GAME exits Administration

[Morkin]

GAME Group will not be stocking any EA games past SSX in March, including Mass Effect 3, Eurogamer has discovered. This encompasses all GAME and Gamestation stores.

Various GAME and Gamestation staff alerted Eurogamer to this situation after a company-wide memo was sent out at around 10.30am this morning.

Eurogamer has secured an image of this memo, which also reveals that FIFA Street 3, Tiger Woods 13 and Sims 3 Showtime will also not be stocked by GAME Group.

Eurogamer has corroborated this information with individual GAME Group stores. The last stocked EA game will be SSX, we were told.

If you have a pre-order, GAME will refund you via in-store credit, rather than with cash.

EA responded to Eurogamer's request for comment by directing us to a Mass Effect 3 Launch Update website. GAME's absence from the list of retailers speaks volumes.

This worrying text followed: "For customers who have pre-ordered the N7 Collector's Edition please re-order your copies through these retailers."

These are Amazon, Play, Zavvi and ShopTo.

"For further information regarding the Mass Effect 3 Standard Edition with the N7 Warfare Gear in-game weapons pack, please check this page later today," the blurb continued.

"If you have placed a deposit for a pre-order or are uncertain that your existing pre-order will be guaranteed, please contact your local retailer."

"Your local retailer is doing everything possible to make this process as smooth as possible to ensure you get your copy on launch day."

HMV told Eurogamer it couldn't comment on a competitor's situation, but confirmed it would be stocking Mass Effect 3 and the rest of EA's titles.

GAME Group hasn't responded to Eurogamer's request for comment.

Eurogamer has been sent the internal memo emailed to GAME and Gamestation staff this morning which broke the news that the company will not be stocking Mass Effect 3 at any of its stores.

The first half of the email is for store managers explaining the situation, while the latter includes a list of instructions for how to break the news to pre-order customers who have already given GAME their money.

GAME will not stock EA titles as the company is "committed to only stocking products on which we could get the right credit terms", something it has apparently failed to do for Mass Effect 3.

As a "gesture of goodwill", customers will be able to claim £5 worth of Reward Points and a full refund - although previous information provided to Eurogamer suggests this refund will be store credit, not cash.

The memo also states that the company will not take any further deposits or pre-orders for forthcoming EA titles FIFA Street, Tiger Woods 13 and Sims 3 Showtime.

The full memo lies below.

[Morkin]

GAME Group (GAME and Gamestation) will not be stocking Wii game Mario Party 9, Eurogamer has heard.

Mario Party 9 is due out this Friday, 2nd March.

Whether this will extend to all Nintendo and Nintendo-distributed games remains to be seen. However, GAME absentee The Last Story was published by Nintendo, and GAME absentee Tekken 3DS was distributed by Nintendo.

It doesn't bode well for Wii-exclusive JRPG Pandora's Tower, due 13th April.

[Rayne]

Haha, brilliant news - A game shop that doesn't sell games

[retrojc]

You got to wonder how much money Game made from EA though?...

FIfa is always cheaper at supermarkets, so most go there for their copy...
HAving to buy ONline passes for pre-owned games doesn't help to much either.

No loss really

[Flint]

As a "gesture of goodwill", customers will be able to claim £5 worth of Reward Points and a full refund - although previous information provided to Eurogamer suggests this refund will be store credit, not cash.

Why add that bit? The e-mail mentions a full refund and I'm pretty sure that would be against the law anyway. Must just be scaremongering.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

But it is a loss. I don't like Game. But I certainly don't like the idea of being pushed further into a digital situation, which is where things are heading.

[retrojc]

But it is a loss. I don't like Game. But I certainly don't like the idea of being pushed further into a digital situation, which is where things are heading.

WHy not though? I love downloading games, maybe I'm in the minority, but give me a TB harddrive micrsoft, and I'll buy all my games of the demand service.

[Mootown]

GAME out of business means other smaller publishers lose lots of revenue, you would see publishers such as Konami, Capcom, Koei etc really struggling. Less places to buy, less revenue to publishers, more people out of business..spiral spiral spiral. It's not good for the industry whatever your thoughts on GAME are.

The best thing that can happen is Gamestop come in, buy them out and turn the business around with minimal loss of jobs.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

But it is a loss. I don't like Game. But I certainly don't like the idea of being pushed further into a digital situation, which is where things are heading.

WHy not though? I love downloading games, maybe I'm in the minority, but give me a TB harddrive micrsoft, and I'll buy all my games of the demand service.

