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[Linkified]

Guys if we take the facts from the MCV article:

• Game Group had a retail summit to address it's suppliers
• MCV has sources that claim the CEO delivered a compelling speech
• 100 Execs left with a firmer idea on how they can help Game Group Ltd.
• The speech ended in a round of applause
• A couple of firms were notably absent

What we can infer from this action summit, if you will, is that the Game Group will be around longer than the summer. And that EA and Nintendo weren't present.

This is really all we have to go on. We need to see what companies like THQ which are also suffering do towards Game Group.

Edit: Have they announced yet what 35 stores were closing this week yet.

 

[clockpunk]

I'm putting my money where my mouth is!

Like I said, I would never think of shopping there as they've always had shit prices, shit trade in deals, shit staff (usually) and run the place like its a currys.

GAME right now remind me of DSG, they were really struggling about 8 years ago. Very similar company to GAME in their treatment of customers, up selling etc. Comet was making a killing an walking all over them. 8 years later, DSG is still going strong while Comet was sold for £1 last year.

GAME are too evil, too devious and too aggressive to die. They've told EA to go fuck themselves and refused to stock any of their March line up, that's going to hurt EA more. GAME don't have to worry about the unsold copies of ME3 that will be selling for the traditional uk bomba price just before the end of the financial year.

My money is safe. I've got another £500 waiting to pump into GMG when it gets to 2p a share!

I agree with Brera, to an extent - and I too am certainly holding onto the stock I acquired a few weeks ago. This financial year will be tough, but *if* GAME Group can make it through, come next financial year, there could very well be a more positive outlook. If.

 

[Psychotext]

http://www.lse.co.uk/ShareChat.asp?ShareTicker=GMG

Much more cautious and less complete doom and gloom. Don't get more wrong, on the face of it, it looks bad but GAME have been here before, just before the best years of its existence.

At that point they didn't have hundreds of redundant shops sucking their bottom line drier than a salt pit.

Not to mention the damage they'll have done to their consumer reputation with the EA / Nintendo stock fiasco. It takes very little to lose customers forever.

The best outlook right now is that they shut a huge number of stores (to streamline) making themselves attractive for a potential takeover. Though if I was running Gamestop I think I'd rather watch them die and then pick what's left of the good stuff.

 

[Pie and Beans]

http://www.lse.co.uk/ShareChat.asp?ShareTicker=GMG

Much more cautious and less complete doom and gloom. Don't get more wrong, on the face of it, it looks bad but GAME have been here before, just before the best years of its existence.

You're clearly in way over your head and tackling this like some kind of fantasy football league and not weighing up entire market movements. Sure GAME hit the shit before, but that was in an entirely different era. Before they became fat, swollen and insane absorbing Gamestation into their bio-mass.

Never mind of course internet shopping has exploded over recent years with Amazon and Play being at the forefront of people's minds, digital distribution cutting out going to stores at all, and the ferocious price war only juggernaut supermarkets can fight.

GAME should have long since trimmed their quantity of stores and focussed on quality, trying to create the need to visit a game only specialist. Instead here we are on their brink, and they're offering the worst prices on the high street and not even offering the biggest games of the year amongst their stock. They only have retail partnerships and market share to lose at this point. The commercial landscape has completely changed and they've failed to adapt to it.

 

[Brera]

GAME have always had multiple shops nearby even in the days of futurezone. As long as shops are breaking even, it doesn't make much difference. They'll be closing 35 shops, it's a start.

As others are now speaking up, I hope I sound much less like a moronic troll. I'm taking a gamble, I'm being balanced. As much as I hate GAME, they have a future. Close down 100 stores for now, new tills being installed soon which will modern with web integration eg reserve online

 

[Cosmonaut X]

Coming to this late, so I've possibly missed a mention of it, but weren't Nintendo hit particularly hard by the collapse of Woolworths? If they're seeing GAME in the same position, I'm not surprised that they're pulling back...

 

[Linkified]

Coming to this late, so I've possibly missed a mention of it, but weren't Nintendo hit particularly hard by the collapse of Woolworths? If they're seeing GAME in the same position, I'm not surprised that they're pulling back...

