GAME staff told to expect redundancies, as most workers move to zero hours contracts
Randall365
Member
Yup - it has gone through a few iterations - Future Zone, Electronics Boutique then Game.
Plies
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
RIP
Randall365
Member
The shift to a decade between console releases, digital games and Amazon killed it really. I am sure they could have repositioned, but whoever owned it was only interested in rinsing any profits out week to week.
RickSanchez
Member
What is a "zero hours contract" ?
Ashamam
Member
In Australia I'd imagine Casual was the equivalent. No fixed hours, rotating roster and no guarantee of any hours. At least here the employer has to pay a loading to compensate the fact they don't have to deal with paid leave. Not sure how it works in the UK.
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Go_Ly_Dow
Member
No chance the the physical side of GAME survives. They charge £65-70 for new releases vs £55-60 at other online retailers (Hit, Shopto, The Game Collection etc...).
It sucks for the staff and the best move would be to quickly start looking for other work considering Zero Hours contracts are unreliable and the future for GAME isn't bright.
It sucks for the staff and the best move would be to quickly start looking for other work considering Zero Hours contracts are unreliable and the future for GAME isn't bright.
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RickSanchez
Member
Hmm, if there is no guarantee of hours (which means no guarantee of pay), are they allowed to hold other jobs simultaneously ?
Shut0wen
Banned
You will get paid just you have no idea how many hours you'll be working per a week
Windle Poons
Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
The GAME in my city used to be spaced out over 3 floors in the shop. Now it's just a little corner in a grotty out of town Sports Direct store.
gaming_again
Member
Same. Sad because I spent so much of my childhood in Game. I have a great memory of playing DoA with a Japanese kid who spoke no English on one of the setups they had there. We were evenly matched and it was just one of those moments where gaming felt like something more transcendent than a pastime.
Soodanim
Member
The closest they would get to that would be some sort of non-compete, but Game swallowed up any competition years ago before they started their downhill trend.
The 0 hour contracts are not a surprise given that the owner, Mike Ashley, has a reputation for doing the same in his other companies (Sports Direct being the prime example).
I thought there was a push to do away with 0 hour contracts, but I guess that didn't take. Sucks for anyone in retail. It's an essential job type but people are often shafted.
gaming_again
Member
There was a push but Covid took the focus away. Same with that huge push against plastic that died a death like so many facemasks in the ocean.
ChuckeRearmed
Member
Oh no.
Anyway.
Anyway.
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IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
This has been coming for a long time.
The sad truth is that physical games are dying. The market is now mostly digital and the gap will only get bigger. Unlike film and music, games won't see some kind of physical media nostalgic resurgence either.
There just isn't a future for brick and mortar video game stores.
The sad truth is that physical games are dying. The market is now mostly digital and the gap will only get bigger. Unlike film and music, games won't see some kind of physical media nostalgic resurgence either.
There just isn't a future for brick and mortar video game stores.
STARSBarry
Gold Member
There was but somehow retail argued that is was a benefit to some workers because it allowed for specific types or people, single mums for example, to have flexibility on the shifts they choose to work, rather than having to ask for permission to drop a day.
It's all BS of course, as I used to do console repair back when they first started to show up. I was contracted but every new worker was Zero hour. Essentially they used it like this "you will do 45 hours this week short notice or I will give you 0 hours for the next 3 months" the "flexibility" was to managers who couldn't be arsed pretending to treat people as human. They used the fact that they could give there staff zero hours like a threat to make them do BS. What it's supposed to be vs how it's actually used is very different and my view is they should be banned.
I can't imagine it's gotten any better after 10+ years.
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YOU PC BRO?!
Gold Member
nush
Member
Nope, that's not correct. Future Zone was a small chain that was brought by Electronics boutique that was then brought by Game who existed the whole time as a separate chain store. Then Game brought their biggest competitor Gamestation running both brands until closing Gamestation and rebranding some stores to Game.
Fun fact, the original Director of Future Zone is now CEO of Sega America.
