Gaming The GAME Group: is there any hope left?

As more publishers pull their support, the days of The GAME Group are looking increasingly numbered...

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2012/03/16/gamegroupadmin/1

 

If there games where abit cheaper they would get the support they need, but they screwed over pc gamers years ago in favour of the consoles cashcows. So i say let them burn, I feel sorry for the people working for them as it's they who will really pay the price for games greed.

 

Sadly, as a mainly PC gamer, I tend to agree with the above sentiment. Although I find Gamestation to be a better venue so I'll miss them more than I'll miss Game if it does end in closure.
Their prices tended to be a little too high for my liking and I ended up simply scanning the Game shops in my area just looking for bargins. Downloading games isn't a realistic option for me due to my pathetic broadband speed so my feelings are a bit mixed about another actual shop probably going under, even if there were a bit rubbish.

 

Game followed a successful business model that went out of date. They failed to adapt quickly enough and the consequences are deadly. Unlike the copyright industry, they didn't have enough money to bribe politicians into protecting their old business plan so they have had to face the full reality of how the internet has changed the world.

It's a shame because unlike the overly affluent workers within the non-creative side of the copyright industry, Game and Gamestation stores are filled with low wage staff doing the best they can to scrape a living. It seems new laws to protect income are only for wealthy American businessmen. Instead, thousands of young British workers may be consigned to the scrapheap.

In truth I don't believe in protectionism but it does sicken me to see the creative industries being rewarded for failing to move with market forces while other companies are left to the wolves.

On a brighter note, there are supposedly two buyers in negotiation with Game apart from Gamestop (Walmart is one) and business analysts see the possibility of good profits in the business for the next 5-10 years. With a bit of luck a good percentage of those young workers may keep their jobs yet.

 

I hope they find a buyer, I am rather fond of my local gamestation although I dont spend much there anymore (probably 150 in the past couple of years including the Skyrim collectors edition) .

It always has a healthy preowned pc section that doesn't just seem to be made up of the football manager back catalog. Infact about half to two thirds of my "physical" game collection is constituted of preowned bits that I've picked up there either out of seeing something I never got round to buying or nostalgia (psychonauts for 50p? Yes please) . Not to mention the number of times I've lost a manual/cd key or had to replace a scratched disk, gone in there and found what I need for 99p.

Also, the staff aren't the usual useless kids, they are friendly, mature,professional, all seem to have pc as their platform of choice and always willing to partake in game dev related rants, muse on the release date of ep3, discuss LoL builds and the such so I usually pop in for a rummage and chin wag if I'm in town.

Couldn't care less about the company itself but it would be a shame for some really nice guys to lose their jobs.

 

I speak as a loyal GAME customer for many years, and would be sad to see them go but it needs saying that this situation is entirely of their own making.

When they choose to fill the shelves with hundreds of display boxes for the latest MOH/COD/BF on launch day ignoring other more interesting titles there is little to separate them from the likes of Tesco, box shifting in bulk. Many many occasions I have gone into the GAME shop on launch day for a title only to find they never even got any in stock or they are still in a box in the back, not on display on launch day.
If they can't even be arsed to display launch day titles on the shop floor beyond the latest AAA title then they chose to lose focus of what they stand for, that being a supposed specialist retailer.
Factor in the multiple stores they have on the same high streets within minutes walk of each other and it tells me that the GAME management are massive bell-ends who have destroyed the brand because they do not know what they are doing.

 

Almost all the Game stores in Portugal have already closed.

 

Disappointed to see nobody has posted "Game Over" yet. Standards people.

 

"Game Over"

Happy now?

 

Lamestation. Oh LOL

 

It sounds to me that Game has a lot of potential buyers ready to scoop up a good bargain to a sadly failed franchise. I just hope the vultures that pick up the pieces of what's left give us more than just a shell of Games former glory.

 

Wot he said.

But...

I don't think they could have adapted. The whole industry is shifting away from bricks & mortar stores; first to online sales and now digital distribution.

Goodbye game. I do hope those still working there know what they are going to do when they turn up one day and find the doors locked!

 

To the OP..


... NO.

 

Adapt or perish......and that has a double meaning.

For those wondering about the price of ganes, tesco, asda, hmv, currys (amazing pricing atm) and amazon are more than enough for physical media needs

 

Al of this strikes to me of the gaming industry giving GAME a hammering in part to second hand sales, and also a desire to kill off the high street and effective competition so they can sell all their games online through their own channels, at whatever cost they feel like.

The above is only really applicable for console games, but i also assume that GAME didn't sell alot of PC games, i might be wrong (i use Amazon and Steam).

 

Game never did me any favours regarding good prices, they were just too commercial, if that makes sense and didnt care much for their consumers, merley their profits,which was wnat striked me in the early years. Online retailers and gamestop would always offer a better deal.

good ridance, can only improve prices and better competition I guess, but ALL game stores are overstaffed anyways, so survival could have been increased if the proper personell strategies were implemented

 

I have only ever bought games in a Game store when pushed for time picking up a present for someone.

 

yes they ok when last resort, but thats what a last resort is lol

 

We'll have to hope that it goes like the Thresher's and Oddbins administrations, where there were loads of other wine sellers around that wanted either the brand name(s) or more importantly the branches with staff, so not everyone ended up unemployed.

We'll just have to come back here a week on Monday to find out which buyer wants which part of the company, hopefully they'll all want to fire the management to start with.

 

Well the blame for the most part lies with their pricing/finance staff for sure, the marketing after that and onto regional store management. Yes though get rid of all the so called big dogs first. Theres alot of money saved there