Game & Gamestation: GAME credit woes

[fuse]

There's still one round my way that is slowly going the way of CEX - big of' displays full of second hand tablets, mobile phones and so on, but it's not the worst one I've been in by a long shot. I do find it very strange that there are so few in town though; if I want to impulse buy a game after work there are not really any good options, which is a very crap place to find the industry in. I always saw the whole point of Game being that they were there, in convenient places - and yes, you'd pay a premium - but at least it was there. I don't find that to be the case so much anymore.

[Asura]

I always saw the whole point of Game being that they were there, in convenient places - and yes, you'd pay a premium - but at least it was there. I don't find that to be the case so much anymore.

That's the mistake they made. In getting rid of Gamestation, they ditched the long-term customers and "core" market, in pursuit of the wider market. The problem with that is the wider market doesn't really care about buying videogames in a shop, they just want the fastest and cheapest solution, which these days is pretty much Amazon.

Now, GAME's branding is confused. They claim to be a specialist retailer, but they're anything but. If you go into The Perfume Shop, you are guaranteed to get pretty much any perfume/fragrance that is commercially available, from the biggest to the most obscure. You pay a bit more than online retailers or Boots, but it's made up for by the service they offer - knowledgeable staff, availability, special offers...

If I went into my local GAME in 2013 (which isn't a particularly small store) and I wanted a 360 game, I could choose between second-hand, the chart, or about 7-10 "other" games, which would usually be a few EA Sports titles and a recent Need for Speed. Why would I ever go to GAME for those? They're everywhere.

GAME should've spent the years 2003-2015 working closely with the publishers and suppliers in the UK, making sure (for example) that they could always stock a range of games, from mainstream to obscure. For instance, take Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii. If the industry can support a specialist retailer, that's the type of game people will be buying from it. Not Need for Speed.

Instead, they played a zero-sum game, buying-and-closing Gamestation and trying to be the biggest dog on the high-street so they could dictate terms.

Of course, they're still trading when most specialist stuff (like Jessops) seems to be swirling the drain. People just don't seem to want to pay for quality service anymore; obviously the public don't recognise that the end result of this is that everyone works for Wal-Mart.

[charlesr]

Agree with most of that. They also needed to compete on price, not with amazon but with Argos next door which was always ?5 cheaper for everything AND has just as good a choice of new games WHICH IS RIDICULOUS. The "rescue" attempt seems very half hearted.

[eastyy]

Do not have a GAME here but have Gamestop and the prices are just huge even when second hand though i have noticed they are very selective when it comes to second hand prices (where they probably only bought the games for a euro) games which are not that good seem to be very cheap and games that are good are much higher price.

Always thought my ideal Gameshop would be a mix of a arcade/cafe/games shop and merchandise like models statues etc

[Decider-VT]

There are times when I wonder if GAME would be better off existing solely as a website but getting rid of their brick and mortar shops would probably eliminate their main competitive advantage, beyond inexplicably managing to secure so many limited editions and exclusives.

[Asura]

beyond inexplicably managing to secure so many limited editions and exclusives.

They get them because there's no-one else to approach. No other games retailer has a big enough high-street presence.

[BaronSqwelch]

Plenty of Game stores near me, but I never shop there. Paying ?55 quid a game isn't why I stopped either as I often buy full price digital games. It's the fact that 3 secs after walking in you have someone pestering you to "help" and the pestering at the till for season passes and preorders and insurance or "we have this game preowned instead" is so irritating I just refuse to go in any more.

[S3M]

So do we think they will be in trouble again by the end of 2016 or 2017? It's looking very grim for there future that's for sure.

[VR46]

I think if you took the parent (normally Mum) buying the latest 18 rated release for their ten year old son out of the equation (this seems to be 50% of their customers whenever I'm in there) then yes surely they will struggle more and more as time goes on and people wise up to buying online instead - I could have made this same statement five years ago and hey they've struggled but they're still here now so what do I know!

December must account so much for their annual turnover, a bad month and it will hit them very hard.

Slowly but surely they make things more difficult for themselves with high prices, lots of bad press re credit card multiple charges etc etc, they'll be the final nail in their own coffin.

[teddymeow]

Just over four years since it all went tits up GAME are "in trouble" again.

A couple of friends who still work there have told me that the Customer Service Team in Basingstoke has been replaced with an out sourced solution in Liverpool.

On top of that they say that the Head Office is being restructured with possible reductions across all departments.

The assurance of being able to double the investment that saved them back in 2012 hasn't come to fruition (shock!) and things aren't looking shiny.

[charlesr]

No words for the stupidity of the whole GAME thing.

Also, basing your entire business model on trade-ins in a world that no longer has anything to trade in.... really stoooopid.

[VR46]

I wouldn't agree Charles, CEX are going from strength to strength.

GAME will always struggle in a financial year where there are no new console releases. Any other time they just can't compete with online prices, and don't even attempt/seem to want to. They think they can charge a premium and people won't mind.
GAME are still opening new stores - or were the tail end of 2015 so make of that what you will.

[gambit6613]

Also doesnt help with some stores charging way over the top for new games. On Saturday i thought i would have a look in the Chichester store. They were selling most new games such as Fary Cry Primal etc for ?55 a pop!!! This is just insane, Argos just a few doors down were selling it for ?45. Can there really be that many stupid people who walk and pay this?

Does anyone know if each individual sets prices for new games? I dont for recall new games being this expesnive in Basingstoke store for example.

[Asura]

They think they can charge a premium and people won't mind.

This is the root of the problem.

My local comic book/geek shop sells all sorts of items that one could probably get a few quid cheaper on Amazon (even if you remove postage). I still buy there, though, because they're a good business, with a huge range of stuff - and act as custodians over an area of retail in which I know some of the basics, but couldn't describe myself as an expert.

What this boils down to are a few things which justify their existence:

1) They are pleasant and upbeat. They also don't assume my girlfriend is some kind of lost pet who has wandered in. They also don't bug me with a super-artificial "do you need anything" conversation-starter unless I genuinely seem like I'm looking for something.

2) I can go in and ask for something quite obscure, and reasonably expect them to have it in stock. If they don't, they can get it.

3) Related to the aformentioned "can I help you" - often it's near Christmas with floor-workers who are clearly students from the local college, many 16 or so. Sometimes, they're experts in the field, but more often than not I've found I have to explain things to them. "Disgaea... How do you spell that?" - I mean can you imagine that in Richer Sounds - "Umm, Yamaha, how do you spell that?" No, of course you can't. They only hire people who know their stuff.

The GAME stores I've known over the years can't satisfy these two points - and their prices are through the roof; for instance, since Wind Waker was repriced by Nintendo to ?20, the copies seem to have vanished from the local store. They could've sold out, but I suspect they've just pulled them off the shelves, considering they're still selling pre-owned WiiU games for ?40.

[charlesr]

Look in the window of CEX though (in Chichester anyway) and it's not games. It's hardware. Hundreds of iPhones, iPads, controllers, consoles. There are games inside, but CEX are moving with the times and focusing on things that people will need for another 10 years or so until we all have phones implanted in our brains. GAME has nothing in the window except for Preorder adverts for games I can preorder at home on the sofa on the machine it will be played on, cheaper. Where's the incentive?