Cheesecakebobby
Banned
I absolutely loathed it. I think it got worse after the takeover. I actually felt patronised by some of the slogans (written as if scratched into a desk by an 11 year-old wielding a compass), and others were just misogynistic.
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UK Retailer GAME is dead | Brera's Lament
- Thread starter CrunchinJelly
- Start date
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mediapulp_wes
Member
The website is a disgrace. An untrained monkey could do something better. I agree on the branding too, reminds of the days I used to work in games retail for the juggernaut that was Future Zone!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_(retailer)#Early_history_.26_Electronics_Boutique_takeover
In those days we had yellow and black striped decor to make us look all industrial...(er not like my pic at all)
Statement from the protesting GAME Ireland employees:
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/irish-game-protestors-explain-their-demands/093505
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/irish-game-protestors-explain-their-demands/093505
Psychotext
Member
You've got to feel for them. Totally out of order, they should be properly supported as an absolute minimum.
Knowing nothing about the legalities of the situation, the bit that stood out to me was "but they have failed to appoint an administrator to the business in the Republic of Ireland." Does this mean they are technically still obliged to pay all redundancy, wages and so on since they haven't appointed an administrator to those stores?
It does rather sound that way, particularly since the RoI isn't part of the UK.
Good to see another Bromley-GAFfer! Where abouts? I live in Hayes.
Also IIRC there's another GAFfer who lives in Hayes as well.
Not far at all then!
My sympathies are with all Game employees struggling without a job.
However, redundancy payments when a company is under administration work like this:
In the UK
If the company is under administration then you need to claim Statutory Redundancy Pay (SRP).
To do this you need to contact the administrators or telephone The Insolvency Service to request a copy of a RP1 form. You are then paid your entitlement from The National Insurance fund who will deal with your claim and provide you with a redundancy payment up to the statutory limit.
Ireland
The same! Except it's a RP50 form.
Since GAME is under administration everyone will have to claim from their respective governments and wait for payments from them. It's exceedingly unlikely that UK employees will be paid immediately up front. They will go through the same process. The Irish employees aren't being persecuted in this regard.
The only mistake that seems to have been made is that they haven't been given the correct form for Ireland.
Even though GAME is still trading, insolvency procedures still apply unfortunately.
However, redundancy payments when a company is under administration work like this:
In the UK
If the company is under administration then you need to claim Statutory Redundancy Pay (SRP).
To do this you need to contact the administrators or telephone The Insolvency Service to request a copy of a RP1 form. You are then paid your entitlement from The National Insurance fund who will deal with your claim and provide you with a redundancy payment up to the statutory limit.
Ireland
The same! Except it's a RP50 form.
Since GAME is under administration everyone will have to claim from their respective governments and wait for payments from them. It's exceedingly unlikely that UK employees will be paid immediately up front. They will go through the same process. The Irish employees aren't being persecuted in this regard.
The only mistake that seems to have been made is that they haven't been given the correct form for Ireland.
Even though GAME is still trading, insolvency procedures still apply unfortunately.
Aggresive.
Really though, the staff don't deserve this at all. I can see why they'd do this from a business perspective, but it's horrible to throw the floor workers in the deep end to deal with it.
Jesus Christ...
When they suspended the Loyalty & Gift card's on Monday we had a number of customers become abusive over the fact that they couldn't use them. One to the extent that we had to call the police. It's not a fun place to be at the moment
First thing I noticed XD.
I can't believe people are being so aggressive towards staff that it requires this sign
.Spirit of Jazz
Banned
I really feel the staff should have been warning customers about the situation as opposed to still trying to force pre-orders/rewards cards down their throats over the last couple of weeks. Not to justify how people are behaving but I can understand that people would be upset over what's essentially losing money.
In Music Zone, we put up a sign.First thing I noticed XD.
I can't believe people are being so aggressive towards staff that it requires this sign
And then we got complaints about the sign.
The types of people who are free to go to the shops during the day are typically either students or scum.
I know that this might not be indicative of the general situation but I was in one of the Dublin stores on the 19th and I asked some of the staff about the situation and they said they had heard nothing about it and that they were under the impression they were being bought by Walmart. So maybe the severity of the situation was unclear to some staff or maybe he was lying.
Psychotext
Member
When you hear about someone trading their Vita in on Friday (for credit) and not being given a warning... I don't know. Sounds shitty to me. I'd have been angry beyond belief.
Game staff must not be allowed to use the internet then?
The guys at my store were still trying to sell pre-orders (with a £20 deposit), warranty and what ever else they could. If any customer who hadn't kept up on the news had gone in and put money down then they would have no doubt been screwed over because of what the staff were told to push.
That said it is mostly the manager at my local Game who pushes everything and he doesn't seem like a particularly great guy, unlike the rest of the staff.
Edit:
This too, I'd have been knocking down doors to get my cash back if this had happened. I have no doubt that most of these people yelling at staff to the point of needing the police are probably not nice people anyway.
I would have gone nuclear.
But you just know the people kicking off at the minute will be those wanting to spend their £2.50 reward points of a crusty, soiled and pube ridden copy of Modern Warfare 2, then start slamming the desk, spitting everyway and swearing when they can't.
bitoriginal
Member
If I'd traded in a Vita and then been told I can't get my money/vita back, I'd just load up on new games, walk to the counter, get them to scan it through, then grab the lot and leg it. That might sound a little pathetic but theres no way I'd let myself get screwed like that.
checkeredknight
Member
Transported a lot of stock over from GameStation to GAME today. Had no fucking means of doing so. We went and asked if we were okay to transport a roll cage through the shopping centre because of our situation. We got the okay, just needed to actually find a roll cage. We tried Pound World, HMV, CEX and TK Max before finally stopping at Sports Direct. They lent us one of theirs and saved the day.
Busted our balls off gutting the shop, binning pretty much everything but stock, scanning and transferring that stock, loading the roll cage and lugging it across a busy shopping centre all the way to GAME. Keep in mind our GameStation is / was actually pretty big and there aren't many of us. Absolutely knackered.
Busted our balls off gutting the shop, binning pretty much everything but stock, scanning and transferring that stock, loading the roll cage and lugging it across a busy shopping centre all the way to GAME. Keep in mind our GameStation is / was actually pretty big and there aren't many of us. Absolutely knackered.
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
GAME screwed GAME
zomgbbqftw
Banned
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzdAvuRy7AwLSnpQT2ozS19SelNPMGZ0Y204YlV6Zw
That's my take on Game's demise. It was supposed to go out today on a blog, but since I haven't been contacted I will post it here first for whoever wants to read it.
That's my take on Game's demise. It was supposed to go out today on a blog, but since I haven't been contacted I will post it here first for whoever wants to read it.
bitoriginal
Member
Man, you didn't deserve this. I've been keeping up with your responses throughout this thread, and let it be known that you were a top employee. If you don't find a new job quickly, then there is no justice in this world.
But what new games?
checkeredknight
Member
Thank you, those words mean a lot. It's not just me though, everybody in my store is putting a huge effort in and doing the same (aside from the manager who's "on holiday" still.) It's all been left up to the assistant manager, so huge props to him. I'm sure the same can be said for LordAlu and every other GAME / GS employee in this thread too. I just hope we get all of the pay we're owed.
I did manage to get myself a Dark Souls poster, though.
cyberheater
PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
Psychotext
Member
Thanks man. An interesting read.
Oddly my conclusions on the whole thing are very similar to yours... I'll assume that makes me a smart cookie.
Would this not be different if the statement is true though? As it says Game Group have failed to appoint an administrator in Ireland.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
Thanks man. An interesting read.
Oddly my conclusions on the whole thing are very similar to yours... I'll assume that makes me a smart cookie.
No worries, glad you found it interesting. There were so many things that went wrong at the company and mainstream journalists don't understand the market well enough and will blame tough market conditions.
JonathanEx
Member
I know someone who had £20 down on the Star Wars Xbox. Went in on Saturday, asked about taking it back because of the company troubles. Staff were all 'no no, it's fine, we'll probably get bought over the weekend before anything bad, you'll get your xbox no worries'. Obviously staff won't be going "oh no bail out!!!!" but a little too much false hope there.
Come Monday, store closes, bye bye money. Thankfully he only did £20 deposit rather than the 'pay half of the cost' one so isn't distraught. No biggie, life goes on.
Goes in to Toys R Us, reserves one, no deposit, and amusingly it's GAME's allocation they're getting anyway.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
He should get his money back eventually. All pre-order monies should be in a walled off account that will not be used for the day to day running of the company. Right now the administrator is sifting through the damage, but they will contact people owed money from the pre-order account. If pre-order money has been used the board will face serious charges of malfeasance.
When they suspended the Loyalty & Gift card's on Monday we had a number of customers become abusive over the fact that they couldn't use them. One to the extent that we had to call the police. It's not a fun place to be at the moment
Good luck mate.
I'm actually quite glad in a sense that my store fell to the sword doing the first round of closures. Means I don't need to deal with the level of arseholes that you are.
i take offense. i tend to go into game/gamestation every few days during my lunch break and i'm not a student and i wasn't scum last i looked.
woo and indeed hoo
Banned
I swung by my local Game/Station earlier today and was somewhat surprised that Game was still open, although the Gamestation opposite was shuttered :/.
