GAME shutting down 43 shops

[Junko]

Tougher market conditions or poor customer service .... you decide

[sj33]

Bristol will lose 1 if not 2 of its Broadmead stores. They have a Debenhams concession and two ordinary GAMEs within 5 minutes walk of eachother.

It was becoming a bit of a joke in Bristol at one point, with two Game stores just outside the Galleries literally 2 doors down from eachother (one formerly being an Electronics Boutique), one inside the Gallaries itself, and the one in Debenhams. Couple that with the Game-owned GameStation just around the corner, and there's major customer saturation. 5 stores within 3 minutes walk from eachother!

[nakamura]

Too many shops and poor customer service I think. Some of the staff are awful.
I worked there back in 1999 and used to get in a fair bit of trouble with the management as almost everyone who came in for a copy of Fifa left with a copy of ISS Pro Evolution instead!
For christmas of 1999 we sold so many PS1s I could't keep track. We had queues out the door as we were the main shop around at the time.

EB then took over and ruined us, I left shortly after.

[Flabio]

Scottish chap that manages the southernmost of the two in Guildford is pretty good. Friendly, knows his stuff, didn't mind me telling someone thinking of buying a second hand Mass Effect 2 for 3 quid off RRP was a bad idea due to the Cerberus Network thing...

[davek22]

I find this thread bizzare. A thread started by a videogame fan and full of comments from other videogame fans celebrating the closure of videogame shops. It's like warhammer fans cheering when their local games workshop gets shut down. I remember when it was very hard to source games back in the 8 and 16 bit days and a game shop in my local suburb would have saved me a lot of trekking about.
Not sure what game did to piss everyone off so bad but it all sounds very personal. I personally don't care about the knowledge level of the staff in a game shop as I usually know what I am after when I go in. I don't expect subject matter experts behind the till just people who can process an order eficiently

[noobish hat]

It's called a monopoly, and it isn't good for the market in ANYTHING.

[FelixofMars]

Funny I remember a few people saying actual bad things about the services etc. At the end of the day they still tend to employ people for sales first and gaming as an afterthough.

The prices are also always RRP apart from the odd deal or stuff that they need to shift. The Second hand sales is a joke, just under RRP for most second hand stuff. The actual buy back discount they give to traders is pitiful in comparison.

I find Game a good place to browse and maybe pick up something immediately. However its very rare I would do that because I usually preorder and/or look for the cheapest deals online. I pretty much know Game will not have any similar deals.

I won't particularly morn the closer of a few stores mostly because there is no logical sense to have so many in the first place.

Not sure what game did to piss everyone off so bad but it all sounds very personal. I personally don't care about the knowledge level of the staff in a game shop as I usually know what I am after when I go in. I don't expect subject matter experts behind the till just people who can process an order eficiently

[EvilBoris]

I'd hardly say they had monopoly AT ALL. Every High street shop under the sun sells games now and the only reason they have a 'monopoly' in terms of specialist games retailers is because everybody would rather buy a Game at £39.99 from GAME than walk to their local independent and pay £45.

[sj33]

They certainly have a monopoly in their own specialist field. They own Gamestation and Gameplay, and the current company was the result of Electronics Boutique swallowing up Game in the first place. Their only real competition in the specialist field is CeX, who are doing an excellent job of sealing their own fate.

Not that I'm particularly happy about the closures, it is ultimately at the expense of the workers and no-one else.

But specialist gaming stores as a whole are suffering under the double-onslaught of undercutting supermarket chains and the fact that the average gamer is tech-savvy and knows to buy things online. On the other hand, Game et al's entire business seems to revolve around screwing developers over with launch period pre-owned sales, so it all comes full circle. The average worker suffers, however you look at it.

[noobish hat]

Well where I live there are NO independent shops, and that also means NO retro. GAME is pretty much the only franchised videogame shop in the country. That's horse****.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

I'd hardly say they had monopoly AT ALL. Every High street shop under the sun sells games now and the only reason they have a 'monopoly' in terms of specialist games retailers is because everybody would rather buy a Game at ?39.99 from GAME than walk to their local independent and pay ?45.

Not true. Both indies in Loughborough and the one in Leicester both sell new games less than GAME.

[Flabio]

I think living somewhere that has a shop that sells retro is very much the rarity.

Do people genuinely think a highstreet shop selling new and retro games is a good business proposition? I don't think retro has quite the clout a lot of people on here seem to think it does with the wider population.

[noobish hat]

Well as far as I can remember, EVERY independent shop I've ever visited has had retro stuff in, and so did Gamestation until GAME bought them out. Take from that what you will.

[davek22]

On my way into the forum I spotted a big Game ad banner on the front page of ntscuk. This very site is being supported by their ad money. Dont get me wrong I have no ulterior motive here, I dont work for Game, I just cant get over the reactions on here. Its not like Game are deforesting South America or strip mining in Africa. They are just a mainstream game retailer!!

[donpepperoni]

Tbh I can't see GAME surviving as it is beyond another 10 yrs. They are living off their pre-owned market atm but now ASDA have joined in, and HMV as well, there is going to be a lot of stiff competition.

Add to that the fact publishers are determined to eradicate used game sales and they could definitely be in trouble.