I think its possibly got more to do with the fact John Lewis activly wants mini-Nintendo world type stores in each of their department stores.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/super-retail-bros/087009

 

[Psychotext]

I think its possibly got more to do with the fact John Lewis activly wants mini-Nintendo world type stores in each of their department stores.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/super-retail-bros/087009

That just might work. I could see them doing well as a "family games retailer".

 

[ScreenSplitter]

GAME have always had multiple shops nearby even in the days of futurezone. As long as shops are breaking even, it doesn't make much difference. They'll be closing 35 shops, it's a start.

As others are now speaking up, I hope I sound much less like a moronic troll. I'm taking a gamble, I'm being balanced. As much as I hate GAME, they have a future. Close down 100 stores for now, new tills being installed soon which will modern with web integration eg reserve online

You're not a troll, it's just your basic stance of "I hate GAME's practices, but as long as my stocks are worth something I'll defend them blindly". I think it kind of annoys people.

 

[-Cally-]

I really don't think EA need GAME at all. I bet secretely they can't stand GAME because of all the second hand games shit they pull. EA and all the other pubs don't see a penny of that money. Then you hear stories like Shopto selling 3000 copies in one hour, and you can imagine how much the bigger websites like Amazon and Play.com would've sold over the past 24 hours.

Bottom line is GAME need EA way more then EA need GAME.

 

[Diablohead]

I think its possibly got more to do with the fact John Lewis activly wants mini-Nintendo world type stores in each of their department stores.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/super-retail-bros/087009

the john lewis in Reading is fecking huge with multiple floors, something like this would work really well especially if they advertise it on the main windows.

 

[Linkified]

the john lewis in Reading is fecking huge with multiple floors, something like this would work really well especially if they advertise it on the main windows.

Thing is though these would be a located in the childrens department, and obviously that comes with it a few restrictions on age rated games for Nintendo. Especially considering they are the distributor for Tekken Prime in UK.

 

[dc89]

Went to GAME earlier because my bro wanted to spend his giftcards before they either expire or something happens to GAME.

So he wants to buy FIFA 12, preferably brand new. They didn't have it in stock at all, well new anyway. They had a used one priced at £32.99.

So we went next door to Gamestation, they had it but you can't use GAME giftcards there.

So it was back to GAME. Another customer was in at this point and he was asking for MGS: HD Collection. The GAME employee said 'we don't have them in stock, we only get like 1 copy and once it's gone it is gone. You see, the HD Collections are limited editions.'

...

Also I was going to pick up a game for my Vita. I only have Super Stardust but there is no way that I'm shelling out £44.99 for a handheld game like Uncharted or FIFA. No way.

 

[Sephiroth503]

I really don't think EA need GAME at all. I bet secretely they can't stand GAME because of all the second hand games shit they pull. EA and all the other pubs don't see a penny of that money. Then you hear stories like Shopto selling 3000 copies in one hour, and you can imagine how much the bigger websites like Amazon and Play.com would've sold over the past 24 hours.

Bottom line is GAME need EA way more then EA need GAME.

Sums it up pretty good.

 

[glaringradio]

Went to GAME earlier because my bro wanted to spend his giftcards before they either expire or something happens to GAME.

So he wants to buy FIFA 12, preferably brand new. They didn't have it in stock at all, well new anyway. They had a used one priced at £32.99.

So we went next door to Gamestation, they had it but you can't use GAME giftcards there.

So it was back to GAME. Another customer was in at this point and he was asking for MGS: HD Collection. The GAME employee said 'we don't have them in stock, we only get like 1 copy and once it's gone it is gone. You see, the HD Collections are limited editions.'

...

Also I was going to pick up a game for my Vita. I only have Super Stardust but there is no way that I'm shelling out £44.99 for a handheld game like Uncharted or FIFA. No way.

£35 in ASDA if that's any help?

 

[dc89]

£35 in ASDA if that's any help?

FIFA 12 or Vita games?!

 

[LordAlu]

FIFA 12 or Vita games?!

