GAME - Gamestation, about to fold?

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Auntie Mabel said:
The GAME in my town (Epsom) closed down a few weeks ago (unannounced!), but that is long overdue as we have a gamestation as well, which is a far superior shop despite being owned by the same parent company. If gamestation went, it would be a big problem as there would be nowhere left to buy games - HMV closed down here about 6 months ago, to be replaced by a big 'sports direct' store - lucky us! Its bad enough having no where to buy CDs, but I enjoy trawling through 2nd hand games for bargains during my lunch break.
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Very similar story to my local (Bangor) Game and Gamestation were literally across the street from each other, Game closed on saturday. Although because I work on the high street and am friends with the manager in both stores, they heard about it two months ago, Game made all staff redundant except for the assistant manage who was given reduced hours at gamestation.

The former manager has been packing stuff up every day since sunday, really sad :/

Ours is getting turned into a Greggs :o
 
Personally I do not agree with this as I would rather save a fiver than be bothered by staff in store and have the hassle of actually going in store when I could order online
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Yes i went in my local game and was asked three times if i wanted any help, i just want to be left alone for gods sake to make my own decision up.

Currys/PC World are bad too for harassing you, was in currys looking to buy a laptop and was asked three times if i wanted any help, one of them wouldnt leave me alone, was absolutely desperate for a sale and when i just said i'll need to think about it he went off in a mood, terrible sales staff in both shops, all they care about is making a sale even if it doesn't suit the buyer.
 
I always find it annoying someone asking if Im ok the second I walk into my local GAME. Give me a second already! Not to mention their prices, even second hand are more expensive than you would pay online.

I wish they would become more competitive rather than close. The highstreet isnt the same anymore without Woolworths. Would hate to see no game shops on the highstreet also.

This predicted closure is a bit surprising for me. Didnt seem so long ago we were hearing about the millions they make from second hand stuff sale but I guess Tesco and Argos are grabbing a piece of that pie and online passes are also cutting into sales?
 
I buy from GAME quite often online, mainly because I had used PLAY for years and they stopped getting pre orders out to me on time. I've had a bit of a rollercoaster ride with them here's what has happened:

Killzone 3 - Late
Mortal Kombat - Early
Homefront - On time
Fight Night Champion - On time
inFamous 2 - Early
Madden NFL 12 - Never dispatched
Gears of War 3 Limited Edition Console + Game - Early
Battlefield 3 - Early
Modern Warfare 3 - On time

The Madden NFL 12 game I preordered was probably my worst experience with them and I have to say it's really put me off them, I preordered the game and it was never dispatched to me but they decided to charge me for it I actually created a thread on here about it. Keeping a long story short, it took me almost 2 months of going back and forth with their customer service team to get my money back.

The main reason I use them is they do special editions of games that I can't seem to find in any other stores, most of the games above were some kind of special edition. I agree their pricing is terrible, it's disgraceful in store so I tend to stick to online with them.
 
Maybe they could consider a retail park presence as a concession within a major UK electronics retailer who do nothing positive for games retail anyway?
 
Their service has been shocking past couple of months, they dont bother replying to emails and when you ring them they just say whatever to get you off the phone.. serious rubbish they are now and their games are so overpriced, just look on internet and you can probably find it up to £15-20 lower than what they charge, especially in-store.

I can tell you some right stories bout good old Game! I received a pre-order a week late, and they didnt care or say sorry
 
I often go into GAME for a browse however I haven't actually bought anything from there for years. One problem is the price, another is that half the time they try and give you a scuffed up case off the shelf or the disk is scratched because of how they are stored. Much nicer purchasing experience taking it out of the plastic wrapper yourself and knowing that some muppet hasn't mauled it beforehand.

I remember when I bought my PS2 from GAME years ago (not long after launch) and the buying experience was much more pleasant and the deal with the console and games was quite competitive.
 
Haven't bought anything in store for years. Occasionally I'll pick up a pre-owned title from their website, but to be honest, the shops just annoy me. As far as I am concerned the staff are on the same level as those at PC World, Dixons or Currys, which is only one level above monkeys. New game pricing is ridiculous, how can they honestly expect to compete when they are sometimes pricing games £10+ higher than on Shopto or most other online competitors.
 