Because companies are greedy. You've only got to look on PS3 and Xbox to see games like FIFA 12 being sold for £55. PSP Go was a joke. you could only buy through the store and you would often pay well over RRP because you had no other option.

Plus everything Mootown said. I don't relish a town where I can't enjoy a leisure browse through some games and maybe buy something. Also it's horrible that staff are going to lose jobs due to poor decisions they can do nothing about. I know some don't care, but I know a lot of nice people, particularly in GameStation, and it's not nice to think they'll be out of jobs.

[retrojc]

That's not overly true though, the game on tyhe dmeand services are set at RRP, so they're high. when compared to Game etc whom are selling below RRP.

So, £49.99 for the brand new COD on Live may seem high, but can't you remember paying £54.99 for Tekken on PlayStation? PSP Go was a learning curve that, looking at Vita Sony learned from.

I personally hate the current retail stores, i've been mistreated far too many times. I'm not wishing people loose their jobs as im sure there are nice people in the companies, but still, goodbye the the trash.

Accept it guys, we're moving into a digital age.

[gmintyfresh]

Already reordered this from shopto this morning (a fiver cheaper than Game were selling it at), tbh their handling of this game was always a bit rubbish! We need Game in the marketplace but they really need to get more competative with other retailers

[samhain81]

This completely pisses me off. Remember when we had 3 different game retail chains? GAME, Gamestation, and Electronics Boutique. GAME bought up all of them, and now GAME are going under , we have lost all 3 stores. Thanks to them, we no longer have any game retail chains. Good Riddance. Only people I feel sorry for are the low level staff. Everyone else can go sit on a cucumber.

[Fightersmegamix]

It's inevitable they will be out of business in the next month or two. I won't miss them, it's a terrible store.There's no point in having a specialist gaming store that has little more choice than a supermaket.

I just don't accept that GAME going out of business means an end to the high street. There is a market for retail games and it will continue. The profitable stores will be bought by another company and the rest closed. We don't need two or three of the same shops in the same mall or town centre. The problem in the high street was partly brought about by GAME buying Gamestation (and EB back in the day) so I don't have much sympathy for the company (people losing jobs is no good thing of course).

GAME out of business means other smaller publishers lose lots of revenue, you would see publishers such as Konami, Capcom, Koei etc really struggling

Rubbish, most people who play games by those companies already buy online.

[Alarm]

The local GAME closed down a few months ago. It will be a shame if the local Gamestation does too, as there won't be a gaming shop in the high street; somewhere to rummage through games and pick up the odd bargain.

Not stocking EA and (especially) Nintendo games is the beginning of the end, surely.

[jcdentont1000]

As somebody who works in a retail store (Grainger Games), most of us 'in the industry' (as pompous as that may sound being essentially a retail clerk) have seen this coming a mile off.

GAME got incredibly greedy; they've relied almost solely on brand recognition for their business for years, selling to parents who haven't got the wherewithall to look elsewhere, where they will undoubtedly find the same product on average 20-40% cheaper (Supermarkets and online retailers in particular). For years, they have gotten away with charging full RRP on almost everything in store. Their entry into the pre-owned market was both misjudged and non-competitive; their prices according to ahem, sources, are on average 25% lower for trade-ins than the likes of cEX and Grainger, and the sale price as much as 50% dearer on a consistent basis.

It is the GAME group who most forcefully and loudly rejected publisher's requests for profit-sharing of preowned games, forcing EA and now others to introduce 'online passes' as their way of taking a slice. Now they find themselves in the cold from the same publishers, and unable to fill their shelves with stock (albeit also for a number of other complicated reasons). Greedy.

Also, the curse of GameStation hasn't helped them. GameStation was owned by Blockbuster and for years was their only profitable sideline - albeit at a cost, as most GameStation's were in direct competition with Blockbuster's and naturally wiped the floor with them. After GAME aquired them (very dubiously in terms of monopolisation, in my opinion) the EXACT SAME THING has happened. GameStation is considerably more profitable than GAME thanks to its roaring preowned trade. GameStation makes GAME look bad just like it did Blockbuster.

Word is GAME Group will be gone within two years, regardless of the 'planned slimlining' they've openly discussed - it looks like it will be taken out of their hands. Nobody will acquire them as the brand is practically worthless anyway. But don't get me wrong is a terrible thing for the future of physical video games. It will affect everybody selling entertainment on the high street and potentially the existence of physical gaming media full stop. If only GAME had acted responsibly at their peak and tried to compete with the emerging online sector, none of this would've happened and a lot of people would still have jobs.