GAME/Gamestation in trouble?

[Dark Sky]

After three people had got their heads together for a few minutes, they couldn't sell it to me because Gamestation weren't competitors. Well done you guys!

Ha!  They couldn't sell it you for the price sold by another store in the same company?  Amazing.

[MojoJojo]

I wonder if this is a Borders type problem, with them not making enough money to pay the rent, and how much it's the publishers calling their bluff over second-hand sales? I always got the impression they were profitable, but it's probably a bit of both.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Last thing I bought from Game was the playing guide for Dark Souls. I'm sure they'd priced them up wrong, because it is a hefty 300+ page, hardback tome, and it was only £15. Cheaper than anywhere online at the time, and they were also pretty hard to get hold of with some going for nearly £30 on auction on eBay. So it's not always a case of online being cheaper, but admittedly these occasions are rare.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

The amalgamation of these dudes didn't help:



For example, in Hull there are still two Game stores within 100 metres of each other.

[Neil]

GAME are the overpriced, default, games shop, every one I've been in has had a mix of gnat-like employees who won't leave you the fuck alone or couldn't-give-a-fuck bods who stare blankly at the opposite wall occasionally moving their hands sideways on the off chance there'll be a box between them. Which I could forgive if they didn't take the piss with their prices, which they do, and so I cannot.

'Ha ha' I think is the right phrase for this, they won't be missed.

Anything else you want sir? A memory card? Joystick? Charger? Any pre-orders? Would you like to be vaguely threatened about stocks constantly running out if you're too much of a cunt to pre-order? Would you like to be shown a selection of goods you can also buy - and be pestered with fucking catalogues to look at - when you're a dedicated enough customer to be stood outside waiting for a midnight fucking opening?

Pre-order the new handheld games system sir? Oh go on, you cheap prick.

REDUNDANCY SOON.

[NoSleep]

Perhaps all the double shops in high streets will be culled down to one per town.

Regarding the pestering staff: I bet this is a cunty directive from above to crush the souls of the people working at these outlets; to make them feel that they can never do enough to earn their keep.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Regarding the pestering staff: I bet this is a cunty directive from above to crush the souls of the people working at these outlets; to make them feel that they can never do enough to earn their keep.

Yep, and they'll be using mystery shoppers, so if the staff don't attempt to upsell to every customer they serve there's a good chance they'll get caught out and receive warnings and ultimately get fired.

[Famous Mortimer]

I'm kind of baffled that Game have kept Gamestation stores open as long as they have - my fairly small town, along with lots of CaBbers, has a Game and a Gamestation within a few hundred yards of each other. And a Grainger Games and a CeX on the street between the two.

The more choking the games companies do on the second-hand market, the more these shops are going to die out...and, I suppose, the games companies will lose out on people doing impulse shopping, or whatever. Ah well. Steam it is.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Two people I know have just quit working at Game after a couple of months due to their treatment by the managers and the store policies about asking a zillion questions to customers, and just the working conditions full stop. How do you make working a steady retail job at a computer game store unbearable?

However they just sold me a preowned 60gig 360 for £70 so I'm not complaining. Until even the slightest thing goes wrong.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Dear {firstName}

This email confirms the cancellation of the following items:

....fuck sake.

jinxed it.

[Ignatius_S]

Slight tangent, but when Game wanted to acquire Gamestation, the Monopoly and Mergers Commission allowed it through because it said due to online sales, the deal wouldn't give Game a monopoly. The M&MC did mention Blockbuster (as a games seller), but said their influence was neither here or there.

Has anyone used supermarket for trade-ins? Although I've heard the odd bit of good feedback, most reports haven't been positive and there was a MCV article about this recently.

I wonder if this is a Borders type problem, with them not making enough money to pay the rent, and how much it's the publishers calling their bluff over second-hand sales? I always got the impression they were profitable, but it's probably a bit of both.

According to the last published reports, Game owed £295 million to suppliers as of the end of January. There was a deal struck last month with the banks and suppliers to help Game keep trading (much in the same way as HMV has recently done) and the company was meant to be settling bills within 30 days.

The last Christmas trading wasn't good – trading was 15% down from the year previously and prices were down. For the year, it made a £18 million loss.

Rent certainly wouldn't have helped and it's questionable that it should have kept so many shops (especially the overseas one). However, it's increasingly doubtful that any business plan to sell games in a dedicated bricks and mortar store would work – in any country.

