GAME - Gamestation, about to fold?

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Closing ??

Gamestation Customer services is still closed from before xmas. When you try to email them there is a delivery failure .... Seems strange to me
 
GAME was queued out the door over Christmas when they were selling LA Noire for £4.98 and Brink for £2.99, but all seems right in the world again as they are quiet now.

Pre-owned games seem to be increasing in price, I mean, still charging £15 for Force Unleashed (original), GTA IV and others that I would have expected to drop after 3-4 years.

I picked up Destroy All Humans for my son, but that had risen from £14.99 to £17.99 in a few weeks.

Never shopping in a high street GAME or Gamestation again tbh
 
I was about to bump this thread, as it's front page news on The Guardian website today that Game have announced a 15% fall in Xmas sales and their share price has dropped dramatically.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/10/game-shares-slump-christmas-sales

As I said earlier in this thread, with no new hardware this Xmas, and stiff competition from other retailers, it was obvious they were going to struggle.
 
GAME did some fantastic deals over the Christmas period (I picked up a copy of Skyrim for the 360 for £22.49 and sold it last week for £28.00 on eBay). However most of the time their prices equal or exceed that of competition. Saying that, the GAME points card is well worth having and IMHO is the best store card going, because it gives 1% back on all purchases (2% on pre-orders) and the money is instantly redeemable, providing they are in instalments of £2.50. Furthermore, my experience with the customer service has been, for the majority of the time, simply fantastic. Especially in the bigger shopping centres such as Bristol Cribbs, Merry Hill & Bull Ring. The stores are often a well lit, clean and tidy environment that, for a gamer of 22 years, are a pleasure to be in. If only the same could be said for GameStation, where my feet tend to stick to the floor.

Although after all that's said and done they are still quite expensive, and as consumers we are constantly striving for the best deal and that is rarely GAME itself. As mentioned in other posts, the pre-owned section is a bit of a shambles pricing wise, and the only great deals to be had are the consoles themselves. Accessories are also very expensive.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), the likes of TESCO, Morrison's, ASDA and Sainsbury's are now offering really competitive prices on their games, and with mothers/families doing their weekly shop, they'd be hard pushed to travel out to a GAME store to pick up a game for little Jimmy than just getting it in the SuperMarket.

It would be a shame to see them go as they genuinely feel like the British gamers "Home" shop, on the flip side, however, it won't be entirely surprising if they do.
 
I do like certain aspects of Game, but having bored sales assistants that are ready to pounce on you and cling on like a stag beetle really put me off going in.

That, and the absurd prices.
 
GAME is over here as well, the prices for there pre owned games are scandalous, I picked up Battlefield 3 Collectors on Ps3 for $79, they wanted $89 for the pre-owned!?!?
 
In Bangor there is a Game and Gamestation directly opposite each other on the high street . . . it's not a huge town so what's the point of that? In my experience both staff are also very rude.
 
Same in Chester - Game and Gamestation are opposite each other. Though, to be fair, the staff in both are very much into their games and I have had many a chat either when looking for stuff, pre-ordering or buying. The whole 'Can I help you there, sir?' as soon as you walk in is annoying, but that's just sales patter, you get that kind of **** in a lot of places.

I think I've changed my mind a bit since this thread started. I think if they were to go I would be sorry. As a gamer I like to walk in to places/shops that are full of games, and supermarkets - though at times cheaper - do not understand (nor care) about what they are selling. I don't feel the same can be said of any GAME I have been in to.

Like most here I mainly buy online but I always, always go into both shops if I am in town. If they go all I have left is HMV!
 
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Plainsong said:
Same in Chester - Game and Gamestation are opposite each other. Though, to be fair, the staff in both are very much into their games and I have had many a chat either when looking for stuff, pre-ordering or buying. The whole 'Can I help you there, sir?' as soon as you walk in is annoying, but that's just sales patter, you get that kind of **** in a lot of places.

I think I've changed my mind a bit since this thread started. I think if they were to go I would be sorry. As a gamer I like to walk in to places/shops that are full of games, and supermarkets - though at times cheaper - do not understand (nor care) about what they are selling. I don't feel the same can be said of any GAME I have been in to.

Like most here I mainly buy online but I always, always go into both shops if I am in town. If they go all I have left is HMV!
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i have the same old habit for some reason i walk into a game store every time i see one, then after 15 seconds i realise why i never shop their any longer and walk out. i used to buy there a lot before the whole online shopping took off. but they simply cannot compete with online retailers offering the same game for sometimes up to £25 less.
 
weyland yutani said:
In Bangor there is a Game and Gamestation directly opposite each other on the high street . . . it's not a huge town so what's the point of that? In my experience both staff are also very rude.
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It was the same in West Bromwich and a few other small towns in the Midlands. Now most of have shut one or the other.
 
malachi said:
It was the same in West Bromwich and a few other small towns in the Midlands. Now most of have shut one or the other.
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In Telford they are seperate by around 5 shops. It just makes no sense. The prices are exactly the same near enough (staff are friendly in both), but their prices just don't make sense. Especially when there is a HMV opposite selling the games for much less and guarenteeing to beat GAMES trade in's by at least a quid.

I fear game are run by dinosaurs and the very ethos and soul of the company was ripped out long ago.

It'll end badly.

We have one local indy shop by me, by I find their service pretty pish. Quite rude to deal with a lot of the time, though even their prices are usually cheaper than GAME!

That said when dealing with the staff in GAME or Gamstation, I've never had a problem. They've always been into their games and helpful. There's one eccentric guy who works in the Telford one who is a right character, clearly loves his games too.
 
hilly said:
I fear game are run by dinosaurs and the very ethos and soul of the company was ripped out long ago.

It'll end badly.
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I think that is the heart of the problem. It has been badly managed for quite some time now and if they do hit a £30 million loss for the year - as the Guardian reports - it won't be long before they go.
 
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