Kenneth Haight
Gold Member
RIP in peace
Soodanim
Member
Gamestation was better.
willothedog
Member
GAME was doomed a while back:
-Mike Ashley bought the chain
-Started charging extra for click+collect orders
-Stores closed and many got absorbed into 'Sports Direct'
-Merch took over the majority of stock to shift
-Mike Ashley bought the chain
-Started charging extra for click+collect orders
-Stores closed and many got absorbed into 'Sports Direct'
-Merch took over the majority of stock to shift
Duchess
Member
AV
We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Inevitable really. The only people walking to a shop to buy a physical game for £10 more than they can get it delivered to their door are luddites buying gifts.
My fondest memory of GAME is when they came to my hometown in an attempt to drive out the local game shop that had been then for decades, and the local shop actually managed to fight them off to the point where they closed the GAME down. There was some weird sense of local dweeb pride around that. Also helped that the guy was selling games the day before release, of course...
My fondest memory of GAME is when they came to my hometown in an attempt to drive out the local game shop that had been then for decades, and the local shop actually managed to fight them off to the point where they closed the GAME down. There was some weird sense of local dweeb pride around that. Also helped that the guy was selling games the day before release, of course...
Soodanim
Member
We need more adverts calling people a ninny
The ninja farmer
Member
He might make money, but Mike Ashley and his son inlaw do not care about the staff
They are just there to be cannon fodder for his empire and profits
There is a doc about working at sports direct (the main business of games parent company). It's one of the worst things you could see about a work place and it tells you all you need to know about them as employers and their attitudes to the people who work for them (think Victorian style way of running things)
The British video game business pretty much rests online or with smyths these days. Game have a small selection of new games at inflated prices. And piles & piles of high price second hand games and merchandise that is mostly tat
They are just there to be cannon fodder for his empire and profits
There is a doc about working at sports direct (the main business of games parent company). It's one of the worst things you could see about a work place and it tells you all you need to know about them as employers and their attitudes to the people who work for them (think Victorian style way of running things)
The British video game business pretty much rests online or with smyths these days. Game have a small selection of new games at inflated prices. And piles & piles of high price second hand games and merchandise that is mostly tat
tylrdiablos
Member
Hasn't this happened to GAME twice before?
My local game is about 20% games and 80% random stuff like FunkoPops, LEGO, Pokémon card sets and pre-owned phones.
And none of it is competitively priced.
My local game is about 20% games and 80% random stuff like FunkoPops, LEGO, Pokémon card sets and pre-owned phones.
And none of it is competitively priced.
nush
Member
and CEX.
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
Game stopped accepting trade ins recently so I'm not surprised. I assume they were amassing games that had been traded in that nobody wanted to buy. As far as I know used games are much, much higher profit than buying new games from a distributor. If Game didn't want to buy in any more of the higher profit stock then it's another sign that physical media is over for games.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
I used to work at Gamestation. I was there through the purchase from Game and was told we would be operating as a separate company...then slowly we started to have to use Games system...They then killed Gamestation shortly after I was poached by another company. RIP Gamestation and fuck game!
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
...But not really because CEX don't sell new games. Everything has to come from individuals who've bought games elsewhere.
I'm not convinced CEX make much money on games either - I think the things they really make money on - phones and electronics are really what their business is now.
Braag
Member
Meaning the employer can give you anywhere from 0 - 40 hours to work any given week, you have no fixed hours in your contract. It's incredibly beneficial to the employer, since they can just stop giving you shifts if their business isn't doing too well, obviously the employee will get fucked in the process.
Zero hour contracts are no longer allowed where I live.
Team Andromeda
Member
CEX is a horrible shop full of drug and piss heads selling their stuff bought on benefits. The UK high street is dying fast and is now just full of takeaways, betting shops and restaurants all with the smell of wacky baccy in the air
Go_Ly_Dow
Member
GAME's demise is mostly related to people buying physical games online from much cheaper alternatives as I mentioned, rather than this all being down to digital trends. The online competition for physical games is just better. GAME can't compete with the overheads meaning they have to inflate their prices and sell there games for like £10-15 more. Also the convenience of ordering games online.
