So, What Happened To GAME?

nofi 70 Comments

“With the significant growth of online retail and downloadable titles it seems probable that the GAME Group may further scale back their stores or even merge the two chains. Perhaps you’ll only be able to pick up games in supermarkets and HMV soon. Who knows?” 

That was Kris, April 5th, last year.

It all seems oddly rhetorical now, of course, given what we know about the GAME Group.  The situation seems to be that they’re struggling a bit – publishers are losing confidence, they’ve lost their handy sale-or-return policy with key suppliers and anecdotal (and largely unverified) evidence floating around the net this week suggests some employees were paid late recently.

Naturally, all this is difficult to quantise and without key facts from the company there’s a lot of speculation abound, but the story starts to tell a sorry tale whichever way you look at all this.  There’s some resolution at the end of all this, of course, and nobody really expects the group to suddenly vanish from the high street, but the road might not be quite as smooth as everyone would like.

Founded in 1991, GAME started off fairly small, the oddly named Rhino Group expanding to 77 stores when they took over Virgin Games two years later.  Another 48 months on and what was then Electronics Boutique Limited bought 25% of the company, rebranding the stores (which were then Future Zone) as Electronics Boutique, a name that still rings strong for some as representing knowledgeable staff and a wide range of products.

[drop2]It wasn’t until 1999, when Electronics Boutique bought out a range of stores called Game that the group was formed as it is now.  Founded in 1990, Game had 86 stores of its own.  Further expansion (BarrysWorld, ScoreGames and Centro Mail) happened in 2001, and EB quickly became a force to be reckoned with, before rebranding as GAME a year later.

The GameStation buy-out happened in 2007, but not before GAME gobbled up GamePlay and GamesWizards, leaving GAME pretty much the only high street national at that stage that concentrated on new titles.  Altogether the brand has around 1,300 stores at the moment, and continues to trade from its main website (alongside the rather more specialist looking GamePlay site).

In March last year, though, things started to slow.  As the average consumer started to wise up to what the core gamers had been saying for years – that cheaper deals could be had online – GAME’s once ready market wasn’t quite as enthusiastic.  And on top of this, many retailers new to the industry (which, for better or worse, includes the supermarkets) started offering trade-in deals, something the specialists like GAME once had all to themselves.

This, as you’d expect, made a massive difference to GAME.  Asda, for example, can give arguably better trade-in prices than the specialist does depending on the game (obviously it’s worth shopping around) and I’d suspect they’re not alone.  And if the average shopper picking up their weekly groceries can also nip into the electronics section of the supermarket and grab the same games that GAME are offering, and usually cheaper, then why would the same person make the trip to the high street to go to a dedicated store?

Of course, in days gone by, that same specialist would be able to impart knowledge, information, unbiased facts and perhaps even some friendly small-talk as you handed over your cash.  Admittedly, you’re still going to get the most from staff from a dedicated games retailer, and I know a few employees that pour their hearts into their jobs, but is this still widely the case?

What’s particularly noticeable, though, is the way the stock has slowly changed within GAME branches.  What was once racks and racks of new titles is now a much smaller area, with the lion’s share handed over to pre-owned games, some times considerably so.  If GAME are doing this, then they’re only really stocking a small subsection of each platform’s games new, and in some cases just what constitutes the retailer’s own top twenty titles.

Downloadable titles, too, has no doubt had an effect.  Steam has revolutionised the way PC games are bought and played, and who knows what’ll happen when the Vita appears, where every game you can buy on cartridge will also be available over the PSN, a service that GAME won’t see a penny of unless you buy your credit for the Network on a pre-paid card from one of their branches.

GAME, you may argue, has failed to evolve as the industry has.

[drop]News this week hasn’t been particularly fair on GAME, with some misreporting and conclusions unfairly jumped to, but what remains is a series of articles suggesting the group is struggling.  They’re no doubt not alone, but clearly a large target, and are only just admitting to their problems.  Indeed, only in the last few hours has the board commented officially.

News first broke yesterday when it emerged that the group had lost certain insurances from publishers (with some speculating this included Konami and possibly EA) and meant that the normally safe sale-or-return scheme (where GAME could just send back any unsold games) had been removed.  GAME, basically, had to foot the bill upfront.  This, in turn, meant that there were rumours new releases wouldn’t be available this week, but that appears to have been smoothed over.

MCV, a bastion of balanced viewpoints (at least in this particular case) reports this evening that the owners have “concluded discussions with its lending syndicate and agreed revised terms for its facilities” and whilst GAME are now having to “‘operate within lower limits of its existing facilities than was previously available” it does mean they’ve been given a lifeline.

They’ll continue to trade, basically, although this is going to be off the back of an £18m loss before tax for the year to the end of January.  “We’re pleased to reach agreement with our lenders, but should be under no illusions about the challenges in our market or the hard work that is required to deliver our strategic plan,” said CEO Ian Shepherd.

There’ll be an update to the group’s strategic plans, too, which may involve the selling off of GAME’s international businesses, which currently relates to approximately 50% of the branches.

Whilst it’s apparently fashionable to think that the industry would be better off without GAME, that’s largely not the case.  The supermarkets might be cheaper now, but that’s because they’re competing for the market against GAME who hold as the last real specialist high street presence, and whilst the indies might temporarily thrive if they were left without the likes of GAME around the corner, who knows what might happen if they vanished?

