it'd be when I'd found something else though... It's kinda sad because our store is pretty great place, bunch of great guys, all gamers, and we never hear a bad word said about us, have a good bunch of regulars who'll come in for a chat.

I was never a fan, although it sucks for the people losing their jobs.

although it sucks that so many ppl will lose their jobs (I've got a couple of friends working for them as well), the store was terrible expensive with all its games and items and they had a pretty hostile business practice.

Hopefully someone will buy them up and change it into something better. I mean, they have practically NO competition in terms of specialist game retail stores.

It's a shame but they were overpriced.

http://www.newstatesman.com/technology/2012/03/internet-economy-2010-gdp

This article is pretty telling alongside GAMEs demise. Ordering online is just so easy, the landmass is small so delivery can be very fast (and very cheap). I'ce actually had an easier time getting refunds from amazon and the like than retail stores where I can walk in and complain in person. How backwards is that?

Right, now where is the clearance sale.. I want an 'everything must go' sign up by the weekend. :)