Sounds like it’s just about all over for the Game Group, then, with The Express today claiming that talks between OpCapita and the banks ceasing, and other parties like Hilco withdrawing from negotiations.
MCV reiterates that Game’s rent is due today, and thus is likely to tip the business into administration as early as tomorrow. “GAME is likely to go into administration on Monday,” says the paper, “and the process of selling its assets will begin but this won’t be a pre-pack, where a company is bought immediately out of administration.”
“There was contact between the banks and OpCapita late on Friday in the hope of reviving some sort of deal. The banks felt that selling GAME out of administration would leave them facing a colossal write down on what they invested,” it continued.
If someone like GameStop doesn’t move quickly this could, MCV say, “mean an end to The GAME Group as we know it. And possibly the closure of all or some of the world’s GAME/Gamestation stores as early as tomorrow morning.”
We’ll keep you informed.
The Lone Steven
I popped into my local Gamestation yesterday to see how much they were selling Skyrim for. And it was £35 preowned. Despite them having a preowned sale.
Game bought it on themselves, they refused to adapt and offer compitive pricing.
I hope Gamestop does buy them out as i’ve heard that they are a bit decent(except they hate it when a publisher dares to put in a free voucher in their game, such as the Onlive incident). As i think they would be able to turn Game from an expensive gaming specialist to a gamer friendly retailer that offers compitive prices and doesn’t annoy the publishers by having 90% of shelf space dedicated to preowned.
I can see Opcapita closing down Game and converting their stores into ASDAs and comets as i think Comet is starting to struggle again.
cc_star
Pricing is subjective compared to the value of the experience on offer… I just can’t see that shelves & shelves of games followed by joining a usually large & slow moving queue is worth paying a few extra quid for. People will pay more if the experience is there GAME Gp never offered it & were happy to rest on their laurels selling Wii Fit to parents & grandparents not realising that the whole scene was moving away from that.
teflon
Don’t see how selling Game’s assets could possibly get a lesser loss than selling to OpCapita…
BIGAL-1992
Oh hell. It’s Woolworths all over again. It’ll be a sad day tomorrow for all involved.
cc_star
Something doesn’t add up, because MCV had reported that OpCapita wanted to buy the company & cover all debts, which means all suppliers will get what they’re owed along with landlords etc… the only people who could potentially lose out would be investors who’ve ploughed loads of money in in an attempt to keep it going so they could profit in future, although OpCapita bid seem to be many times over current share value.
If GAME Gp does end up going under with no buyers I hope the once vibrant indie scene can gain a foothold again, although they’d never be able to compete on price with the supermarkets the shopping experience in an indie is closer to what gamers expect and the few £ extra is worth it because of the experience in the shop… along with broken street dates to better compete with ShopTo and others.
Death_In_Flamez
Their own fault really, shame for all the workers though :/
wonkey-willy
just caught a quick glimpse of the headline..
i thought it said biggest fail since waterworld..
better lay off the sauce today.
gaffers101
Really bad news, glad I didn’t hang on to the shares I got when they were really cheap!
stupid sad idiot website
You don’t have any shares, you sad little 12 year old!
TROPtastic
At first I thought you were crazy, but then I saw your name. Seems like a lot of trouble to go to just to attempt to troll.
TROPtastic
Any chance someone could ban this guy? Since he apparently doesn’t have anything meaningful to contribute.
aerobes
Kind of brought it on themselves in one way or another. Sort of felt it coming for a while too, my local Game was always nearly empty and the prices reflected that.
Gamestation I just avoided completely because while they were cheaper, the staff were utterly pathetic and completely devoid of any type pleasant demeanor and usefulness.
GamingBlueBoy
The nearest shop that specialises on game is quite a far way from me. Guess I’ll have to buy my games from sainsburys from now on.
fattyuk
Fingers crossed they’ll have a sell everything instore like woolworths, I could do with a few wall fixtures for displaying games
hip hip horray!
I’ve visited 3 diffrent games in the past 2 weeks and old not find 1 single item that was any sort of a bargain in there – and I was going to have a proper impulsive buy session….. even tried finding a decent price 3DS – but once again it was still overpriced lol
For months I’ve hated game for the pushing pre owned and that whole “buy a new game for a fiver” bullshit they were trying to pull off.
Feel sorry for the people who will loose there jobs – although I say that 90% of the staff I’ve ever spoke to in game were either so far up there own arse or just genuinely didn’t know anything but tried acting like they did.