Game (UK Retailer) Discussion

[Stasis]

I have two GAME stores pretty much right next door to each other, and both of them have overpriced games, even preowned ones. Gamestation is where I go for new games these days and CEX for preowned ones.

Regarding the points cards, I used to shop at GAME all of the time, and it would take forever to get £2.50 on my card. I've only recently started using Gamestation, and I had £35 on my card yesterday. How that works out I don't know.

When I went to pick up my Vita yesterday I was told that my Rayman preorder had not arrived due to stock issues (which we all know about now). They had one or two bundles, the most expensive being £299. At those prices i'd have thought it would be difficult to sell the units. However, every person that came in after me was buying a Vita. I asked how many they had sold so far (this was at 10am) and the guy behind the desk said they had sold a large amount of them already. Will this help the company in any way with its financial situation?

[Badnik Mechanic]

Game has just cancelled all pre-orders for "The Last Story"... a day before it was due to be released.

Their facebook page is full of people raging, I'm doing all I can to stop myself from posting jokes on their facebook wall...

What game will be cancelled next! Join us tomorrow, same BAT time... Same BAT Channel!

Edited February 23, 2012 by Hogfather

[Detective Shadzter]

GAME to close 35 stores

http://www.eurogamer...close-35-stores

Definitely going to have to see about spending my remaining points and my £10 gift card soon.

[BlueTidalGamer]

I can imagine the reactions if GAME deside to drop Mass Effect 3 and other huge titles being released in a few weeks. Everyday we are hearing more bad news from GAME. It can only get worse from here.

Edited February 23, 2012 by BlueEagle21

[Agent York]

Friend over Skype confirmed they cancelled his Hyper Dimension MK-II Pre-order, though it comes out tomorrow.

Even though GAME doesn't sound like the best store, I'm sorry for your guy's loss.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Friend over Skype confirmed they cancelled his Hyper Dimension MK-II Pre-order, though it comes out tomorrow.

I can't even find that game on their own website anymore, theres an article about it being there, but no actual game page.

[Gabz Girl]

This is unbelievable. O_o I haven't been to GAME since I bought Skyward Sword last year but hearing all this, I'm glad the pre-order I did wasn't any later or else it would've been cancelled too!

[Detective Shadzter]

GAMEfest 2012 confirmed

http://twitter.com/#!/Gamedigital/status/172713873986691073

I don't know how they expect to pay for it XD

[Swiss]

You can clearly tell they've got their priorities straight, eh?

[Badnik Mechanic]

I don't know how they expect to pay for it XD

Entry fee will be £75.

And the Game shop will be nothing but pre-owned games, they must have made an obscene profit from the last one so it's not as wild a decision to make.

lol they were selling hundreds of copies of Avatar the game for one thing =p

[Detective 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?

[Badnik Mechanic]

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 February 29, 2012 by Bisylizzie

[Detective 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

[Stacy]

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?

[Delta Starfire]

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 Hatsune]

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.

[Stacy]

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 February 29, 2012 by BW199148

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

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.

[Stacy]

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.

[Lady 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 =/

[Delta Starfire]

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?