509 replies to this topic

[Shadzter]

Publishers are already not in a position to send them games to sell, so can you imagine what their showfloor would be like at GAMEfest?

[Doctor MK]

Publishers are already not in a position to send them games to sell, so can you imagine what their showfloor would be like at GAMEfest?

It'll be more like LAMEfest than GAMEfest, amirite?

[Hogfather]

So another friday, another look around the shops.

Game store 1: NO PC GAMES! At least the selection was totally slashed, only had those random war games you see there and a bunch of those random mystery type games you see in places like wilkinsons.

No NeverDead, No Catherine, No metal Gear, No Binary Domain, No Hyper Dimension Neptuinia 2.

Game Store 2: See above, only there were a little more PC games, not more, but I suspect PC will be the next one to go.

Gamestation: I was able to grab the last copy of Binary Domain, keep in mind this game is not a big seller.

Also, Gamestations Retro section is pretty much gone, the PS2 games are all still there, but what was once the Mega/drive Mega CD titles are gone, gameboy advance games are gone, Saturn, Dreamcast Gamecube games are all no more.

However the original Xbox and PSX games are also on their way out too, every one of them was priced at 49p! There was still quite a selection but it had already been butchered by the ebay sellers, all what remains are sports games and dance titles as well as the odd racer, although I did spot a copy of Dead Ball Zone which I have a soft spot for, only the box was totally destroyed so I didn't pick it up.


Also theres this... Game think Prototype 2 the Limited Edition should be priced at £50.... Tesco on the otherhand think it should only be priced at £40

Yes those 'bonus' features/dlc are exactly the same, but Game thinks you should pay £10 more for it... . ..

[Katzii]

This is insane. I had a load of gift cards and points saved up with which to put towards a Wii U, but I'm starting to think that I'd better find some actual games I want to play in the meantime. I didn't realise things were so dire for GAME.

[Bisylizzie]

So, ehh... Went to GAME today. Signs in the window, on tills... "Closing March 17th"

I guess it's all downhill from here :/

EDIT: I was right :/

EA have withdrawn stock of their games from GAME, meaning that now you can get the ME3 Collector's Edition from Play.com, Zavvi. Shopto.net... Any GAME preorders have turned into store credit, so spend it quick!

http://www.shoptonew..._medium=twitter

I'm sure all these other online stores are laughing in their newfound source of cash :/

EDIT: And now Mario Party 9. Looks like Nintendo have withdrawn their support as well, especially after the whole Last Story/Tekken 3D thing

Edited by Bisylizzie, 29 February 2012 - 12:08 PM.

[Shadzter]

So, ehh... Went to GAME today. Signs in the window, on tills... "Closing March 17th"

I guess it's all downhill from here :/

EDIT: I was right :/

EA have withdrawn stock of their games from GAME, meaning that now you can get the ME3 Collector's Edition from Play.com, Zavvi. Shopto.net... Any GAME preorders have turned into store credit, so spend it quick!

http://www.shoptonew..._medium=twitter

I'm sure all these other online stores are laughing in their newfound source of cash :/

EDIT: And now Mario Party 9. Looks like Nintendo have withdrawn their support as well, especially after the whole Last Story/Tekken 3D thing

GAME aren't going to be stocking Mario Party 9 or Mass Effect 3 OR any EA games past SSX? Only a matter of time until that ship is sunk.

Here are Eurogamer's stories on it. They have the staff memo regarding the Mass Effect 3 cancellation.

GAME not stocking Mass Effect 3 or EA games past SSX
http://www.eurogamer...-games-past-ssx

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

Revealed: GAME's memo to staff on Mass Effect 3 cancellation
http://www.eurogamer...-3-cancellation

[BW199148]

Just got an E-Mail saying Gamestation are unable to supply me with Mass Effect 3, I am bit gutted to be honest, where can I get a copy now?

[Bethani]

Apologies for posting this in the wrong forum. I was skimming over the forum titles and neglected to notice that the other one was specifically concerned with Sonic games. I completely missed this forum. I guess that's what I get for almost exclusively posting in Cht-Chat.

[Ming Ming Suzy]

I know this is difficult but should you guys be happy? As far as I know GAME is the Gamestop of the UK. And their prices for new games are ridiculously stupid. You can save a lot of money by going online. And the best part is, if you use a great mail service you can get your game delivered on release date. Sometimes even earlier.

You don't even need to walk to the video game store. I mean, I don't understand why people still shop in there with those ridiculous high prices.

@BW199148 - There's always Amazon to get Mass Effect 3.

