GAME Store closures now a Reality

Boosty from DailyJoystick writes: "Following on from earlier reports over at Kotaku which reported that specialist games retailer GAME has laid off up to twenty people, including executives and was planning to close a number of stores may now indeed be a reality"

[fitpower]

Too much hassle.

[Fishy Fingers]

More overheads mean higher prices. People are clued up these days, why pay more whn you can have it delievered on launch day (or before) for less.

[Substance101]

Went steam 3 years back, havent bought a game from retail ever since. Aside the Starcraft 2 i bought last month.

DD is just more convienient and cheaper. Steam discounts are insane. got over 90 games on Steam now, and some more on other services. I got no idea where i would keep all those packagings had i bought hard copies. I would end up throwing them away due to lack of space.

[WhittO]

Game are a total sh*te shop!

You can get the same games for like £20+ less from Amazon.

[LoVeRSaMa]

The problem is, I can games games from either play.com or shopto.net for about £10 - £15 cheaper, I don't have to leave my house/work (or use my weekends to go shopping), if I pre order I get it a day early (normally) and standard delivery is 1 - 2 days max.

[BeOneWithTheGun]

GameFly is the way to go. I spend $30 a month and have 3 games out at any given time. 1 360 game, 1 PS3 game and a what I call "tester game" (One that I am unsure of but want to try it out).

For PC gaming, Steam, obviously.

The only thing I buy at physical stores is the actual console. I buy them from Best Buy with the 2-year replacement plan. Anything goes wrong with the unit, I have a sealed, brand new one in about 30 minutes.

[Scotracer]

Yeah, its certainly easy to say that and to be honest theres truth to your comment. Its a shame though as its always been fun to walk in a store to feel and touch and see the boxes, and covers of the games etc, online is good but sometimes can let you down.

[JohnApocalypse]

I always prefer to go into a store and buy a videogame there then to buy it online

[nackno]

I love to go to the store and actually hold the case before I pay for it. Standing in the line looking at the case and then running home to play instead of paying and waiting for a few days before it gets to me. It´s a ritual =)

[Calm Down Sunshine]

I believe they're closing a few stores to cut down on their store overlap.

[ChronoJoe]

they fired just 20 members of staff? that's like one store...

Plus they own gamestation, it's probably something to do with gamestation being much more popular, and under there ownership. In Worcester, the town I'm in (y'know worcestershire sauce right) they have the gamestation, and game store right next to eachother, with the same products on sale. So redundant, to say the least.

[Akagi]

Only thing these stores are good for is getting a rare gem. Like, for example, I got ALL Resident Evils on Gamecube for less than £20, and they were all sealed. Still got them, in fact.

[ChronoJoe]

I prefer to deal with physical stores because for me it's faster.

For example say my PS3 breaks... I can walk up the road, and they'll swap it for a new one so long as it's under warranty with there store. If you ordered yours online... then you have to ship it out.

In the same way, if you simply DONT LIKE, a game, bought new or used, gamestation will let you return it for full credit, and you can then get another game. You can do this up to 2 times on one purchase.

[iamgoatman]

My nearest Game is in Hereford, and theres a Gamestation on the other side of the street.

I generally prefer the Game store because of their 2 for £10 deals on older games, plus the staff tend to leave you alone. Although the staff at Gamestation seem more like actual gamers, they're so stuck up it's quite off putting.

But still, having 2 outlets in one place has it's advantages, sometimes you can pick up a used game a lot cheaper from one than other, normally because a trainee has gone mad with a pricing gun.

[ian72]

Where I live (Barnsley, South Yorkshire) we have a GAME and Gamestation only 100 yards/meters apart from each other. I only buy used games from those shops. My new games come from big supermarkets like Asda and Tesco, I can get new games from there for a lot cheaper. Tesco are now doing used games so I'll probably never go to those game shops again. Not suprised they are shutting those shops due to the high price of new games.

[iamgoatman]

The problem is that GAME and Gamestation or any brick and mortar store have to pay rent etc which in turn keeps the prices of games high, and now that super markets know certain games can be big sellers, they can afford to considerably undercut other retailers so people buy there instead.

Just look at when MW2 released, GAME was selling it for around £45 on launch day, whereas the likes of Tescos or Morrisons were selling it for as little as £26, and as a result the game was selling out very quickly.

[bigrob123]

prefer going to gamestation than game, allways have better deals on 2nd hand games

[Scotracer]

I hope personally that they consolidate the stores and cut down, save on overheads and staff, and can begin to be a bit more competitive again. Then again, will they ever be able to match the online stores and their lack of overheads and staff etc? I think Bricks n Mortar stores are on their way out. Once games go digital distribution, it will be all but over.

[Kurt Russell]

They better not go digital distribution :(

As for shops... They can close no worries - I buy online, but I still want a hard copy of my purchase.

[riksweeney]

I still want brick and mortar stores so that I can trade in my games when I'm done though.

That said, GAME is quite shocking for trade in prices.

[FuckinUsername]

To be fair.. gamestation is far better than GAME.

better service, better prices, better deals, better logo, better stores, better atmosphere.

[tigertron]

Its the same company.

