Game & Gamestation: GAME credit woes

[Dogg Thang]

They're clearly not learning from the games industry as a whole and are stuck in the past. The key to remaining viable in this day and age is to sell the games in unlabelled boxes and you have a small chance of getting part of a great game inside. The remaining parts of the game can be bought separately unless you have previously purchased the season pass. One section of the shop should be cleared of Funko Pops in order to stock the shelves with bags o' gems, silver coins, gold coins, platinum coins and magic rainbow diamonds. And when you walk into the shop for the first time in a while, you must wait at the entrance for 40 minutes while it updates - this will encourage people in more regularly. To cap the experience and truly reflect the medium, you'll turn up one day and the shop will be no longer accessible.

[Golgo]

They're clearly not learning from the games industry as a whole and are stuck in the past. The key to remaining viable in this day and age is to sell the games in unlabelled boxes and you have a small chance of getting part of a great game inside. The remaining parts of the game can be bought separately unless you have previously purchased the season pass. One section of the shop should be cleared of Funko Pops in order to stock the shelves with bags o' gems, silver coins, gold coins, platinum coins and magic rainbow diamonds. And when you walk into the shop for the first time in a while, you must wait at the entrance for 40 minutes while it updates - this will encourage people in more regularly. To cap the experience and truly reflect the medium, you'll turn up one day and the shop will be no longer accessible.

Bravo! Strangely, though, what you describe is actually less slightly obnoxious than the experience of entering a real GAME store.

[Cassius_Smoke]

They're clearly not learning from the games industry as a whole and are stuck in the past. The key to remaining viable in this day and age is to sell the games in unlabelled boxes and you have a small chance of getting part of a great game inside. The remaining parts of the game can be bought separately unless you have previously purchased the season pass. One section of the shop should be cleared of Funko Pops in order to stock the shelves with bags o' gems, silver coins, gold coins, platinum coins and magic rainbow diamonds. And when you walk into the shop for the first time in a while, you must wait at the entrance for 40 minutes while it updates - this will encourage people in more regularly. To cap the experience and truly reflect the medium, you'll turn up one day and the shop will be no longer accessible.

It'll give the shopper a sense of pride and accomplishment.

[Leon Retro]

pretty much like game-station did

That's the one... Gamestation. I thought it was a decent games shop. I've never liked GAME -- there's something too corporate about the shops and overall vibe of the company.

[CMcK]

Do they deserve any if buying starwars tat

It was for my nephew. Can't remember last time I bought a AAA game for myself.

[vanpeebles]

It was for my nephew. Can't remember last time I bought a AAA game for myself.

I’ll let you off!

[wakka]

That's the one... Gamestation. I thought it was a decent games shop. I've never liked GAME -- there's something too corporate about the shops and overall vibe of the company.

Gamestation was deffo cooler than Game. They were almost right next to each other where I grew up and I always favoured GS. It had a bit of a dingy, nerdy sort of vibe to it - which for some reason as a nerdy teenage boy I found appealing!

I also used to really like Virgin and HMV for games though. You couldn’t trade, but they had very well stocked sections. Virgin always had demo pods too, I remember spending hours and hours playing Outrun 2 in there because I didn’t have an Xbox.

[Hirst]

My local GAME is not bad for used stuff - it always seems to be well-organised, in good condition and slightly unusual stuff keeps turning up. I got my copy of Raiden V there for a tenner. Their new stuff? I can't see the point - it's generally about a tenner more expensive than the Internet so I can only see it being of much value for people who simply can't wait for stuff to turn up in the post and they don't tend to get that much unusual stuff in.

CeX is extremely variable quality store-to-store, but it only really varies between awful and "alright". It used to be pretty good until one day in the early 2000s they ceased selling imports and really started to push the used phones, filling the place up with glue sniffers and junkies. Their used prices would be OK if everything was in good condition, but most of it isn't - some of the games are in absolutely appalling condition and they'll charge like it isn't. I'm not that fussy about condition, but I will want the price to be reflected in that.

[Anpanman]

I used to like Gamestation as well. Our Game right at the very start was good, staff were very knowledgeable and would chat about the import scene as well. One bloke told be how to do the swap-trick for the PlayStation.

Didn't know what a 'Funko Pop' was so had to ask my mate Mr Google. Hideous.