I do wish GAME well, I might not shop in there as often as I once did, but that’s largely a change in my own circumstances rather than anything particularly directed at the retailer.  I do like to go in and browse, though, and seriously can’t imagine not having that option. The group might not be in top form right now, but publishers and gamers alike need them – heck, the industry needs them – and hopefully they can come through this in a much stronger position.

This is a personal blog and the views may not reflect those of TheSixthAxis.

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70 Comments

  1. It’s really not just GAME slowly dying though is it? As literally anything from Beans all the way up to your own personal Utopia can be purchased online now. It actually makes me feel a bit sad, I much prefer physical shopping (if I’m on my own!!) because I can see, feel and hold the thing I want to buy.

    • I see your point but although I prefer physical items i.e retail games/blu-rays as opposed to downloads/streams I much prefer to shop online as well it’s more convenient. And the buzz of getting new post and opening it is great.

      Online sales are just only going to get better as more and more people see that prices are better.

      And lets face it in this economic era price is king.

  2. Highstreet GAME is expensive and online GAME is cheaper, they should just make in store prices the same as online.

    GAME used to be good but now they’re slacking, slow delivery times, not stocking MGS HD collection, really…..
    Always trying to offer you the pre owned version for £2 less. Every time I go in, all I see are some chavs in track suits wanting to trade in their pre owned 360 game for some more games so yeh not a nice place to shop.

    Their online prices are reasonable though, when they do go down in price, they’re usually cheaper than Play.com, ShopTo, Amazon etc. All of this talk has got me debating whether I should spend my £90 I have saved up in reward points.

  3. I’ve been a Game customer for years (long before it was called Game). I’ve used them less and less since owning my PS3 as I find them too expensive and cramped. I’d like to see more space dedicated to demo consoles

    • so that if a customer’s not sure about a game they can have a go in store, I think this would encourage more people to pick something on the spot.

      • Our local Tesco has demo console’s for PS3 and XBOX360….if you want to try out any preowned game, they put it on for you and let you play it for a bit…..although sometimes if it’s a PS3 game, you could have a wait on while it installs lol

      • Holy shit now that’s a bloody Royal service

      • That is pretty awesome! Nothing like that near where I live :(

  4. Well, I’ve my Vita pre-ordered from them.
    Hope it helps them.
    I’ve never found them to be too expensive- was in there only the other day and saw the likes of Rage and Deus Ex for less than €20 new!

  5. I used to shop at GAME for my software all the time until they started to get imo greedy….the trade in prices are lower than most other places, i went into the Barnsley store last week to get a trade in price for my PS3 MW3 game and was offered £28.00 for it….i then went to Tesco and got £32.00 for it. The fact is that Tesco usualy give better trade prices and 9 times out of 10, you can usualy buy the game you want cheaper as well. Here’s a few examples…
    LA Noire–Game=£19.99 Tesco=£16.90
    Dead Island–Game=£29.99 Tesco=£24.90
    The list goes on, and preowned at my local Tesco is better still.
    I bought a copy of preowned Enslaved only yesterday from Tesco for only £4.00.
    If GAME want to compete, they have to reduce their prices….simple as that. Don’t know what others opinions are but Blockbuster seem to be getting as bad as Game as well.

  6. I’m struggling to remember the last time I bought a game new from GAME, ive also bought offline as soon as I had a disposable income as its cheaper and more convenient.
    Though I do miss electronic boutique, it seems like another era now!

  7. i dont go in game anymore since they re-organised the store so you’re forced to walk around the shop in a lap fashion in order to get to the ps3 games, pushing past people in tight aisles designed to make me walk past a load of console games that i will never need.

    • They do this in my local Game every other week,proper wind up i agree but then super markets are a crap ton worse in this respect.

  8. The Aussie Game branches are often rather good, they too focus more on the pre-owned games but the staff are usually good.

  9. The only problem I have with GAME stores is the staff: I don’t mind paying slightly higher prices there as long as I can have a nice, friendly chat with the staff and know that they’re knowledgeable. However, most really don’t know anything about gaming or the industry, and consequently I don’t visit often. They’re pretty unfriendly at times too.
    My local Gamestation is much better though, I’m in there at least once or twice a week and I’m pretty sure that I finance some of the staff’s wages on my own! I’m often in there for 20-30 mins or so if I have time to burn, as the staff are brilliant and I’m on good terms with all of them, and it’s nice to talk about the hobby I love with fellow enthusiasts.

    • I’m of a very similar opinion on this.

      My local Gamestation has friendly knowledgeable staff who quite obviously play games, so much like yourself, I visit a few times a week, buy some stuff and discuss upcoing releases.

      My local Game however is managed by an individual who lies habitually to unsuspecting and ill informed parents and has junior staff who just don’t look like they give a toss and seemingly know little of gaming. Add to that the problem of non competitive pricing, awkward, dingy shop design and poor stock levels and they are lucky if I drop in more than once a month – even more so if I ever actually make a purchase rather than leave shaking my head at the whole sorry mess.

    • Exactly the same experience here,Game staff are like Pc world robots and the turnover of staff too is way higher than Gamestation.
      It’s like shopping with the missus,the less time spent in the store the better.Gamestations exactly the opposite,sweaty,ugly,blokes shop.

  10. Our local GAME shops are both laid out well, but online is far cheaper. I mainly use GAME for 2nd hand games. Theyre just too expensive, and when people have hardly got any money as it is, well, somethings gotta give

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