Game down but not out.

Well, they deserved to die out tbh but if new management provides sensible prices (doubt it'd ever compare with steam) and more emphasis on PC section then I welcome them back.
 
Hurlbag said:
Well, they deserved to die out tbh but if new management provides sensible prices (doubt it'd ever compare with steam) and more emphasis on PC section then I welcome them back.
Click to expand...

The prices were, on the whole (Some notable exceptions!) sensible in the context of a high street retailer. You will never get internet prices on the high street and it's neive to expect that.

PC doesn't even factor in the product mix really - it's a tiny proportion of sales. Most PC owners are people like us who are either price or conveniene motivated. We either want it now, on Steam, and are prepared to pay a premium for that, or we want it dirt cheap, which a high street retailer cannot offer.

High street retail is all about consoles. There will be no increased emphasis on PC because PC is a massive pain as a market. It attracts a demographic that is disproportionately price sensitive and it causes huge issues with people buying incompatible products etc etc. I'm a PC gamer through and through but that doesn't mean I'm blind to how much of a pain in the backside it is for a retailer to support.

Though my experience of Steam is that for new releases its as expensive, if not more so, than traditional retailers?
 
You're right there Fox, the high street will always be cheaper at launch but they simply never drop in price. Steam will sell you a game for 45 quid then the next thing you know, it's gone down to 20 or even less if a sale rolls by. Game doggedly stuck to frankly ludicrous prices. Their website came back yesterday or the day before (I'm not sure) boasting of a significant sale on games like Gears of War 3 - down to a paltry sum of 35 quid. Amazon offers the same game for just 20 quid, nearly half the price.

They just don't learn.
 
Last edited:
KNiVES said:
You're right there Fox, the high street will always be cheaper at launch but they simply never drop in price. Steam will sell you a game for 45 quid then the next thing you know, it's gone down to 20 or even less if a sale rolls by. Game doggedly stuck to frankly ludicrous prices. Their website came back yesterday or the day before (I'm not sure) boasting of a significant sale on games like Gears of War 3 - down to a paltry sum of 35 quid. Amazon offers the same game for just 20 quid, nearly half the price.

They just don't learn.
Click to expand...

What do you expect them to do though? They don't buy the game for 20 quid - it's very easy for Valve to charge whatever they want for a digital copy of a game they publish 4 months after launch, or for other publishers to do the same. They've incurred zero cost of getting any particular copy to the front page of steam, whereas Game have actually had to purchase a physical product.

Whereas if you've bought X units of a game at £Y thats it - you've paid for that physical product in order to retail it.

It's no wonder they wont slash it to 20 quid 2 months after it comes out - they've paid more than that for it.

They do it from time to time as deal of the week, usually as a loss leader to keep people interested.

They are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Amazon have a much higher stock turnover so can quickly repurchase stock later on for less money, whereas if Game dont hold enough stock to be in-stock in every branch everyone complains about how useless they are... the consequence of that stockholding is, well, as above.

The margins are quite ridiculous - why do you think they are so desperate to push own brand accessories and preowned? Because there is actual margin in that.

It's odd really because I don't see anyone complaining about the frankly ridiculous prices on both Steam and Origin for new release software. You guys get SERIOUSLY price-gouged for new releases at times and seem to just suck it up and pay it, yet Game is evil and horrible for charging 35 quid from Day 1 and... still charging 35 quid on Day 365 whereas Valve is the saviour for conning you all out of 40 quid on Day 1 and then banging it out at 20 quid from about Day 90?

Seriously?
 
Last edited:
[TW]Fox;21596888 said:
What do you expect them to do though? They don't buy the game for 20 quid - it's very easy for Valve to charge whatever they want for a digital copy of a game they publish 4 months after launch, or for other publishers to do the same. They've incurred zero cost of getting any particular copy to the front page of steam, whereas Game have actually had to purchase a physical product.

Whereas if you've bought X units of a game at £Y thats it - you've paid for that physical product in order to retail it.