Had a quick word with the manager and wished them all the best. He said thanks and genuinely seemed to appreciate it. He said that they had had a lot of grief off disgruntled customers this week and I have to say that they did look pretty battered. Poor buggers; it's not their fault but they're the ones who have to take the flak for the mistakes of those further up the chain :x. I hope it all works out okay for them.
Well they did say 'typically'. You and I are exceptions to the rule, clearly.
Had a quick word with the manager and wished them all the best. He said thanks and genuinely seemed to appreciate it. He said that they had had a lot of grief off disgruntled customers this week and I have to say that they did look pretty battered
. Poor buggers; it's not their fault but they're the ones who have to take the flak for the mistakes of those further up the chain :x. I hope it all works out okay for them. i take offense. i tend to go into game/gamestation every few days during my lunch break and i'm not a student and i wasn't scum last i looked.
Well they did say 'typically'. You and I are exceptions to the rule, clearly
.A judge will just backdate the administration order in Ireland to before the dispute if they bring it to him. Happens all the time, the paperwork isn't an issue. They're insolvent, end of story really.
No. That doesn't make any difference as to how an employee can make their claim.
Basically the government pay you. Then they try and recover the money from the administrators/the company (if no administrators are appointed). If the government can't recover the cost then you as the employee still get your money.
Thus the employee is protected in the long run and is guaranteed their money. Even though, unfortunately, they have to go through red tape.
I thought it'd have been obvious that people on lunch breaks are exempt from that statement. The general point I was making was clear enough.i take offense. i tend to go into game/gamestation every few days during my lunch break and i'm not a student and i wasn't scum last i looked.
The Cynical Brit weighs in on this whole debacle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTc8eP7Y4yw&list=HL1332962649&feature=mh_lolz
I can't help but agree with him on most things, and this is not an exception.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTc8eP7Y4yw&list=HL1332962649&feature=mh_lolz
I can't help but agree with him on most things, and this is not an exception.
cyberheater
PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
He's absolutely right. They (upper management) took the piss and it backfired on them.
Yes, good article. My thoughts have run in a similar direction re: GAME's downfall.
Regarding the Wii craze: quite a few friends and family members succumbed and bought one. A few others bought DSes. These were people that had rarely, if ever, gamed before. The Wiis and DSes are sitting around unused now the novelty has worn off. Interestingly, all of them have continued playing games but - no not Farmville! - it's iOS that's holding all their attention. Words with Friends, Scramble etc. Again, GAME cannot capitalise on the market of new casual gamers who are now surgically attached to their iPhones.
On a note unrelated to GAME, my parents got a Wii and played it all through christmas a few years back, and then played on wii fit...then it sat in the cupboard for ages.
I then lent my parents Xenoblade. My dad's just finished it (took him long enough). Absolutely fucking bizarre, considering they were fairly new to gaming.
blazeuk
Member
Went into the Gamestation in Liverpool yesterday (the GAME in Liverpool ONE being the one getting closed was surprising, but i imagine it cost a fortune for the rent there). The Gamestation seemed to be running as normal, but not much of note in there and it was completely void of people.
Checked out their PS2 game selection (of which is 95% Fifa/ProEvo), but on inspecting the discs of a couple games, they all looked like they had been scraped along the floor outside before being put in their cases. I find it hard to imagine some of them would even work properly.
Checked out their PS2 game selection (of which is 95% Fifa/ProEvo), but on inspecting the discs of a couple games, they all looked like they had been scraped along the floor outside before being put in their cases. I find it hard to imagine some of them would even work properly.
Holy shit. That's one awesome dad...
Mine hasn't played anything beside football games since one of my brother's friends erased his 98% save of Rayman... Back in 1997. To think he was such an enthusiast before >_>
But anyway, back to the topic. I'm really wondering how it'll go down here in France. They have about 180 shops here, and no one seems to be talking about it despite the alarming news.
They've been Micromania (#1 French game retailer, bought by GameStop) only rival after the both of them kept buying other chains. Both have been shitty enough as it is, I don't want to imagine what MM will try to do with no competition in sight.
JennyTablina
Member
ZombieBBQ's post is pretty much what I gleaned from GAME's woes
I am surprised they got suckered into believing the Wii was a long term thing, I love my Wii but even from the start it was plain to see it's mass popularity wouldn't last forever. So many tales of people scrambling to get a Wii for Christmas 2006/7 - playing Wii Sports and whatever else they had bundled with the system (Carnival Games usually...) and then it never got used again. Nintendo kept some casuals going with the release of Wii Fit and a few other games, but that was all they could do.
