Bye Bye Game!

ZG002 said:
Do you know that Electronics Boutique bought game out years ago and re-branded as Game, Which is the actual reason most cities have two Game stores and not because they needed one in the shopping centres.
Click to expand...

I was not aware of that.

Been a very long time since I last visited various game shops but when I was at school I was really fond of visiting Game and 'EB'. I always favoured EB and was sad when they closed :(

Gamestation was always a good choice for the harder to find stuff...

Anyone remember 'Pink Planet' Games Exchange?
 
A real shame.

What killed them wasn't so much online competition - they served subtly different markets - but not realising when the store-duplication as a result of previous mergers and a very optimistic expansion programme became more of a hinderance than a help.

The business as it stands now with 277 less stores will be quite an attractive proposition to a buyer. The market exists - you just don't need 5 stores in each town to serve it.

This should be a warning to other companies following the same model - Carphone Warehouse?
 
[TW]Fox;21559548 said:
What killed them wasn't so much online competition - they served subtly different markets - but not realising when the store-duplication as a result of previous mergers and a very optimistic expansion programme became more of a hinderance than a help.
Click to expand...

I think you might be right. When I first discovered Amazon years ago, I wondered how the hell places like Game could ever stay in business. Yet every time I went into one, it was always packed with people merrily buying games.

Even today, I bet there's a very large segment of the market, especially the console crowd, who only buy from shops.
 
Huw said:
I think you might be right. When I first discovered Amazon years ago, I wondered how the hell places like Game could ever stay in business. Yet every time I went into one, it was always packed with people merrily buying games.

Even today, I bet there's a very large segment of the market, especially the console crowd, who only buy from shops.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The internet isn't new - its been around for as long as almost all of us have been able to buy things. Amazon has been with us for more than 10 years.

It isn't the internet that killed GAME. It was massive fixed costs as a result of far too many stores. Lots of stores made sense when there was lots more competition - a walk from one end of the town to the other might see your customer pop into Woolworths or Virgin Megastore instead. Not anymore.

Which is why the first thing the administrators have done is bin half the stores. Now it's suddenly an attractive business again.
 
Game Shep Bush Westfield was open today (around 8pm) as I popped in for a gander and overheard one of the staff members tell a customer about the shut stores and unemployed colleagues.

I managed to buy a couple of games last week from the Stratford Westfield branch luckily (hardly buy from their shop - usually online retailers)
 
[TW]Fox;21560718 said:
Exactly. The internet isn't new - its been around for as long as almost all of us have been able to buy things. Amazon has been with us for more than 10 years.

It isn't the internet that killed GAME. It was massive fixed costs as a result of far too many stores. Lots of stores made sense when there was lots more competition - a walk from one end of the town to the other might see your customer pop into Woolworths or Virgin Megastore instead. Not anymore.

Which is why the first thing the administrators have done is bin half the stores. Now it's suddenly an attractive business again.
Click to expand...

Presumably they couldn't ditch the stores beforehand due to contracts, it's the only thing that makes sense. If not, the management was truly questionable!
 
Strife212 said:
the management was truly questionable!
Click to expand...

that was it, like many retail companys they have some bizzare fetish with having stores on the high street, just look at how the purple shirt guys have changed since around 2004 to now, they have closed a lot of stores over there range. hell one of them can now only be found in airports i think now.
 
I can't find the article anywhere but I read a piece somewhere today that the game Directors threw out a rescue bid as it would mean they didn't make any profit on their investment or receive any payment. if that's true then they deserve to be publicly flogged. And then rolled in salt.
 
I was reading in the Evening standard that game made more profit that either movies or music last year. If game can't survive in that climate they are doing something wrong.
 
[TW]Fox;21559548 said:
The business as it stands now with 277 less stores will be quite an attractive proposition to a buyer. The market exists - you just don't need 5 stores in each town to serve it.
Click to expand...

Exactly. This is a business that turns over something like £1.4bn a year - if they can cut costs it could be a profitable, viable business in a slimmed down form.
 
MissChief said:
I can't find the article anywhere but I read a piece somewhere today that the game Directors threw out a rescue bid as it would mean they didn't make any profit on their investment or receive any payment. if that's true then they deserve to be publicly flogged. And then rolled in salt.
Click to expand...

Yup said this before...they chucked out all the rescue bids because they weren't going to make any money themselves...that's management for you!
 
Never been into a GAME store, but I did use their website.
I don't think having bricks and mortar stores for gaming is viable these days, given the service and sheer selection of online offerings.
 
Was going to wait and see if Star Wars The Old Republic collectors edition came down any further in price. But now the store that had two copies has closed, and the website is down.
 
I am surprised people are not blaming piracy for part of the downfall of GAME :D

Remember kids, one download = one lost sale.
 
Shame Game is gone but it does seem like it has just been bad decisions which has led to its death of over expanding in territories. If you compare Gamestop in America made nearly $400 million in profits last year ($9.5billion total sales), its pretty clear that a combination of high street and web based games sales can make a good turn over.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom