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News GAME Group struggles under financial pressure

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by brumgrunt, 2 Feb 2012.

  1. brumgrunt

    brumgrunt What's a Dremel?

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  2. K404

    K404 It IS cold and it IS fast

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    I don't buy from Game because the PC section is now a single 4ft wide racking section, but I do like seeing it in the high street.
     
  3. XXAOSICXX

    XXAOSICXX Minimodder

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    Ditto.

    Lets just wait for them to blame piracy for their demise - I'm sure it won't be their failure to get in on digital distribution early enough.
     
  4. damien c

    damien c Mad FPS Gamer

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    Oh what a shame this now mean's I will continue having to buy my games from a cd key site I use and then download the disc for it.

    While it is sad to see and hear about this and potentially that, could mean people may loose there job's I have to say I am sorry about that I honestly cannot see it getting any better.

    Thing for me quite simply is the cost and the lack of choice of games for pc gamers, which is why I use a key site because the games are cheaper than Steam and Origin but if the stores had a wider selection and were cheaper than, Steam and Origin then I would buy from them.

    The problem is there prices and the situation in the country at the moment, is causing people to not buy the games as often and the lack of good games cause people not to buy them as well.

    I hope they turn it around because for some people simply buying a key and downloading the game is not possible due to there broadband connection being to slow, so they need to go and buy the games from a store so they have the disc's to avoid the day long wait to download the game from Steam or Xbox Live or PSN.

    I bought a extra copy of MW3 from Game because I needed the disc's because it was taking 12 hours to download it from Steam, so I bought the game again so I had the disc's and it took around 20 minutes to install it, I bought some games from the Xbox Live market place and it took nearly 6 hours for each game to download, but when I download a game from Origin it's done in 10 minutes and I am on 100Mb down and 10Mb up so it's not my connection, it's the servers that are used to store the content on and those services connection out to people.

    Let's just hope Game etc get some sales to turn this around.
     
  5. GaryP

    GaryP RIP Tel

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    I like hard copies of my games etc and GAME doesn't haver ba dprices, but as mentioned earlier. the 4ft of pc titles is a bit crap. Piracy will get the blame when realistically ever spirilling rents/ rates etc and allowing places like Tesco / Morrisons and Asdas to sell all the same stuff will see another name disappear off the high street.
     
  6. damien c

    damien c Mad FPS Gamer

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    Oh and not to mention you cannot buy pre-owned pc games anymore because they are all linked to Steam and Origin account's making them useless if you don't play the game, after buying it because it turns out you don't like the game because there was no demo/beta or the game wasn't the same as the demo/beta.

    Battlefield Bad Company 2, Battlefield 3 for me was a waste of money because they are unplayable because of issues I have with the game, and while they run perfectly fine it's the gameplay and a few other thing's I don't like about it, so I cannot go and sell the games making them available for others to buy cheaper.

    Piracy will get mentioned at some point and will be blamed for it, but that will only prove what people have been saying but not many believe in that console games are pirated as well as Game mainly only sell console games.
     
  7. r3loaded

    r3loaded Minimodder

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    Hey game, here's a tip - try stacking your tiny PC section with something other than endless Sims expansion packs and <insert humdrum activity> Simulator 2012. You might gain a few more sales from PC gamers especially if you undercut Steam when they're not running seasonal sales.

    Did I also mention we have more disposable income than console gamers? We certainly spend a lot on our hardware - try tapping our market!

    Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
     
  8. goldstar0011

    goldstar0011 Multimodder

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    GAME is a colsole dominated store and peolpe are always shopping around and buying 2nd hand, I remember the days when it had a massive PC section, those days are long gone, maybe they should expand to hardware and periphials

    Personally I just don't like the caliber of staff and feel in the shop, my local GAME is in the middle of a new shopping centre dominated with clothes shops, go further into town and I find CEX, Gamestation and a few other stores manned by staff who sem to know what a gamer wants and will happily sell me a £10 game if it makes me happy rather than push a £40 game I don't want
     
  9. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    The biggest shock to me came a few years back, when GAME Group bought Gamestation and decided not to sell retro gear any more: all the classic hardware (Game Boys, NESes, Mega Drives, Saturns, Game Gears, and even the occasional microcomputer or Vectrex-era system) and games were destroyed as stock write-off. As in: crushed and thrown into a skip.

    Makes you weep.
     
  10. suenstar

    suenstar Collector of Things

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    Our local GAME isn't that bad for the PC section, about 1/6 of the store is dedicated to PC games with an okay selection along with a thin wall section for accessories.
    Most of the store (about 3/6) is swamped by the pre-owned section though and I've never seen anyone buying anything but the really cheap pre-owned stuff.

    Prices aren't the worst out there, but they can't really compete with most online retailers being so easy to access... then there's the constant sales with services like Steam, GMG, GOG and Direct2Drive driving prices lower than they can afford to offer on physical copies.
     
  11. NuTech

    NuTech Minimodder

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    I have nothing but contempt for GAME as they're yet another UK entertainment cornerstone that failed miserably to innovate and move with the times, instead trying to take back market share by colluding/blackmailing publishers into giving them an unfair advantage (Space Marine being just one example that comes to mind).

    That being said, this is horrible news as GAME is a large source of youth employment that will most likely end up sharing the same fate as Blockbuster.

    It's a damn shame - gaming is such a fast growing and amazing form of entertainment but all the way from the developers to publishers, and now retailers (Steam/Amazon, I'm looking at you), it's now almost exclusively money that's leaving the country. And that's nobody's fault but our own.
     
  12. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

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    Pretty much every game I've bought from game I purchased because it was cheaper than anywhere else. Granted it may not be many games I've bought from them, but I did get Forza 4 and BF3 from them.

    I would much rather have a hard copy of my games, even it its just so I don't have to download them, my internet isn't the fastest, so its much easier to be able to install from disc.

    I don't go into the shops, not just Game, I don't go to any shops, :D
     
  13. LJF

    LJF Modded

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    I'm wondering if I should spend the £25 of Game gift vouchers I got for Christmas sooner rather than later. I was going to hold out and spend them on Mass Effect 3 but at this rate it might have gone under by then!!
     
  14. DK63

    DK63 Resident magpie

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    Was thinking pretty much the same thing!
     
  15. GeorgeK

    GeorgeK Swinging the banhammer Super Moderator

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    I'm surprised that this hasn't happened sooner - I regularly pop into game to (quickly) browse the (4ft wide) PC section and am always amazed by how high the prices are even for games that are months old. It also doesn't help them that the vast majority of their customers have access to a smartphone in their pockets where they can quickly compare prices online and see that even their sale prices are more expensive than regular online prices... I'm always doing that and the staff must be sick of seeing people pick up a game, get out their phone and then within a minute put the game back down and walk out again!
     
  16. K404

    K404 It IS cold and it IS fast

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    So... a 4-ft PC section isn't just a problem in Glasgow? :p

    It's almost reassuring.




    Almost.
     
  17. Fizzban

    Fizzban Man of Many Typos

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    I always get my preorders from Game's website, and I enjoy a quick wander around their shops when I've got time to kill while I'm out. It would be a real shame if this company were to close up.
     
  18. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    I like seeing it since I sometimes pop in if I'm walking past.
    But I haven't bought anything from one for a looooooong time.
    Even for console games they aren't great, since most are cheaper on amazon etc

    I'll be sad to see it go, but I'm not overly surprised
     
  19. Jim

    Jim Ineptimodder

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    I wouldn't hang about. Even if they don't go under, if they're struggling for finance they might end up in administration and your vouchers would become worthless.
     
  20. r3loaded

    r3loaded Minimodder

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    I do go into shops a lot - I just don't buy anything :D
     
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