[BW199148]

I know this is difficult but should you guys be happy? As far as I know GAME is the Gamestop of the UK. And their prices for new games are ridiculously stupid. You can save a lot of money by going online. And the best part is, if you use a great mail service you can get your game delivered on release date. Sometimes even earlier.

You don't even need to walk to the video game store. I mean, I don't understand why people still shop in there with those ridiculous high prices.

@BW199148 - There's always Amazon to get Mass Effect 3.

Yeah but the thing I like to shop I like to go to a store interact with people I don't like ordering stuf online and it still means I have to go to bank and deposit my money and I find that difficult on my own, If Game and Gamestation goes I'll feel bad for the people who will lose their jobs. Probably going to have get it from Tescos.

Fuck EA Games.

Edited by BW199148, 29 February 2012 - 05:06 PM.

[Ming Ming Suzy]

Yeah but the thing I like to shop I like to go to a store interact with people I don't like ordering stuf online and it still means I have to go to bank and deposit my money and I find that difficult on m own, If Game and Gamestation goes I'll feel bad for the people who will lose their jobs. Probably going to have get from Tescos.

Fuck EA Games.

Yeah, I guess interacting with people in the store is ideal...I forgot I do that myself in clothing/cosmetic/department stores... @.@
Just didn't think about that in video games because I have a good knowledge on what games are good and what I'm going to get before I walk in to GameStop.

Oh...and the jobs too. Okay I feel stupid right now. >.>

Still...I hate their prices. HATE. It's a total rip off.

[BW199148]

Yeah, I guess interacting with people in the store is ideal...I forgot I do that myself in clothing/cosmetic/department stores... @.@
Just didn't think about that in video games because I have a good knowledge on what games are good and what I'm going to get before I walk in to GameStop.

Oh...and the jobs too. Okay I feel stupid right now. >.>

Still...I hate their prices. HATE. It's a total rip off.

Yeah its especially annoying if a Supermarket chain sells it for £5 less.

[Super Soniko]

well, good bye store interaction and helpful customer assistants that were a blast to talk to

hello isolated automated online shopping, may my confidence in talking to new people drop with every advance in technology =/

[Bethani]

Yeah but the thing I like to shop I like to go to a store interact with people I don't like ordering stuf online and it still means I have to go to bank and deposit my money and I find that difficult on m own, If Game and Gamestation goes I'll feel bad for the people who will lose their jobs. Probably going to have get from Tescos.

Exactly that. I enjoy the human interaction of actually going into a shop with staff who actually understand and care about the product they're selling. GAME, as a company, has some made some horrible business decisions, but I like shopping there because the staff are good. Sadly, I doubt GAME will survive 2012, and, even though I was able to preorder Mass Effect 3 from HMV today, the staff there aren't necessarily gamers, so it's not the same.

Also, currently, getting deliveries to my flat is problematic, because the buzzer for the front door isn't working properly. I've asked the landlord to get it fixed, but that's like getting blood from a stone. Anyways, if I order something from Amazon and it's posted by Royal Mail, that's fine; they know how to get into the building. However, if it's posted by a courier, they can never figure it out and they seem unwilling to try other buzzers to find the one that does work. So, I'm very reluctant to order things online right now, because I've had far too many missed deliveries because the courier couldn't get in. The only way to guarantee that my parcel will be delivered is to periodically check the front door and make sure it's unlocked. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. And it becomes very tedious when a courier may come any time between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm and invariably comes much closer to 6:00 pm.

Anyways, supermarkets undercutting the games shops with their lower prices is not a good thing. Oh true, I got Mass Effect 2 brand new out of ASDA for £25, but I was still languishing in my student overdraft at the time and couldn't afford to get the game full priced, so that was good for me, definitely. It was not good for the gaming industry, however. Supermarkets can afford to sell games at a loss (same with DVD's and BluRays), because their other products more than compensate them. But this results in gamers who think that games are only worth £25 and they become unwilling to spend any more, even on the games they enjoy the most, which is why you get people refusing to buy new, fully priced games, which hurts publishers and developers, and leads to publishers loading more games down with security software that can make them a nightmare to play (if you're a PC gamer, anyway). If this kind of competition ends up driving the price of games down too far, then publishers may end up having to lower their prices, which means less money for developers to spend of developing decent games. While it's perfectly understable why anyone would want to get something as cheap as possible, gamers are potentially shooting themselves in the foot by going for the cheapest deals on games all the time. Hell, I'm guilty of it myself, I admit, but for games franchises I particularly like (The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Mass Effect), I try to show my support by buying new and from dedicated games retailers.