Jano said:
Haven't bought anything in store for years. Occasionally I'll pick up a pre-owned title from their website, but to be honest, the shops just annoy me. As far as I am concerned the staff are on the same level as those at PC World, Dixons or Currys, which is only one level above monkeys. New game pricing is ridiculous, how can they honestly expect to compete when they are sometimes pricing games £10+ higher than on Shopto or most other online competitors.
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i completely agree, silly prices, silly staff - havent bought a game instore for 5+ years

EDIT: actually, i bought cod4 two years ago pre-owned from gamestation and guess how much they wanted £37.99 :mad::mad::mad:
 
As others have said, the prices are just stupid - seriously, even if I was gagging to play the latest and greatest offering on PS3, no way would I cough up over £40 - it's bad enough paying more than £35 (yes, I know Jaguar games were about £60, but it wasn't so 'mainstream' :p)

I know there's a feeling amongst people/retailers, about big supermarkets destroying small business etc (not that Game can be classed as small) - but when the majority of us are living to a budget per month, yet still want the occasional treat, you're simply going to go with whoever is the cheapest. Personally, I'd rather have £10 saved in my pocket, than a temporary feeling of warmth, that I have just supported a small/high street business.

With supermarkets doing such good deals on games (usually), I don't see the need for places such as Game, HMV, etc. Though I would never want to see the high street devoid of shops, I rarely use physical shops these days as prices are just too high (by comparison).
 
Scort said:
As others have said, the prices are just stupid - seriously, even if I was gagging to play the latest and greatest offering on PS3, no way would I cough up over £40 - it's bad enough paying more than £35 (yes, I know Jaguar games were about £60, but it wasn't so 'mainstream' :p)

I know there's a feeling amongst people/retailers, about big supermarkets destroying small business etc (not that Game can be classed as small) - but when the majority of us are living to a budget per month, yet still want the occasional treat, you're simply going to go with whoever is the cheapest. Personally, I'd rather have £10 saved in my pocket, than a temporary feeling of warmth, that I have just supported a small/high street business.

With supermarkets doing such good deals on games (usually), I don't see the need for places such as Game, HMV, etc. Though I would never want to see the high street devoid of shops, I rarely use physical shops these days as prices are just too high (by comparison).
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Without the likes of gamestation on the high street the supermarkets wouldnt be that cheap either. I dont think they are cheap now anyway, not like when they used to sell new releases for £29.

I dont mind gamestation as the staff generally are chatty about games usually have better preowned games. Game however the staff hang around together, usually have no clue what they are on about and charge a fortune for games. Some of the preowned prices are a joke too.
 
They should just price-match online retailers so savvy buyers will actually shop there and the less savvy ones will pay the regular prices. It's an unrelated market but shops like Evans Cycles usually get my business for bike bits because they price-match online retailers like Wiggle in store.
 
can see HMV going before game and game station as the prices of things in HMV are more than the RRP on xbox/ps3 and blurays
 
I went into HMV to check the price of Halo CE, was £29.99. Decided if it was the same price in GAME, i'd buy there for reward points etc.

Got to GAME, seen price was £34.99 - had a look to see if it was a different edition.

GAME staff comes up asking if he can help me, I tell him about HMV selling cheaper and his reply was "Yeah I heard that".

My reply was "I'll go and get the game in HMV then" and walked out.

GAME is going downhill fast.
 
Jay794 said:
Not true, at least not for a long, long time, I had this thought when online Travel Agencies started up. But highstreet agencies, although suffered a significant loss of customers, in favour of the ease of online retailing, they still had a significant income of customers off the street, as although the grey market (old people) are becoming more and more online savvy, there are still millions of people around the world who believe they might launch a nuke by moving the mouse lol

I went off GAME years ago, same with HMV, their customer service is terrible, Gamestation on the other hand are awesome, the guys in my local gamestation are awesome, and the shop is always rammed
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Online shopping is not the main issue facing all high street shops. The issue lies with the stupidly high rates they have to pay for rent. Also supermarkets are not helping the high street shops.

Auntie Mabel said:
The GAME in my town (Epsom) closed down
a few weeks ago (unannounced!), but that is long overdue as we have a gamestation as well, which is a far superior shop despite being owned by the
same parent company. If gamestation went, it would be a big problem as there
would be nowhere left to buy games - HMV closed down here about 6 months
ago, to be replaced by a big 'sports direct' store - lucky us! Its bad enough
having no where to buy CDs, but I enjoy trawling through 2nd hand games for
bargains during my lunch break.
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Also from sunny Epsom, and I totally agree with Gamestation, although you would have thought the location of Game would have been the better choice to keep open, but you can bet the rental cost are probably twice as much being in the Ashley centre.
 
One thing that put me off last week is that staff can take home games now. No idea if that's just used copies or what but dosnt seem like a good idea.
 
Game deliveries have always been early for me (except mw3 but they had no choice with that), but I hope they don't because I prefer to buy things in shops sometimes, it's quicker than online
 
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