It's no wonder they wont slash it to 20 quid 2 months after it comes out - they've paid more than that for it.

They do it from time to time as deal of the week, usually as a loss leader to keep people interested.

They are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Amazon have a much higher stock turnover so can quickly repurchase stock later on for less money, whereas if Game dont hold enough stock to be in-stock in every branch everyone complains about how useless they are... the consequence of that stockholding is, well, as above.

The margins are quite ridiculous - why do you think they are so desperate to push own brand accessories and preowned? Because there is actual margin in that.

It's odd really because I don't see anyone complaining about the frankly ridiculous prices on both Steam and Origin for new release software. You guys get SERIOUSLY price-gouged for new releases at times and seem to just suck it up and pay it, yet Game is evil and horrible for charging 35 quid from Day 1 and... still charging 35 quid on Day 365 whereas Valve is the saviour for conning you all out of 40 quid on Day 1 and then banging it out at 20 quid from about Day 90?

Seriously?
Click to expand...

I partially agree, but don't forget that all of the other publishers that Valve have added to Steam have good discounts too. The principle is still the same, I imagine Valve buy bulk "copies", but in this case only contain keys and a couple of initial cdn releases depending on version etc
 
Completely agree with what Fox has said. It is a shame that it works in that way where Game buy the product and then sell it on for a price which may have to end up being less than the original price they paid for it.
 
Went to game few times. THere were no hot girls there each time. So dont bother again. No wonder they went out of business. IT was turning in to a homosexuals hangout.
 
Last edited:
It sounds like they just didn't seem to close any of the multiple stores in the same towns and should be in better shape with a smaller amount. They are obviously aimed at more casual game buyers.
 
As Fox pointed out, the big difference between digital distribution and highstreet is stock levels.

DD obviously doesn't keep any games in stock, highstreet retailers have to keep them in stock.

If you own a games shop and bought a game for £20, you'd want to sell it for as much as possible to make your money on it. If you bought 100,000 for release and only 50,000 sold, you'd still want to sell that other 50,000 for release price to make your money.

Digital distribution is different because generally it's more a case of "if we sell a game for £30, we'll give you £20", so when that game comes down in price, there's no backlog of stock that still cost £20 to buy, the cost to buy the game will drop for Steam/Origin/wherever too. DD also has the benefit that they don't have any unsold stock cutting into the profits that have to be covered.
 
I'm happy for them :)

More jobs and keeps the economy rolling on. Nothing negative with Game being open for trading tbh, if you don't like them, then jog on.
 
Having things like multiple shops in small towns was ridiculous though, in the main shopping town near me there was a Game and Gamestation like 3 shops up from each other, the Gamestation has now closed though.
 
[TW]Fox;21596888 said:
It's odd really because I don't see anyone complaining about the frankly ridiculous prices on both Steam and Origin for new release software. You guys get SERIOUSLY price-gouged for new releases at times and seem to just suck it up and pay it, yet Game is evil and horrible for charging 35 quid from Day 1 and... still charging 35 quid on Day 365 whereas Valve is the saviour for conning you all out of 40 quid on Day 1 and then banging it out at 20 quid from about Day 90?

Seriously?
Click to expand...

People do complain actually, especially Europeans. Anyway, I've never been conned by Steam , just wait for the Christmas or Summer sale and buy all your games for 50+% off.

I expect most computer savvy people do that as well.

I've only ever bought 2 games when they came out, and they were L4D2 and Portal 2, which had a pre order discount and a bulk buy discount.
 
The fact that companies like GAME have restricted digital distribution for so long, I really wouldn't be sad to see any of them go. I do feel sorry for the workers though. I really can't see GAME surviving in the long term.
 
If the new Game is a copy & paste of the old Game, nothing will have changed. As for the issue of PC games, by not stocking a good range they will again alienate a lot of their target market. I hope they understand where they went wrong and get their pricing and stock right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom