GAME lose another supplier

[Gideon Lorr]

Their business practices just haven't moved on, they used to get away with ripping people off charging £39.99 for new games and selling the same one used for £37.99 after giving the person trading it in 5p for it as a lot of people didn't know better, more people are online savvy now and not so gullible.

Even if they rely on pre owned they don't do that anything like as well as CEX, Amazon or HMV. You can go on their websites (or use the phone app with HMV) put in your product and find out how much money you'll get for it straight away.

Whereas with game you still have to traipse down the shop and find out they will give you nowt for them!

Very true. Game group is very much 'jack of all trades, master of none'. Game got away with it during the mid/early 2000s whilst the industry was booming, the highstreet was still strong, and internet competitors not so common/aggressive. Then they over expanded, AND bought out Gamestation. Gamestation had the preowned specialty, with older systems, wide selection, and had a gamers store feel to the place because of this. Thanks to Game Group, the stores are just Game under different branding.

 

[ps3ud0]

The gamestation site is about a billion times worse than the shopto one, it's so bad, don't see how you can compare them like that.

Guess youve never lost a parcel or had to chase their customer service...

ps3ud0

 

[cheets64]

Very true. Game group is very much 'jack of all trades, master of none'. Game got away with it during the mid/early 2000s whilst the industry was booming, the highstreet was still strong, and internet competitors not so common/aggressive. Then they over expanded, AND bought out Gamestation. Gamestation had the preowned specialty, with older systems, wide selection, and had a gamers store feel to the place because of this. Thanks to Game Group, the stores are just Game under different branding.

Yup, in Wigan all we had was Game or Dixons/Comet/Curries all these have gone now to the retail park 2 miles away (did have EB but that didnt last long and a independent one and 2 market stalls both went about 10 years ago) Game was the place to go really, the store was great, able to play on units, they even had tvs up with game trails etc. now its just massive walls of pre order games, trade in offers and preowned games and about top 10 brand new games chart, every time I have gone it, its felt like I am the only person in the store.

 

[Lukewhitworth]

I will not miss GAME at all, I buy my games online.

 

[cheets64]

Losing game could have an impact on the online and supermarkets, they know they have lost the biggest threat so can now charge what they want.

 

[Robbo]

Losing game could have an impact on the online and supermarkets, they know they have lost the biggest threat so can now charge what they want.

Not really. The biggest threat to the supermarkets are the other supermarkets, they are always undercutting each other.

 

[Mark1989]

Now i dont use GAME anymore for varius reasons unless as ive said in other threads they have an exclusive edition but even i dont want to see them go as imo it would have massive impact on the whole gaming communtiy and devs them selves,

Though they need to cut down there shops amount they have and wer ethey have them is just stupid and then sort pricing out they insist or seem to nly stick to RRP least online shops and some retail shops knock a bit off they dont seem to

 

[ps3ud0]

Losing game could have an impact on the online and supermarkets, they know they have lost the biggest threat so can now charge what they want.

It will have absolutely zero effect online - they were generally the most expensive looking at dedicated online gaming stores.

No doubt someone else will pay to get the 'GAME exclusive' pre-order bonuses from publishers

ps3ud0

 

[Gideon Lorr]

Well I doubt when Game goes under it will fully die. It is the cockroach of the industry. It still accounts for a significant percentage (10-20% I believe) of sales in the UK. Investment firms/competitors such as Gamestop will not miss at the chance to purchase part/all of the Game Group, either once administrators have restructured it, or they'll do all/further restructuring themselves.

There is certainly a lot of elements too it. Brands themselves, Game/GS stores, the website operations, and the overseas Game business in Europe and OZ. There is no way most of that will be left to disappear into business history.

Though say Gamestop could buy out a lot of it and would probably rebrand to its name, I expect most other buyers would prefer to keep the brand(s) due to its high profile in the UK, and go for the 'under new management' restructure approach.

And as an aside, I'm amazed that the DSG group and Comet have took so long to realize that for them the games market is not worth it. They can't compete with anyone online or highstreet over anything. Price? No. Selection? No. Preowned? No. Service? No. They should have pulled out years back, or just stuck simply to selling console hardware bundles to clueless parents.

 

[Strife212]

they even had tvs up with game trails etc.

Oh yeah, now you mention it, they are gone now. Weird.

 

[Nexus]

It will have absolutely zero effect online - they were generally the most expensive looking at dedicated online gaming stores.

This past Xmas already proved the opposite.

Game group did their advent calendar sale, at which all the other retailers including Amazon then dropped their prices to match that of Game. Had they not done, there wouldn't have been the crazy price drops on brand new games.

I just fail to see how people think Game going under means nothing, while I don't shop there, neither do many on here, it has an important place on the high street. Less competition is never good for the consumer.

 

[TheVoice]

And as an aside, I'm amazed that the DSG group and Comet have took so long to realize that for them the games market is not worth it. They can't compete with anyone online or highstreet over anything. Price? No. Selection? No. Preowned? No. Service? No. They should have pulled out years back, or just stuck simply to selling console hardware bundles to clueless parents.

I was in Comet yesterday, they had Battlefield 3 on 360 for £49.99. Then even had one of the old white Xbox media remotes on 'clearance' for £14.99, when everywhere else has the new black one for about £10.

 

[Gideon Lorr]

Exactly what I mean. Those stores stock way to much gaming gear. Keep it simple: hardware, hardware bundles, and maybe controllers and the top ten games. Problem is, as the range gets bigger, they end up with more stock difficult to shift, and have to use fire sales to get rid of it. Case in point: Yakuza 4 was £4.97 in DSG stores two weeks ago. Pretty obscure game for the likes of Currys, don't know why they were stocking it!

Hardware can be sold more easily, as the customers in there are more likely to be looking for a 'big ticket item' like that, rather than a more specialist thing such as a specific game. They have Game/online stores for that.

 

[dokko]

Not really. The biggest threat to the supermarkets are the other supermarkets, they are always undercutting each other.

Apart from launch day for key titles supermarkets charge even more than GAME.

 

[Robbo]

Apart from launch day for key titles supermarkets charge even more than GAME.

Actually, they don't always.

I've managed to get the last two FIFA games and a handful of others for £25~ (instead of £35+) from the supermarkets at launch.

GAME tend to have more stock so the people who miss out go to them, it's why they keep the price higher.

 

[Strife212]

You're lucky if any of the supermarkets here even have stock on launch day, certainly not at midnight, they seem clueless when it comes to games.

 

[Robbo]

You're lucky if any of the supermarkets here even have stock on launch day, certainly not at midnight, they seem clueless when it comes to games.

All of the supermarket midnight launches I've been to have been fine. If the game isn't on the shelves you can just ask them to go and find it, they are normally delivered a few days beforehand.

 

[ps3ud0]

This past Xmas already proved the opposite.

Game group did their advent calendar sale, at which all the other retailers including Amazon then dropped their prices to match that of Game. Had they not done, there wouldn't have been the crazy price drops on brand new games.

I just fail to see how people think Game going under means nothing, while I don't shop there, neither do many on here, it has an important place on the high street. Less competition is never good for the consumer.

Not really I doubt spot sales make that much of a difference and Amazon are well known to price match a lot of its competitors so GAME in that respect isnt that special. To think of it as a driving force in games retail seems laughable...

GAME going is a neither a good/bad thing, as I really dont think it does anything to aid competition, as to think that would infer its was a competitor 365 days of the year which it rarely is whenever Ive looked at their web site or even gone into their stores (rarely go in-store nowadays and if I ever buy a game in a shop its a supermarket)...

GAMEs business plan was so far off the mark and alienated those mainstream gamers with their pricing, sales tactics and movement to effectively ripping people off when it came to buying/selling second hand games has left it with a stigma I doubt it will ever get rid of. I wouldnt be surprised if its non-gamers that actually shop there (parents/relatives of gamers)

ps3ud0

 

[Strife212]

You're lucky if any of the supermarkets here even have stock on launch day, certainly not at midnight, they seem clueless when it comes to games.

All of the supermarket midnight launches I've been to have been fine. If the game isn't on the shelves you can just ask them to go and find it, they are normally delivered a few days beforehand.

Yeah just saying in this area they seem pretty poor. Although I haven't been to one for a while to be fair, I guess they have improved now that gaming is getting bigger.

 

[Vonhelmet]

I was in Comet yesterday, they had Battlefield 3 on 360 for £49.99. Then even had one of the old white Xbox media remotes on 'clearance' for £14.99, when everywhere else has the new black one for about £10.

Which fits with their business model of selling high margin accessories with low margin expensive goods...