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Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
Game's pricing is one thing, and they couldn't compete with online pricing, but if people wanted to buy physical games Game could become a big player in the used game market - the fact that they stopped taking in used games which are higher profit than new ones says that physical must be out of style now.
Dr.Morris79
Gold Member
Not in my town, game bought them out and instantly shut Gamestation. Utter wankers.
I couldn't stand Game. Overpriced shite, shitty trade ins. My Game shut months ago and got turned into a 'Shoezone', another trash shop.
My town now consists of Turkish barbers, halal butchers, untold coffee shops and takeaways
I can't wait to move
Kenneth Haight
Gold Member
Sybrix
Member
It's a real shame but not surprising. These stores are an early 2000s nostalgia trip, i do go into a GAME if im in a town and i see one, just to go in and look around, gives my Blockbuster feels.
I play PC and have done for the last 10 years so i dont buy many physical games.
I'm assuming console gamers are 50/50 digital & phsyicial? Maybe more digital?
I play PC and have done for the last 10 years so i dont buy many physical games.
I'm assuming console gamers are 50/50 digital & phsyicial? Maybe more digital?
I mean, its not surprising. The only surprising thing to me is just how many retail stores (and I don't mean just game) still manage to exist on the high street in an era where anyone can buy anything in the click of a button and have it show up in a few hours. The % of people who do that only increases every year. Game takes an even heavier brunt as gaming consumers move increasingly over to digital only and away from physical entirely.
They do have back room entertainment spaces for LAN style parties etc, which if they work out a way to market that and get it working as a sustainable standalone business might be a way for the to survive...but otherwise id be personally pretty surprised if they still exist at all 3 years from now.
They do have back room entertainment spaces for LAN style parties etc, which if they work out a way to market that and get it working as a sustainable standalone business might be a way for the to survive...but otherwise id be personally pretty surprised if they still exist at all 3 years from now.
Go_Ly_Dow
Member
People like to go outside and walk.
Go_Ly_Dow
Member
Physical has declined, but the market is still big enough. CEX just has their number on the used games front and also has the pull of offering other entertainment products and tech, both retro and modern. So GAME is screwed trying to compete in that space.
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SidViscous
Member
I remember a few years back when GAME marked Dualsense controllers upto £89.99 just before xmas, then did a "30% OFF" over xmas where they were just marked back down to RRP. So I'll dance on their grave for intentionally ripping off the uninformed for years. trash company.
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Dr. Suchong
Member
It also has some of the most slovenly and disinterested staff I've ever had the misfortune to encounter.
It seems the only requisite to work there is based on how much metal is protruding from your face.
Go_Ly_Dow
Member
I think it might be down to a combo of the staff always having to deal with awful people, people trying to sell dud equipment (like controllers with stick drift) and the job itself of having to test shit all day would get old fast. Also gamers/nerds which tend to make up the majority of the staff in CEX tend to be laid back and all that entails.
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Dr. Suchong
Member
This.
You can't beat that experience of having a pleasant day out, culminating with the thing you desired.
Tangible.
No comparison to simply clicking on shit.
Reading the instruction book on the way home is something I really miss.
Dr. Suchong
Member
Yeah I can get that.I think it might be down to a combo of the staff always having to deal with awful people, people trying to sell dud equipment (like controllers with stick drift) and the job itself of having to test shit all day would get old fast. Also gamers/nerds tend to be laid back and all that entails.
I worked at Gamestation, and the crap people brought in that was in terrible condition was common.
Terrible people too.
Lucifers Beard
Member
There is still a place for physical media such as games, but GAME charge more than anywhere else and are always being undercut by TheGameCollection, Hit and others.
They've also completely scrapped their trade in program which I think is the final nail in the coffin. Absolutely no reason to shop there.
They've also completely scrapped their trade in program which I think is the final nail in the coffin. Absolutely no reason to shop there.
gaming_again
Member
It blows my mind that they sell second hand controllers. Who is buying that?
I go in on lunch every now and then and do see some bargains. I picked up Armored Core 6 on the PS5 for fifteen quid.