A major problem is comparative shopping – it's so easy to check who is offering the best price for what were.  For shoppers where price is less of an issue and will buy a physical copy, supermarkets will be the main source - convenience, not price, will be their selling point.

I'm kind of baffled that Game have kept Gamestation stores open as long as they have - my fairly small town, along with lots of CaBbers, has a Game and a Gamestation within a few hundred yards of each other. And a Grainger Games and a CeX on the street between the two...

Yeah, I've no idea how that works – with the stores closest to me, there is a Game, Gamestation and another Game all within five minutes of each other (plus a CeX). There was also another Game within spitting distance in the form of department store concession (which might still be there).

[glitch]

Spent all my GAME points last night on Dead Island for the 360 and FUSE and Dawn of War 2 for the PC.

Quite a few people in the queue had a similar idea.

Supposedly their share price is down 90% compared to last year, someone just sold off 5.7 million shares. Sony products currently have labels on them saying "on loan from Sony Entertainment, do not remove until sale is finalised".

Interesting article by Eurogamer about game shopping in a post-GAME UK.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I've fucked GAME off for my 360 after my order got cancelled because the item didn't exist, their shitty website just said it did and their shitty website was fucking wrong, that or they are fucking cunts who don't want to pay to have it delivered from far away.

I got a fucking 120gig Elite for the same price at Cash Generator. It's on its way right now.

At least I know that the item actually exists- in fact I even know the address of the store its at, the number of that store and will be able to speak to the actual people responsible if I need to.

I think this is better and GAME are a big pile of shits.

[Subtle Mocking]

Here in Stockport there's a Game and a Gamestation right fucking next to each other. WHAT IS POINT?

Doesn't help that we also have CeX across the road and Grainger Games around the corner. There's also a Game within Comet about a minute up the road. It's just throwing money away.

[glitch]

[Goldentony]

I was in a CEX once as some innocent enough girl wandered in with her CV in hand hopeful that they might even consider it or take a look at it in troubling times like this. She walks out of the shop, and one of the employees hands the CV over to the manager. The guy glances at it for a second, and says at the top of his lungs "THE FUCKING SHITE PEOPLE GIVE US" and throws it in the bin. If these places are being ran by twats like this then fuck them.

Also - Gamestation had Dead Island new for 48 quid last year, which has to be the priciest non special edition non exclusive DLC type bare bones game i've seen in many many years. We were also lied to by an employee about the second hand section for reasons I cant remember, i'll have to get back to you. One of them once told me LA Noire was amazing too which has to be the twattiest act EVER.

[Desi Dubs Dallas]

The amalgamation of these dudes didn't help:



For example, in Hull there are still two Game stores within 100 metres of each other.

Especially as EB were miles better in terms of range, i was trying to pinpoint the point my local games store jumped the shark,and that would be it

[Dark Sky]

I was in a CEX once as some innocent enough girl wandered in with her CV in hand hopeful that they might even consider it or take a look at it in troubling times like this. She walks out of the shop, and one of the employees hands the CV over to the manager. The guy glances at it for a second, and says at the top of his lungs "THE FUCKING SHITE PEOPLE GIVE US" and throws it in the bin. If these places are being ran by twats like this then fuck them.

I believe to work in CEX you have to have zero interest in good customer service and absolutely no knowledge of how the discs-in-cardboard-sleeves system operates.

[Viero_Berlotti]

In my experience the CEX stores seem to exclusively employ embittered, comic-book guy types. Their 2nd hand selling prices are slightly better than Game and Gamestation though.

[The Region Legion]

Popped into Game today looking to shift my £5.something of reward points and found their PC section so hilariously overpriced I immediately took my leave. Crysis 2 for £20 - on the website it's £12.99 (although that's a lie because when you go to check out they add the VAT at the end! What kind of cheap shot is that?!). They also had, at the same price, SUPER MEAT BOY. But it was a special edition with er... a comic book.. and er... something else. They were 2 for £30 though! So it's OK right!? No.

When did this happen anyway? GAME used to be my one stop shop and the reason was that the prices were never that much more compared to an online order, and anyway it meant you had it that day rather than wait for the sake of saving a pound or two. Release date for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and San Andreas - down the GAME, no pre-order necessary because they bought that many in. Great pre-owned section, excellent choices for just 2 for £15, sometimes 2 for £10 would net something good. And this was the fucking Epsom branch for fucks sake. Then I go live in Europe for a bit and suddenly they're expecting £20 for little more than a flash game that's regularly available for £4, albeit a good one.

Oh well Game.. I'll always remember you, but it's your own fault for buying the competition and then continuing to run it as competition against your own stores you stupid fucking pricks.

[Neil]

I just KNOW they're going to charge me 43 quid for SSX in the morning. I'll be tempted to gloat about their impending doom to the poor, feckless, pestering staff.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Perhaps all the double shops in high streets will be culled down to one per town.

Regarding the pestering staff: I bet this is a cunty directive from above to crush the souls of the people working at these outlets; to make them feel that they can never do enough to earn their keep.

Yeah, they won't have any choice in the matter. When I worked at Blockbusters one summer 101 Dalmatians had just been rereleased, and every phone call had to begin with a 30 second spiel advertising the bloody thing. The manager used to call every once in a while (from his office, whilst normally watching dvds and fuck all else) just to check we were doing it.

[Famous Mortimer]

The online / in store price difference for shops like this is the thing that baffles me. I appreciate there are differences in the costs for both, but it's like they're daring you not to walk into their actual shops and browse.

[Dark Sky]

The online / in store price difference for shops like this is the thing that baffles me. I appreciate there are differences in the costs for both, but it's like they're daring you not to walk into their actual shops and browse.

At one point whilst I was working at Waterstone's they installed terminals where you could, in store, browse the Waterstone's website, see just how much cheaper it would be to order a book from it, and then walk out.  Some people used it as grounds to get furiously angry about the in-store pricing being more expensive than on the website.  One guy came up to the desk, said, "I've just paid for this book on your website, and have asked for it to be delivered to your store, so I'm just going to take this copy home with me now."  Then kicked up such a fuss over it, the manager let him do it.

[Thursday]

I've just remembered the days of looking through magazines for the phone order games companies that were always cheaper than high street stores. Gameplay and Play Now I think were some of the one's I regularly used. Then Gameplay made a brief flirtation with being a high street store, but they had to put up their prices to compensate for going on the high street which defeated the whole point of them and so they soon shut down.

I've found GAME employees a lot less pestering lately, maybe they've realized it just pisses everyone off and noticed that anyone who regularly shops, desperately tries to avoid making eye contact and giving them a wide berth as they go in the store.

By the way, not to do with GAME, but what happened to Waterstones and HMV having electronic systems where customers could check their in-store stock? They seemed to have them for a little while and then stopped and I'm not quite sure why.

[micanio]

Just went into Gamestation to get SSX and thought I would trade some games to see what I could get for them. Traded in AC:Revelations, MW3, FIFA12, SR3, Deus Ex and LA Noire and got £100 to spend in store. Got SSX, Zelda:SS and a couple of Wii games for the kids. Bargain.

[NoSleep]

High streets are generally quite a bleak adventure these days, not just for video games. The number of stores closing down and shops remaining empty has increased in the last 5-6 years.

Once I got wise to buying stuff online I abandoned shopping for almost everything except food, which means I wasn't browsing the high streets and malls anymore, so there was less chance of something catching my eye resulting in a purchase. When you buy online you can find precisely what you want and find who's giving the best deal and p&p, not to mention good s/h options.

I guess Waterstones, Game etc know they have to compete online to be part of this growing market, but are reliant on there still being a (steadily aging) number of people prepared to pay the rent on their shops. Video games (and books to a lesser degree) are sure to be early victims as there is a strong pull to have an internet connection for these interests and so the contradictory pricing becomes immediately obvious.

[madhair60]

I just KNOW they're going to charge me 43 quid for SSX in the morning. I'll be tempted to gloat about their impending doom to the poor, feckless, pestering staff.

I figure that you're being intentionally provocative here (to stimulate discussion rather than be a cunt, I hasten to add), but people losing their jobs isn't something to gloat over, even if they are mildly annoying in an impersonal way.

[Viero_Berlotti]

High streets are generally quite a bleak adventure these days, not just for video games. The number of stores closing down and shops remaining empty has increased in the last 5-6 years.

The baffling thing is that landlords don't seem to be willing to budge on rents, but the landlords still have to pay rates on these empty units, which averages about £5-6k per month per unit. So it doesn't make sense that the landlords aren't willing to cut any slack for retailers, because an empty unit isn't just not making them money it is actively costing them money while it sits empty.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Just shows you how much these arseholes own.