GAME - Gamestation, about to fold?

fieldy · 23 Feb 2012 at 10:00

@Nyvo not sure - I would guess its just Sony's games as indavidual publishers would put there own stickers on?

Qdos · 23 Feb 2012 at 10:07

Spinal2k2 said:
went into the 3 game shops in town today to try again to get mw3 since it is marked at £34.99

1st one had boxes on the shelf but marked coming soon, 2nd had boxes on the shelf get to the til the look around for about 5 mins have non left. last one had boxes on the shelf in stock "oh this has gone back upto £44.99", "it says now £34.99 on the box", "they must have forgot to change it." "forget it dosent matter" and i walked out no wonder they are having trouble if they have shelf stock saying one price then the till saying another higher price.

I'd have argued with them about that - it's an offence under the Trade Descriptions Act to have something labelled at a lower price, then try and charge a higher price at the register. If they can't keep up with their price changes, that's their bad luck.

I ran a Gamestation before they got taken over (by Blockbuster initially, they were sold to Game later) and changing price labels was one of the major PITA things to do.

TommyV · 23 Feb 2012 at 10:18

lol, I've genuinely never heard of 'gameplay.co.uk' before reading this page of the thread

fieldy · 23 Feb 2012 at 10:20

TommyV said:
lol, I've genuinely never heard of 'gameplay.co.uk' before reading this page of the thread

they were a popular site back when N64, PS1 was about but have been in decline for a while then GAME brought them back in 2004 but never really used them as they already had their own online arm of GAME

schumi84 · 23 Feb 2012 at 10:33

I remember buying stuff from Gameplay when I was 15-16 (so a good 12-13 years ago). As said, they were great for PS1 stuff, but also their PC Game prices were also really competitive.

RaMDOM · 23 Feb 2012 at 10:44

Damn it - Gameplay to close! They were my dependable until about a year ago and I moved to ShopTo. I have two issues with this move.

1) My Diablo 3 pre-order is with them - is this out before the end of April? I fear not. Had the pre-order price of 24.99 as I knew Activision would up it to £35 which they have.
2) Gamestation.co.uk are absolutely rubbish; they hardly ever have anything in stock. It is seriously bad on that site. I thought I would take my £5 voucher and look for a game on the site that I have been waiting to drop in price - Infamous 2. Surprise surprise - out of stock. They suck!

I was wondering why Gameplay took it upon themselves to cancel my Last Story preorder the other day....... :rolleyes:

HeX · 23 Feb 2012 at 11:06

I never use Gamestation, their site is truly truly hideous to gaze upon.

However, the free £5 voucher meant I could snag 2100 MS points for £11.49, so I've done that, and will now proceed to continue never using them again

iamtheoneneo · 23 Feb 2012 at 11:41

RaMDOM said:
Damn it - Gameplay to close! They were my dependable until about a year ago and I moved to ShopTo. I have two issues with this move.

1) My Diablo 3 pre-order is with them - is this out before the end of April? I fear not. Had the pre-order price of 24.99 as I knew Activision would up it to £35 which they have.
2) Gamestation.co.uk are absolutely rubbish; they hardly ever have anything in stock. It is seriously bad on that site. I thought I would take my £5 voucher and look for a game on the site that I have been waiting to drop in price - Infamous 2. Surprise surprise - out of stock. They suck!

I was wondering why Gameplay took it upon themselves to cancel my Last Story preorder the other day.......

diablo 3 is delayed dude, your be lucky to get it by the end of the year. your preorder is worthless.

focus130 · 23 Feb 2012 at 12:04

HeX said:
I never use Gamestation, their site is truly truly hideous to gaze upon.

However, the free £5 voucher meant I could snag 2100 MS points for £11.49, so I've done that, and will now proceed to continue never using them again

Good thinking. Just done the same.

BluSky · 23 Feb 2012 at 12:13

The only time I buy a game in store these days is when there is a good trade in deal, for instance when I bought my 3ds and they gave me a £70 trade in on my ds lite

Timber · 23 Feb 2012 at 12:13

RaMDOM said:
I was wondering why Gameplay took it upon themselves to cancel my Last Story preorder the other day.......