Of course, there's also another question we need to ask. Will supermarkets continue to sell games at a loss once they've squeezed out the high street competition or will they seize the opportunity to profit by putting their prices up then? Once you have a monopoly on something, you can sell it for however much you want, after all.

[JezMM]

The biggest hit this will take is game awareness in the UK. Us hardcore people are fine, but gaming on the whole might have a sudden drop back into being a curious hobby while all the casual customers who NEED the customer service to know what the hell they're doing are going to have less places to go.

I got my games from shops and online about 50/50 so I supported where I could, but it is a fact that game shops just really are more expensive than online. It's a real shame.


I wonder how much this will hurt UK sales of the games that were withdrawn?

[BW199148]

As long I don't have to pay more than £45/50 for a new game then I am not too fussed but I do like to buy Games second-hand because I am not made of money.

[Gig]

well, good bye store interaction and helpful customer assistants that were a blast to talk to

Where is your local GAME store? I never got anything like that...usually a buncha turds obsessing over Modern Borefare or Gears of Bore, and other boredom related puns...

I've already distanced myself from GAME anyway...after a large collection of pre-orders I made last year was suddenly cancelled for unknown reasons. And there website is pants...

I'm now going to a different place called "Grainger Games", they actually had Mario & Sonic at the London Olympic Games that I was able to purchase...

<,<

>,>

...a-and I didn't regret it...

Grainger Games link: http://www.graingergames.co.uk/

[BW199148]

The biggest hit this will take is game awareness in the UK. Us hardcore people are fine, but gaming on the whole might have a sudden drop back into being a curious hobby while all the casual customers who NEED the customer service to know what the hell they're doing are going to have less places to go.

I don't know I play a lot of Video Games and I still like to have good custom service something Gamestores have over Supermarkets. Supermarkets may sell everything under one roof at cheaper prices but they lack service indvidual high street stores have.

Where is your local GAME store? I never got anything like that...usually a buncha turds obsessing over Modern Borefare or Gears of Bore, and other boredom related puns...

Biased much?

[JezMM]

I don't know I play a lot of Video Games and I still like to have good custom service something Gamestores have over Supermarkets. Supermarkets may sell everything under one roof at cheaper prices but they lack service indvidual high street stores have.

Well yeah we all enjoy good customer service, but I assume you don't wander into GAME without any idea of what you plan to leave with right? I'm talking about the kind of people who walk into a game shop about as confused and out-of-water as, I dunno, the average kid going into a bank to open their first ever account. The bank still scares me actually and I'm 22.

Where is your local GAME store? I never got anything like that...usually a buncha turds obsessing over Modern Borefare or Gears of Bore, and other boredom related puns...

Well everything varies. Generally speaking there are 3 kind of clerks you'll find at a game shop, those who are total fanboys like you say, those who only care about making the sales and will pressure customers into getting things they don't need, and those who take the time and effort to understand the customer's needs and recommend what is best for them without being too pushy on the extras (you can't blame them, it is their job to sell the extras but there are nice ways to do it). I've met all three in my time and stores tend to have mixtures of all three.

[Mollfie]

@Hogfather: I haven't seen a GAME or Gamestation that still stocked games for anything not current gen in a good few years. So I don't find that unusual, personally. It kind of sucks about the PC games but from my experience most customers who wanted PC preferred to get them through Steam or cheaper off Amazon. But then our stores selection was pretty dire anyway except for the chart.

Where is your local GAME store? I never got anything like that...usually a buncha turds obsessing over Modern Borefare or Gears of Bore, and other boredom related puns...

I worked at GAME! I always tried to be as helpful as possible and actually listen to customers and not be too pushy. But you HAVE to push extra products on people like accessories, deals, GAMEcare etc because it counts towards your stats which affects your performance as an individual and as a store. If your stats get too low you can get in big trouble.

We were targeted on how much money you get into the till, what percentage of that is accessories, what percentage is GAMEcare, pre-owned, trade-ins, how many pre-orders you got and how many reward cards you swiped. So when you consider that staff are targeted to get within a certain amount every day it's understandable that some can be a little pushy.

Although some staff are just jerks. One guy I worked with was really pushy to the point of flat out lying to customers or purposefully pushing annoying customers (as in people who didn't want any extras) onto other members of staff so it wouldn't effect his stats. I had customers flat out tell me that they avoided coming into the store on days he worked because they hated having to talk to him.

But yeah I'm being totally off topic lol...

Last I heard (through a friend who also used to work at GAME with me) was that they won't be stocking ANY EA games going forward. Though I'm not sure how true that is, if it is then it really sucks.