The Vita games I think. Uncharted/FIFA is £44.99, UMvC3 is £39.99 and most of the others (except Reality Fighters and Ridge Racer?) are £34.99.

 

[Brera]

You're not a troll, it's just your basic stance of "I hate GAME's practices, but as long as my stocks are worth something I'll defend them blindly". I think it kind of annoys people.

That's exactly my stance. It might wind people up but life is full of contradictions. If you didn't shop at GAME then you guys wouldn't be so angry about it all.

In looking at my investment in a detached way rather than as a gamer. I'm shocked there are so many people with game credit on here and on RLLMUK. Anyone with a passing interest in games wouldn't shop there at all never mind loyalty cards and trade ins!

I'm looking at it as a business investment. I don't see them going under, it's a rocky road but a company that has made its first loss and has a nearly 2billion pound turn over isn't going without a fight and this is their fight.

My advice to you gamers is get some payback. Get ms or psn points with your credit, sell it online and buy some game shares at rock bottom prices. £100 could make you £500 at least in 12 months.

Make some money out of GAME's misery. That's what I'm doing!

 

[glaringradio]

I don't see them going under, it's a rocky road but a company that has made its first loss and has a nearly 2billion pound turn over isn't going without a fight and this is their fight.

THIS is their fight? Exactly how fucked are you if all of your money invested into this turns out to be complete fluff? From the way you're talking and the amount of blind faith you're chucking around because you have money tied up in this, you'd think you've literally got your entire life's savings put into it.

Also nobody is angry at you, I think we're all more a bit shocked how someone can make an investment on GAME, purely because they've had a few sort of good spikes in their share price before. You talk about these mature and balanced discussions, but the link you posted demonstrates a level of discussion that is on par with your insane babbling about how you hate the company but they WILL make a comeback... Infact the link you posted shows a bunch of "investors" who have taken the basic (and frankly very stupid) rule of "buy low, sell high" at a very base level instead of looking at the bigger picture.

You constantly post MCV articles that are yoyo'ing all over the place about GAME. That meeting that happened with execs and publishers was last week, before this debacle with EA even happened, so that big plan that the execs thought up could have completely gone to pot with this latest revelation.

Probably rambling now, but yeah, you're like a broken record basically. Also, would you care to let us know exactly how much money you've made so far? Because I'm willing to bet you've made little to nothing, infact, I'm willing to bet you haven't made any money at all given the information that is out there about how much you've paid for your shares vs. what price they are now.

 

[SmokyDave]

Why is there so much drama over one guys stock portfolio?

Move on, people.

 

[Linkified]

You constantly post MCV articles that are yoyo'ing all over the place about GAME. That meeting that happened with execs and publishers was last week, before this debacle with EA even happened, so that big plan that the execs thought up could have completely gone to pot with this latest revelation.

To be fair to Brera, at that retailer summit last week there were a few notable exceptions who weren't there. Which it also states in the article, so we could assume EA and Nintendo wasn't there.

But the entire Game situation is similar to virtually every high street retailer currently out their. Couple that with Spain looking to be the next Italy and Greece - its in a time capsule. They need to sell of all international assets.

 

[Neko Mimi Mode]

Lost revenue is something GAME can potentially repair. Lost consumer confidence? lolno.

 

[s_mirage]

Lost revenue is something GAME can potentially repair. Lost consumer confidence? lolno.

This. Who will preorder anything from them now that they are failing to deliver on possibly the biggest game of the year? If they can't compete on price, can't be relied upon to honour pre-orders, and are offering a bad experience by annoying the hell out of customers with upselling at the tills, why will people keep giving them custom?

Don't get me wrong, I want Game to survive in some form, but that form need to be closer to the awesome Game of old rather than the current one that is following the same generic, braindead, business plan that seems to be haunting many high street retailers.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

Lost revenue is something GAME can potentially repair. Lost consumer confidence? lolno.