The Last Story pre-orders were cancelled across the Game Group earlier this week, because most stock is having to be paid for up front due to the loss of the credit insurance Game had with distributors. Also evidenced in the Sony consignment deal of Vita hardware and games, no Ubisoft Vita games being available at Game this week and pre-orders for The Last Story too getting cancelled. Unfortunately unless their cash-flow situation gets better weekly releases could be like this for a while, i.e. they may not be able to fulfil certain pre-orders. My guess is it may also limit their ability to land genuine exclusive special and collector editions, something which they have been fairly good at over the years.

I'm personally stunned that they haven't closed more than 35 stores (by Xmas 2013???) to bring them to a total of 550 stores in the UK. I just don't see how this company won't enter administration this year.

Timber · 23 Feb 2012 at 12:23

Nyvo said:
My copy of Little Deviants from Gamestation had that sticker on the back too... have the reports been for all Vita games from GAME/Gamestation, or just those published by Sony Computer Entertainment?

No it's very likely the consignment deal with Sony, to protect everyone if Game enters administration. Sony owns the stock at all times and can ask for it to be recalled at any time, and any administrator would not include in any assets. This has benefits for both distributor and the 'embattled' retailer Game who don't have to pay for the stock up-front. Normally a healthy retailer would enjoy terms where they only pay for stock (or some of) once it has been sold, or indeed can return stock unsold. HMV were also using the same deal with Sony.

Wakinglimb · 23 Feb 2012 at 12:24

schumi84 said:
I remember buying stuff from Gameplay when I was 15-16 (so a good 12-13 years ago). As said, they were great for PS1 stuff, but also their PC Game prices were also really competitive.

Yes around 2000 they were very good, they bought out the high street store Jakarta, then went online only and were doing fine until Game bought them.

I wonder if EB will come back from the States and start up again here. EB bought GAME and then GAME bought the UK EB stores back (or something) then lost loads of money and failed. Think EB can come back to UK if they do fail though...

fieldy · 23 Feb 2012 at 12:27

Wakinglimb said:
Yes around 2000 they were very good, they bought out the high street store Jakarta, then went online only and were doing fine until Game bought them.

I wonder if EB will come back from the States and start up again here. EB bought GAME and then GAME bought the UK EB stores back (or something) then lost loads of money and failed. Think EB can come back to UK if they do fail though...

I think trying to start up any new retail venture at present is risky and part of the reason most people dont bother with GAME anymore is the online competition - just look at the attempt to establish best buy in the uk

ps3ud0 · 23 Feb 2012 at 12:28

Hmm gameplay sent me an email saying my longlived pre-order of MGS Rising is safe with them still - fingers bloody crossed! Think MGS hates me

ps3ud0

schumi84 · 23 Feb 2012 at 14:08

Ah yes, I remember EB, I think the one that was in Kingston got turned into a CEX (don't think they are classed as a competitor, I apologise if they are), a little bit hit and miss for prices but was nice to have a browse around.

fieldy · 23 Feb 2012 at 15:19

GAME are no longer stocking The Last Story on Wii! just been announced the day before release and two days after their marketing director said that all pre orders are safe - madness, not sure if I'll be preordering from them again - just hope my ME3 CE is safe!

KillBoY_UK · 23 Feb 2012 at 16:35

Timber said:
The Last Story pre-orders were cancelled across the Game Group earlier this week,

sooo glad I pre-ordered a cheap Collectors Edition on amazon the other-day especially as I only just brought a wii for this game. Looks like its time to use them game.co.uk points ive been saving for a while

gothic_hobbit · 23 Feb 2012 at 16:58

Timber said:
I just don't see how this company won't enter administration this year.

Perhaps the government are bailing them out ?

finite · 23 Feb 2012 at 16:59

fieldy said:
GAME are no longer stocking The Last Story on Wii! just been announced the day before release and two days after their marketing director said that all pre orders are safe - madness, not sure if I'll be preordering from them again - just hope my ME3 CE is safe!

What's mad about it? They're saying they will buy as many as they need for Pre Orders and no more.