They handled the DS fad a lot better, it got some preferential shelf space, but they made sure the PSP was well supported for a while and still had fairly fair shelf space for all systems then. All systems got fairly well treated, but at the end? Good luck finding a 3DS title in the DS rack or a new Wii game!
Quite why GAME didn't twig when Wii sales started to drop and Activision themselves actually called time on the plastic accessory party I don't know (though in that case, I am rather surprised that GAME wasn't more supportive of Skylanders, which made a killing over the holiday season)
Though I assume the inability to stock certain special editions, 3DS titles and Skylanders was more to do with GAME's emerging troubles. It didn't all start with Mass Effect 3's loss or even Nintendo's early bowing out. I think it goes much earlier to around the 3DS's release. As it was interesting to note that GAME and Gamestation were a whole lot less keen to stock new 3DS titles after launch, some of that due to a lack of market confidence in the system, but after Ocarina 3D - they really dialled down support for the system. Which I think to a certain degree hurt the 3DS a little, Nintendo certainly had an ax to grind with them for that one. They stuck to the familiar horses they had put their bets on and stuck to it.
They rejected Sega's Sonic Generations CE too, leaving Amazon and any other stockist willing to take it on to enjoy the spoils. I don't know what the earning margin on that set was, but it seemed a more surefire seller than any other collectors edition last year (even if it costed silly money). Yet they passed it up other other CE's, which I'm sure sold well too...but seemed a lousy decision all the same.
Now Apples iOS devices and Android tablets are flavour of the month, though one would assume they are lasting longer virtually because the apps cost next to nothing. But only Apple and App publishers are able to benefit from that market. That said Gamestop US started trading in android and iOS last year and seemed to be making good money on refurbishing older models. They also had some kind of digital distibution model and a flash gaming portal, which seems to be getting money in for them.
Basically it's a lot like Borders downfall, another company who had a management in place, that seemed to sorely misunderstand the specialist market they were working in. "More media! Less Books! Less sitting space! GREAT IDEA"
I am surprised they got suckered into believing the Wii was a long term thing, I love my Wii but even from the start it was plain to see it's mass popularity wouldn't last forever. So many tales of people scrambling to get a Wii for Christmas 2006/7 - playing Wii Sports and whatever else they had bundled with the system (Carnival Games usually...) and then it never got used again. Nintendo kept some casuals going with the release of Wii Fit and a few other games, but that was all they could do.
They handled the DS fad a lot better, it got some preferential shelf space, but they made sure the PSP was well supported for a while and still had fairly fair shelf space for all systems then. All systems got fairly well treated, but at the end? Good luck finding a 3DS title in the DS rack or a new Wii game!
Quite why GAME didn't twig when Wii sales started to drop and Activision themselves actually called time on the plastic accessory party I don't know (though in that case, I am rather surprised that GAME wasn't more supportive of Skylanders, which made a killing over the holiday season)
Though I assume the inability to stock certain special editions, 3DS titles and Skylanders was more to do with GAME's emerging troubles. It didn't all start with Mass Effect 3's loss or even Nintendo's early bowing out. I think it goes much earlier to around the 3DS's release. As it was interesting to note that GAME and Gamestation were a whole lot less keen to stock new 3DS titles after launch, some of that due to a lack of market confidence in the system, but after Ocarina 3D - they really dialled down support for the system. Which I think to a certain degree hurt the 3DS a little, Nintendo certainly had an ax to grind with them for that one. They stuck to the familiar horses they had put their bets on and stuck to it.
They rejected Sega's Sonic Generations CE too, leaving Amazon and any other stockist willing to take it on to enjoy the spoils. I don't know what the earning margin on that set was, but it seemed a more surefire seller than any other collectors edition last year (even if it costed silly money). Yet they passed it up other other CE's, which I'm sure sold well too...but seemed a lousy decision all the same.
Now Apples iOS devices and Android tablets are flavour of the month, though one would assume they are lasting longer virtually because the apps cost next to nothing. But only Apple and App publishers are able to benefit from that market. That said Gamestop US started trading in android and iOS last year and seemed to be making good money on refurbishing older models. They also had some kind of digital distibution model and a flash gaming portal, which seems to be getting money in for them.
Basically it's a lot like Borders downfall, another company who had a management in place, that seemed to sorely misunderstand the specialist market they were working in. "More media! Less Books! Less sitting space! GREAT IDEA"
My dad finished GoldenEye and Ocarina of Time back in the day - used to come back from school, and find him sitting in my room playing on the n64.
I'm just amazed he managed to get into a game like Xenoblade so long after that era.
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