Precisely. At my Gamestation, there are more pre-orders for Mass Effect 3 than there have been for anything else since Modern Warfare 3. Now every single one of those people have to pre-order elsewhere, a week before the game releases. This will piss people off in all kinds of ways:

1) The hassle of having to pre-order something a second time.
2) The possibility of not being able to pre-order it elsewhere in time to receive it on day one.
3) People who pre-ordered the formerly Game-exclusive N7 special edition now have to pre-order it elsewhere, thereby moving to the back of the pre-order line, and potentially not being able to get it.
4) People not learning about any of this until the day ME3 releases, who then travel into their local store, only to be told they can't get it. This of course affects people who didn't even pre-order.


Even if this EA supply problem is temporary, the damage won't be. Most consumers aren't going to be aware of the reasons behind any of this; regardless of if it gets sorted or not, are they going to continue shopping at a store that let them down for such a high-profile game?

 

[dose]

I popped into Game today, to see what amazing offers they had on. They had the Ico/SOTC collection for £25, new. Had a look at the pre-owned section, it was £28.
Quality work there Game.

 

[PaulLFC]

GAME's bosses may pull the plug on the embattled high street shop, insiders have claimed.

Directors are considering cutting their losses after GAME failed to secure stock of Mario Party 9 and, crucially, Mass Effect 3.

Indeed GAME will not stock any of EA's planned March releases, including Tiger Woods 13, FIFA Street, and The Sims 3 Showtime.

A source "close to the situation" told The Express: "There is a real risk that GAME's directors will pull the plug because they can't be sure that the company can survive through the next trading season, and then insolvency becomes inevitable.
"They are in discussions with their legal advisers about whether to shut up shop rather than rack up more losses."

GAME could miss out on a potential £7 million in revenue and £2.5 million in profit by not stocking Mass Effect 3, an analyst predicted last week.

Last month GAME managed to convince its syndicate of lenders, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, to relax its debt covenant. But sources "close to the State-owned bank" told The Express it was running out of patience.
"The immediate response from RBS will be to push for more store closures, but the tipping point for the directors and the lending banks will come when the stores don't have products to sell," said an "industry source". "This could happen if more suppliers follow suit."

Another source added: "RBS will be looking for the best way to secure its position or improve it. Suppliers pulling their products is a stepping stone to administration, but the problem for RBS pulling the plug is that it will be an expensive and complex administration because Game has 1274 stores across Europe and Australia.

"Lending banks will only want to consider a pre-pack administration, where there is a pre-arranged buyer, but who would want to buy GAME?" RBS declined to comment on the report.

GAME Group was last week forced to issue a note to shareholders in an attempt to calm concern over its ability to stock new games.

Its current stock issue with EA is "temporary", and both parties are working to make sure it doesn't happen again, GAME said.

GAME added: "As part of the strategic plan development process which it announced on February 3, the Group has been working closely with its suppliers, as well as other stakeholders. In particular, the Group has been discussing with its suppliers the level of support and engagement it needs from them over the coming months. There have, during that process, been isolated instances where it has not been possible to agree launch plans for individual game titles."

US retail giant GameStop is thought to be poised to make a bid for GAME, particularly its UK and Spanish business.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...sses-may-pull-the-plug-on-game-insiders-claim

 

[daviyoung]

ruh-roh

 

[PaulLFC]

Eurogamer have just posted the UK chart details - Mario Party 9 was third despite Game and Gamestation not stocking it - the highest position a Mario Party game has achieved.

 

[daviyoung]

Yeh, they're sinking into obscurity. Once the next batch of shops close they'll be a complete irrelevance. If Gamestop buy them out they're going to need to set their pants on fire.

 

[winstano]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...sses-may-pull-the-plug-on-game-insiders-claim

Seems most of the quotes are from the Express... If only Diana were around to save GAME.

 

[Dynoro]

Eurogamer have just posted the UK chart details - Mario Party 9 was third despite Game and Gamestation not stocking it - the highest position a Mario Party game has achieved.

Shows how much the UK market has changed; that would not have been possible a few years back

 

[herod]

Gamestop would probably be better off just trying to buy some of the vacant stores after the whole thing has gone under. Why buy all that debt? I don't see why they would do it.

 

[subversus]

feels good to see high street retail dying. No more "we won't stock your game because it's not AAAAAAA blockbuster with 1232 million dollar budget".

feels not so good about the loss of jobs though.