[Sketcz]

Didn't know what a 'Funko Pop' was so had to ask my mate Mr Google. Hideous.

There's a documentary on their rise and global domination. I watched a few minutes and kinda wanted to be sick. Some guys made crap that people buy so they get super rich but all that plastic just eventually ends up in a landfill. Funko Pop represents everything I hate about modern consumerism.

[Wools]

they got bought out pretty much like game-station did

Unless I'm mistaken, that's not correct.

I believe Electronics Boutique purchased Game and then re-branded all their stores to Game.

[Asura]

Unless I'm mistaken, that's not correct.

I believe Electronics Boutique purchased Game and then re-branded all their stores to Game.

Yeah, this is true.

EB bought GAME, and just stayed as GAME, because they felt the brand had more weight.

Gamestation at this time was still owned by its original owners, who I believe were a pair of brothers from York. They sold the business to Blockbuster Video in the early 2000s and got out entirely (smart).

Blockbuster nearly ran Gamestation into the ground in the process of doing the same to themselves, so then Blockbuster sold Gamestation to GAME. For a while they maintained both brands, but eventually rebranded Gamestation to GAME. This led to the bizarre situation where GAME had two shops on practically every high-street in the UK, often within sight of each other, and they'd done zero planning for how they were going to deal with this. I remember how weird this was in a few places, such as Stockport, where they were literally (not figuratively; literally) nextdoor to each other:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4115305,-2.1612574,3a,75y,165.92h,96.31t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTGQaMF9kixrLiuwyZC1pWg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I can only assume they did it to eliminate a competitor, but there's no way that it could possibly have been a good decision. It probably brought in some short-term gain that would last long enough for anyone competent enough in management to leave.

They ran the duplicate stores until leases started to expire, then they'd close whichever store was the most convenient/least performant, leaving them with one shop now in most places.

It's no surprise to hear that people here preferred Gamestation. GS were more core-market focused; so whereas GAME might offer a bundle with a PS2 with 6 crap pre-set games, GS would offer a PS2 bundle with 1 or 2 games of your choice from any in store. It's the kind of thing which looks like worse value to uninformed parents but is clearly much better value for the core consumer, and that appled to much of their business. They also ran a 2-for-20 on a range of used games for a number of years which was a very good deal.

I don't understand GAME today; like I literally don't understand how they're even still in business, except if, as the last specialist national chain, they're receiving some kind of kickback from the publishers and platform holders. They're a effectively a high-street billboard advert disguised as a store. Their merch and eSports accessories simply can't sell well enough to keep them afloat; they're all much more expensive than Amazon and while some of us might suggest that the general public aren't always the shiniest apples in the bunch, they smarten up really ****ing quickly when they feel they're being conned out of £3-4.

My local has used Switch games for £49.99. The same ones. They've been there for a year; I see them every time I go in. I only go because it's between two other shops which do see my trade; I don't think I've bought anything from GAME in years. You could probably count on one hand the number of purchases throughout the 2010s.

[fishbowlhead]

Ironically Electronics Boutique suits the brand far more now considering how the stores have changed and what they now sell.

[Hirst]

Back in the late 90s, I didn't have any GAME stores near me so they were quite a novelty when I went in. I think they were better in those days, because I seem to remember always being glad of an opportunity to visit one. That said, Electronics Boutique was good too. Gamestation was the best of the whole lot though - they always had a wide range of games, my local one wasn't afraid to stock used imports and retro stuff.

However, there was one sticking point with Gamestation stores - they always smelled faintly of vomit. I don't know why, but it was all of them. I'm convinced it was something to do with the carpets or the type of plastics they used for the shelving units or something. But even to this day, I can't throw up without thinking of going down to Gamestation to see if they had any Dreamcast imports kicking about.

[Asura]

However, there was one sticking point with Gamestation stores - they always smelled faintly of vomit. I don't know why, but it was all of them. I'm convinced it was something to do with the carpets or the type of plastics they used for the shelving units or something. But even to this day, I can't throw up without thinking of going down to Gamestation to see if they had any Dreamcast imports kicking about.

It was probably just that they were small and carpeted. Really, shops like that should have moppable floors if you're not going to pay for professional carpet cleaning every so often.