GAME - Gamestation, about to fold?

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Soldato
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Looking at a thread on another forum about the pricing of videogames, I decided to make this a thread about the state of play regarding the afore mentioned high-street retailer (and internet retailer)

For many years GAME were the dominant force in the high street when it came to video games, they have had competition (from supermarkets - online) but had maintained a strong performance. Then came the Gamestation takeover in 2007? Which saw GAME add a large number of outlets and a new customer demographic. The company did have a bright outlook but in recent years it seems as if they have started to lose their hold on the market due to a more fierce competition and are losing customers left right and centre. Indeed in the thread on pricing people were commenting (as has been said on here) that prices in store are very expensive and that shopping online from people like Amazon, Shop to etc is a much better experience even when compared to GAME’s online effort.

This is no doubt due to the current state of the economy with people looking to save more on their purchases, I for one would have thought that this would spur a company like GAME on to perform better and compete – however prices in store are rising and policies that were once popular and drew in custom have been changed – for example a GAME store used to be able to price match anywhere locally if they were being undercut however this policy is now void with the company sending out a memo to all managers basically saying that they will no longer honour this but that customers should still buy from us because our service is the best and we have ‘expert knowledge’. 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 and get my purchase up to two or three days before release. However GAME seem to be completely oblivious and are pushing ahead with price rises etc and seem to not really care.

On the back of all this predictably GAME’s share price has been in decline for almost a year but in the last few months they have really dropped and are now as of writing at an all time low, now I’m no market expert but with this dramatic slump is it possible we are seeing the last days of GAME as they are and could they fold anytime soon?



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Just to give you an idea here is the share perfromance from august until october and from checking further on the net I can see that the share price has been on a downward spiral since 2010 dropping from around £1.70 to 9p!!!!!!!!
 
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I wouldn't be surprised, the prices in store are stupidly over priced now, I mean £42.99 for the regular edition of Batman: Arkham City is daft.

They are pricing themselves out of the market.
 
As with eventually all high street shops, yes....

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
 
I can't see them going under at all, but I can see them closing down a number of stores. The Game in Liverpool is never that busy whenever I walk by it, the Gamestation and Computer Exchange just around the corner are always much busier.

I do like Game, and buy from them online generally as I like their reward points so I can get a free game effectively every now and then. They do need to bring their in store prices down though as they are definitely too high most of the time.
 
I can't see them going under at all, but I can see them closing down a number of stores.

Even if that happens, how soon do you think we will see this kind of action? I have a feeling it will be imminent and judging by their sales forecast for crimbo (their busiest time) it may well be!
 
This is going to sound contradictory but there is always some suprise when a big named company goes down however it wouldn't suprise me if GAME does go down. I see companies going down everyday and it is horrible to deal with but it the economy at the moment and if they can't compete they are going to be in trouble.

I have had some good deals from there though they are generally over priced compared to the competition. As much as they may have expert advice, why do I need expert advice on whether I should buy a game, I already know I want it and I want it as cheap as possible.

Even if that happens, how soon do you think we will see this kind of action? I have a feeling it will be imminent and judging by their sales forecast for crimbo (their busiest time) it may well be!

Obviously I couldn't say if we had anything official but I haven't heard any rumours of any trouble with GAME so I would be suprised if it happens before christmas. Sometimes we are the last to know though haha.
 
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I remember going to the 'experts' at GAME and asking if they had a copy of Wipeout HD and I got asked "Is that for the PS3 or the 360?"
 
I do like Game, and buy from them online generally as I like their reward points so I can get a free game effectively every now and then. .

But generally you are not getting a free game because you are paying more for the games in the first place. I doubt when you add up what you would have spent and saved shopping elsewhere that you are really getting a free game.

I don't use them anymore unless they are cheapest, which they rarely are. I stopped using them when 11% quidco stopped and the £5 off £40. They are no longer competitive.
 
Even if that happens, how soon do you think we will see this kind of action? I have a feeling it will be imminent and judging by their sales forecast for crimbo (their busiest time) it may well be!

I doubt we'll see any closures before Christmas, simply because it'll be their busiest time of the year so it would make no sense for them to close shops now.

But generally you are not getting a free game because you are paying more for the games in the first place. I doubt when you add up what you would have spent and saved shopping elsewhere that you are really getting a free game.

I'll only use Game when the prices are the same as everywhere else, or within £1-2. Free postage and getting the games a day early always make up for any time they may be a couple of quid dearer than somewhere else.
 
I doubt we'll see any closures before Christmas, simply because it'll be their busiest time of the year so it would make no sense for them to close shops now.

No I doubt before Christmas but I suspect summer next year we might see something maybe :confused:

Edit: Especially if there is no new hardware announcements to stimulate the games market
 
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I remember electronics Boutique in Newcastle was far better than game, both staff wise and prices too, then one day it turned into a game :(

The staff in game used to seem somewhat knowledgable on their stuff but in recent years that seems to have gotten less and less the case. The removal of their amazing returns policy (if anyone remembers it lol) and then they continued to attempt to back out of honoring their lowest price guarantee on a regular basis. I'd quite happily wander around town looking in other stores then goto game pricematch and pick up what I wanted. Their second hand stuff just seems to have gotten more and more expensive also, sometimes only a few quid cheaper than brand new.

I really hope they dont move to mainly online presence as their new site is terrible lol

Their BnM store approach seems to be fit as many as possible in any shopping area/mall obviously this increases rent/rates and overheads. Then you realise theres gamestations close by too now. I understand how the whole footfall/passing trade thing works but at the end fo the day if they were competitive on pricing, honored their "promises" such as the price match and had half decent staff then one large store should work just fine. People in newcastle that I know of were always quite happy to goto game due to the rewards system and their pricing, not now tho
 
One thing I have seen Game doing is opening up branches in shops like Dixons (I think it was them anyway). Maybe they'll do that more as the overheads will obviously be much less as they'll be paying for a shared space, yet would allow them to keep a retail presence which I think is important for a shop like Game.
 
I personally haven't bought games, dvds, cds in high street stores for years. I simply refuse to spend more. It's totally 100% about price. CDs, DVDs and Games are not purchased based on experience in a store anymore. People know what they want. It's all about price and ease of obtaining it. Let's compare going to an online popular etailor, clicking buy, free postage, it gets to you within a day or two and you can get games pre release date as well. Why on earth would I pay more to drive to town, pay to park or pay money to get there on the train/bus, wonder around packed sweaty shops full of queus and chavs, to pay more than I would do online?

I am amazed that these shops are still in business frankly. The only physical shopping I do in actual shops now, are for clothes (clothing shops will be around forever as people want to try things on and see them in the flesh) and things like DIY/furniture stores. There's not many things you can't get online these days. What makes it worse for retailors, if that you can get more information on their product range by looking on their website with detailed specs, all in the comfort of your own home/office wherever, where you can compare other products all on the same screen etc. Wondering between shops during xmas rush hour for example comparing prices for the best deals...no thanks.
 
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.
 
Understandable. As people have said, it's 100% down to the price. Why would I spent £40 on a game, £3 on petrol and a £5 parking ticket when I could quite easily just get it online for £30, delivered to my door - ready for me when I get home from work.

Understandably some people would rather go and buy it, but, just echo'ing what has been said. The staff in GAME are terrible. They stand together talking, not really doing much unless you go over and ask for help. I always notice that GAME is hardly stocked with the games I want to buy anyway!
 
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