GAME Group Share Prices Drop Over 90%

GAME Group, parent of GAME & gamestation, has had a bad trading year with share prices in the group falling by over 90% since November 2010.

Current share prices in the business stand 6.47pence/share. That’s a far cry from the year high of 109.60 pence/share.

Some analysts believe that the company will experience a loss of £10 million, which is horrible reading considering GAME Group had profits of over £17million last year.

Ian Shepard, Chief Executive of Game Group has said:

“The overall video games market remains very challenging, despite strong title launches, and our guidance today reflects the extraordinary economic times in which we are operating.

GAME has outperformed the market, reinforcing our position as market leader, and I am hugely proud of our teams… and we remain well placed to benefit in the medium term both from the next console cycle and the growth in digital and social gaming.”

This raises an interesting debate about the future of dedicated entertainment stores.

Can they compete with supermarkets and the internet? Or is the day fast approaching where entertainment stores will be a thing of the past?

Source: ProactiveInvestors / The Guardian

54 Comments

  1. Very High prices [new], high priced pre-owned stock and not much le-way in the price, with old titles only dropping a few pounds, i can see why they would lose custom.
    I have only shopped there once this year, all of my games have been online purchases, my friend brought a new game with them last year and the very next shop, it was £7 cheaper and vowed never to shop in GAME again.

  2. Good-bye Game and good god-damned riddance, idiotic fanboy kids behind the tills, outrageous pricing and a lack of decent PC games makes me very glad to see the back of them (eventually but come on, its inevitable) hopefully shops like cex will take their place.

    • CEX don’t sell new games though?

      • yeah, i didnt explain that properly :D, basically shops with the same kind of atmosphere and diversity in what they sell, besides all it takes is for a publisher to approach them with a deal to sell their games and they`ll stock em.

      • My cex sells new games! I bought move and sports champions there on release day.

      • Really? I’ve not seen a new game in there yet. Nor on their website…

      • Yes they do. Mine does.

    • Don’t forget it’s also Gamestation, so that will leave most towns without a shop at all.

    • Lol, my local CEX is absolutely awful and other ones I’ve been in make me feel like most of the staff are absolute c*nts

      • Lol – Don’t hold back Mike!! :O

        Also, my local CEX has a tendancy to be a touch on the stinky side.

      • i love CEX ! miss my old one back in the lovely borough of Harrow the atmosphere the games (premier manager 95!)… the memories. the local CEX i have now is terrible sadly.

      • Lol, I won’t ;) Most of them are moody arseholes if you ask me

    • I worked in a Game and out of Game, Gamestation and CEX, Game are the only one’s who hire people who aren’t uber-fanboy-supergeeks. Look at the dress code. Black shoes, black trousers, polo shirt. Look at GS and CEX, you can dress like a completely tramp and get away with it. And I’ve worked between two stores and not one of them has “fanyboy kids behind the tills”. They’re people doing a job.

      • Agree with you with people dressing like tramps at CEX. One person at my local looks like he’s just walked off the streets after sleeping rough.

  3. I haven’t been in a ‘dedicated game retailer” for about 2 years I think. Why on earth would I spend high street prices when I can have the item delivered direct to my door (often a day before release) for much cheaper?

    • I go in to browse and read blurbs when I’m really bored and in town, but i never buy..

  4. I went in there a few weeks ago and saw a Dual Shock 3 for £51.99. I think from that, the losses speak for themselves.

    • Haha, you’re lucky. They were £70 not too long ago.

    • apparently that’s because all sony’s stock got destroyed by flooding so they’ve jacked the price until they get a good stock again.

    • Yep, I saw the same so I bought one from shopto instead for 28. Made me laugh.

  5. Reading the posts above it seems the main reason folk don’t shop there is pricing. I haven’t bought anything from Game for over 2 years for that very reason, plus convenience.

    • Not just pricing, but the pressure selling too. I can’t stand Game stores, Gamestation are better. But I get all my hihghstreet purchases from Blockbuster, but knowing the staff and getting discounts helps!

  6. You know there’s a problem when the very helpful staff in my local game apologise profusely because they aren’t allowed to price match their own bloody website! Feel sorry for the staff because thier management couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery

    • That’s a very good point. The staff at my local Game have said before that they’d love to price match but were not allowed.

  7. I’ve only bought new games from Game after June, but I just traded in the 3DS to get some cash… Whoops sorry Game.. oh didn’t buy the 3DS with a lot of Money.. sorry

    ..but then its never been Mega-hyped games, just things like Gundam and Yakuza… wait.. Yakuza and MvsC 3 was bought in HMV, again sorry Game.

    Oh Skyrim! Sonic!…. oh again sorry Game, low number of pc games…. they’re bought in Steam now.

    riposa in pace

    • Actually should’ve… guessed and complained why game has been so bad for me, might be a bit messy…

      Game of Belfast, middle kingdom of the Great Seas of Ireland is more.. inclined to lessen the number of games on the shelves, PSP games are gone now then its no surprise since the closest store is a way too small to hold every platform.

      Can’t find many pc games unlike in Castlecourt which is ridculous since the City Centre Game is much, much bigger… even the prices and PC deals are half-arsed.

      Its quite funny because since Gamestop opened years ago its hardly changed. Its really dull to look for games now though very inconivent too since you’ll never get surprised by whats there like a rare game. They’re never happy in where Platforms are placed >.>

      IMO I’ve been using the internet more often since its easiler to look for that certain item but if Game wants to turn things around then they need to be more organised maybe even close more Stores which are so close to each other, like Castlecourt and the City Centre then focus less on family, its the whole reason the market could be on the decline I would believe.. The Wii and DS haven’t been so great I think?

  8. Uncharted 3, HMV £37.99. Game, right next door, £42.99. Go figure! Went to Gamestation just down the road and asked them to match HMV’s price, the manager who’s a decent fellow,apologised and said he wasn’t allowed to. Only allowed to match trade ins. It shows the bozos who manage the Game group have totally lost focus on their customers.

    • Ha,thats why I go to HMV more… sometimes there prices are much lower ands its beside Game as well. You can often buy accessories and Games together with the 2 for £30 deal… so sad if thats gone :(

    • HMV are always cheaper, only thing that bugs me is selling Uncharted 3 (preowned) for £37.99 in HMV. Why on earth would you purchase it preowned at that price?

      No wonder retailers are going bye bye

  9. High Street can never compete on price with web due to additional overheads. If they want to survive they need to offer services that the websites cannot. Any ideas guys?

    • i think we`d all be execs if we could sort that out but my tinfoil hat wearing idiot friend reckons its all a conspiracy and that the death of retail sellers selling new games is orchestrated to kill 2nd hand game sales and force us into digital distribution.
      which considering the absolute tripe he usually says is pretty believable lol

    • Doesn’t help with local councils jacking up business taxes and rates for the highstreet! Just so they can sell off empty units to big developers to speed up redevelopment of the town, which means you only get the big retailers resulting in every town being the same.

  10. Wonder if Valve could afford to buy them…

    • oh i think they could, but why would you when youve got steam?

      • I’m just thinking that one of the main reasons that downloadable games cost so much is that GAME won’t sell those games at retail unless they’re the same price. Plus, I’m sure that they could figure out a nice way to integrate GAME into Steam.

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