Anyway I feel sorry for the employees of the stores which are closing, but I won't miss the GAME store in my town if it closes. Not only is it right by next to Gamestation, but I don't go there anyway. I tend to buy my games from ASDA or Amazon. They're both far cheaper than GAME and its stupid that they expect customers to pay extra.

[FuckinUsername]

I know its the same company.. but.. still gamestation has always been the better one, imo

[EL Lanf]

I used to think so, but these days, I don't think theres much difference between the two. I think Gamestation used to be cheaper, but these days the prices are mostly the same.

That said, the staff in gamestation seem to be more gamers, and more educated about games, and laid-back, whilst GAME seems to be full of these corporate drones salesmen. So about the atmosphere, yeah, you have a point. Plus the colour scheme is garish.

TBH, I don't use either in anymore, in favour of steam and amazon, they're just so much more cheaper. Though ASDA sometimes does have the occasional good deal, as do some of the other supermarkets, but to a lesser extent.

[FuckinUsername]

Its better going into a shop and being able to have a deccent conversation with a member of the staff, instead of them trying to continously force you into buying stuff.

All stores (Asda,Saisburys,Tesco) have the odd game cheaper (MW2 was like 28 quid on launch night) which they can afford to do, because their big supermarkets.

[PainisCupcake]

Well they shouldn't have so many bloody stores within walkng distance of each other should they, just as bad as bloody starbucks

[redsquad]

'Real' stores just can't compete with online sales these days - Sad that people will lose their jobs, but it's inevitable.

[LolololRumz]

Ahh doesn't make a difference to me, Gamestation used to be great where I live til it became an exact copy of GAME and stopped stocking retro games. Even worse it the trade in prices..I got offered £6 for Uncharted 2 Limited Edition, went to HMV and got offered £18

[SlickShoes]

Shame people are losing there jobs but the main problems here is GAME's saturation of the market.

Where i work right now im walking distance from 2 GAME stores and 2 Gamestations.

GAME got greedy and they have just opened too many stores, throw in the fact that digital distribution is becoming more popular and it was inevitable that they would finally have to start closing stores.

[FuturePerfect]

Where will i go and buy my over priced games from now on?(i am not surprised they are closing, what a RIP-OFF that place is)

[Scotracer]

You can always try EB Games.

[SlickShoes]

Where i live GAME bought over all the EB games stores about 10 years ago haha

[Independent_Charles]

exactly the same lol electronic beutics or what ever it was called was a rip off shop same as game. both suck. i mean come on dragon ballz raging blast £54.95!!!! THEY CAN GO SHOVE IT!!!

[jack_burt0n]

hut group ftw wait for the 10% codes and cheap games all year round.

[Lucreto]

Where do you get these codes? I remember you giving a code just before Uncharted 2 went up on pre-order on GAME. I got the collectors edition cheaper than the normal price all thanks to you.

[Lucreto]

I use GAMEs online store as they are cheaper due to the rubbish conversation rate on Play.com. The only complaint is they don't delivery to Ireland anything over 1kg. HMV is cheaper delivery and they get DHL to deliver the bigger games for £2.50.

[pcz]

when i visit the store they never have the games i am looking for.

yes they were obscure games, but they were new releases. its a specialist GAME shop, you would expect them to have all new releases in stock. they hadn't even heard of Fragile Dreams when i asked for it :/

so the employers aren't even in the know about what they are selling, or the industry in general.

so good riddance to them, absolutely no use whatsoever.

[stuntman_mike]

the gamestation near me looks like the pikeys have moved in, game cases on the floor and it smells like a wet dog in there.

if they do get rid of the GAME shops i wont have the need to leave the house at all now....RESULT.

lol

[iamgoatman]

Wouldn't happen to be the one in Hereford? Because that's basically what it's like in there as well, although normally it's Wii games on the floor, which is understandable.

[stuntman_mike]

nah mate east london, to top it off they even have a caravan parked round the back. well dodgy.

[Revvin]

Its a bad time for anyone to lose their job so I feel sorry for the staff. GAME has expanded rapidly over the last few years and finds itself with too many overlapping stores when they bought Gamestation. I've not always been fond of GAME as I've had a few bad experiences including a heated argument with a manager who refused to exchange my RROD 360 a few years ago at the height of the problem.

GAME expanded rapidly in retail just when digital distribution was starting and while they have online stores for their GAME, Gamestation and Gameplay outlets they still often get undercut by the likes of Amazon.

I feel sorry for the staff but not GAME as a company as I saw many of the small independants in area's I've lived close down once GAME came to their area's - sometimes opening up shops next door or just doors away to put the pinch on them. Only when the supermarket chains undercut them on occassional big releases like FIFA or Call of Duty did GAME feel the heat like they put on those small independants. There have been instances where GAME have sent their staff to these supermarkets to buy up the cheap stock and re-sell it at their own price.

If I'm buying for my PC I'll usually look on Steam first but if its for my PS3 or 360 I'll buy online. I do sometimes drop into GAME and my local Gamestation but my local one seems to have lost the friendly gamer orientated staff and replaced them with sales-bots only interested in foisting a used version of a game on you.

[Recon73]

As others have said eventually everything will go to digital distribution. The days of brick and mortar stores will be the thing of the past.

[stuntman_mike]

soon there will be no outside....