Looks like Electronic Arts aren’t too happy about a certain “major european retail partner”, reports this morning suggesting that company boss John Riccitiello isn’t feeling all that confident.
He doesn’t specifically name GAME, but after reports yesterday mentioned their current financial situation, it’s not hard to make the assumption that that’s who he’s referring to.
“We are concerned with the financial condition of one of our major European retail partners,” said Riccitiello during an investors conference call overnight, “which could lead to both increased bad debt and lost sales.”
“We are focused on some isolated European retailer issues that have recently been announced,” added Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown. “A negative outcome could adversely affect our Q4 results.”
GAME yesterday was apparently cutting back on Mass Effect 3 pre-orders.
herotoozero
Is it currys or comet thatwent down the whatver price it is on the web it’s the same price instore route?
game want to follow this model, ripping unwitting parents, family members off on a regular basis…robbing twats
even their pre-owned market is taking a dent now with the supermarkets offering far more for trade-ins most of the time.
sick__puppy
Thinking about my Mass Effect 3 Collector’s edition. Is there anywhere else in UK I can order this or is it still a Game exclusive?
Not something I want to miss out on. Been thoroughly let down by Game recently but it’s the only place I can see to order it from :-(
Bilbo_bobbins
it wont be long before Game are actually gone. Its on the cards unfortunately.
aerobes
This seems to be getting out of control and I’m not even sure why it’s happening because they’re a long way away from being the cheapest place around.
Forrest_01
Unfortunately, that is probably exactly why it is happening. :(
Developers &/or Publishers have been actively attacking the pre-owned market for some time (with online passes & so forth), so they aren’t getting anywhere near the profit that they used to from that.
As you say, they certainly aren’t the cheapest outlet out there & they needed to realise that a) last i checked, we were still in a recession & b) they are being massively undercut by online sales.
Unfortunately, i haven’t seen much of a change in their pricing regime to account for this & in fact, the last time i went in, any new PS3 game that was not in the top 20 was nowhere to be found.
It’s a sorry state of affairs as all they needed to do was drop pricing, even if it was just a little. Unfortunately, i feel that whatever move they make now to try & combat this will be a case of ‘too little, too late’.
Shame, as i like a good browse every now & again (mainly when the missus is off in some store that i would rather not enter). There’s also nothing quite like travelling home with the purchase in hand & anticipation building to play the title.
:(
tonycawley
How can ea feign concern about this? They’ve been making every effort to cut games profits for years. Let’s all release online passes so game make less profit from pre-owned. Oh crap, game are starting to go bust!
Retailers, developers and publishers need to sit round a table and have a little chat about creating a model that generates profit for all.
Forrest_01
I agree tony – For EA to feign concern would be a little hypocritical as they were one of the first companies to start attacking their profit margins!
I also agree with your second point as it goes. A lot of money goes into gaming these days & some kind of profit share scheme would be ideal. Maybe not practical, but ideal.
I guess i could have just said “I agree tony” & left it at that really! XD
a inferior race
As Game and HMV are probably the only major players on the high street that sell that products. So, once Christmas arrives it will be supermarkets and online only.
gazzagb
I think Game’s problem is that everyone who knows anything about prices, knows that Game are more expensive, same as HMV. Whenever I pop in there to have a browse, I only ever see parents unwittingly buying stuff. Funnily enough, those two retailers (Game and HMV)are struggling. Even their websites are far more expensive than other online retailers.
Pete_UK
I feel sorry for the staff that will probably lose their jobs, but it’s the companies fault for not staying competitive.
As sad as it will be, I say good riddance.
Smallville2106
I popped in my local GAME the other day whilst I was in town and they had 4 new PS3 games.The new games for PS3 section was obviously almost empty. They had plenty of pre-owned though. I’ve never bought a pre-owned but thought that I would look at the prices out of interest.
Goldeneye – £39.99
Bioshock 2 – £29.99
Those pre-owned prices are silly. Could only remember those two.
I used to buy from GAME all the time even if it was 1 pound or two dearer just to support them but then their prices started to get silly. So now I only ever buy real bargains that are dirt cheap from them.
mcduff1979
Game is one of the few places that still offer a rewards scheme and in comparison to most other high street and a lot of online shops their prices are still comparable. I will be sad to see game go, but everything seems to be going online now…
Embo1
Shopto.net
Just sayin….
Forrest_01
Ah, but they aren’t a high street store are they? If Game did go under (obviously taking Gamestation with them), that would leave just HMV where i am from… Who also aren’t too well off in terms of finances last i heard.
That would effectively only leave the supermarkets with absolutely no competition, so they could pretty much charge whatever they want.
Plus, whilst i have been really pleased with their service to date, shopto’s site can be a bit buggy at times.