 

[RoyalFool]

I just hope they don't try to blame it on the economy when they do go under. I also wonder what repercussions it'll have on the other chains who are starting to get into the pre-owned business (Tesco etc).

 

[Omikaru]

So, any GAF'ers want to open up an indie game store in Cardiff? Once GAME goes under, of course.

I'm half serious about this, by the way.

 

[m.i.s.]

Shows how much the UK market has changed; that would not have been possible a few years back

Do you mean the supermarkets muscling in?

 

[herod]

Has HMV ever had this kind of stocking issue?

 

[daviyoung]

So, any GAF'ers want to open up an indie game store in Cardiff? Once GAME goes under, of course.

I'm half serious about this, by the way.

No-one in their right mind would open up a video game shop nowadays. The only hook that place would have is that you'd have to pay a subscription member fee, and with that you get a discount for anything in the shop and you get to demo any game you want in store.

 

[Omikaru]

No-one in their right mind would open up a video game shop nowadays. The only hook that place would have is that you'd have to pay a subscription member fee, and with that you get a discount for anything in the shop and you get to demo any game you want in store.

D:

I know, I'm just deluding myself that I can do something worthwhile with my life.

Seriously though, I'm not completely opposed to the idea, if we could come up with a way to, you know, not suck like GAME and do good business.

Do you mean the supermarkets muscling in?

Not to mention the likes of Amazon, Play.com and so on.

 

[j0hnny_385]

So bascially GAME is going down. Hard. I'd be pretty surprised if they manage to pull themselves out of this mess.

One question, though. If they do start "closing up shop", any chance we'll see some awesome BOMBA selloff deals...? Thoughts?

I know, I'm a vulture, I can't help myself...

 

[herod]

So bascially GAME is going down. Hard. I'd be pretty surprised if they manage to pull themselves out of this mess.

One question, though. If they do start "closing up shop", any chance we'll see some awesome BOMBA selloff deals...? Thoughts?

I know, I'm a vulture, I can't help myself...

On what? They have hardly anything of any worth in stock.

 

[Mael]

I fail to see a company being closed not because they did shit to customers but because their suppliers where even shittier than them is a good thing but what do I know I never cared about the publishers at all (btw thanks to the online pass shitty thingy ATVI got another customer EA could have gotten).

So bascially GAME is going down. Hard. I'd be pretty surprised if they manage to pull themselves out of this mess.

One question, though. If they do start "closing up shop", any chance we'll see some awesome BOMBA selloff deals...? Thoughts?

I know, I'm a vulture, I can't help myself...

there's 2 times where you MUST shop at a b&m shop regardless of what they sell :
when they're rebuilding the thing and need to get rid of stock
when they're closing shop and need to get rid of stock, in 2005 I got Pikmin 2 sealed for less 20 bucks (to give you an idea the best price at the time was something like 40 bucks used)

 

[Mael]

CEX and Grainger will take up the slack on pre-owned, the concentration of the pre-owned pool of games may push prices down even more.
I get the feeling pre-owned is more trouble than its worth for supermarkets, their primary mission is to get you doing your shopping there. I think they will increase their stock of new games, as the brainless masses who frequented GAME for new releases all go to Tesco/Morrissons/etc. They certainly better get as many units of ME3 as they can.

And GAME ex-directors will blame it on the economy, rather than their hideous mis-management, as per usual.

Yeah IDK how it's going in the UK but here they didn't wait for GAME to close to get into the used market.
Basically if your supermarket sell games they dabble in the used market now.
also dabbling into used market is another reason for customers to go to the supermarket, so yeah it's not going away.

 

[Roxas]

No-one in their right mind would open up a video game shop nowadays. The only hook that place would have is that you'd have to pay a subscription member fee, and with that you get a discount for anything in the shop and you get to demo any game you want in store.

I live in a fairly small town in North Wales, and someone opened up a game store here. It wasnt too bad and was selling some good games at decent prices (i got infamous 2 for £10 a month after its release), it was in a great spot too, all the school kids had to walk past it every day so you'd assume they would get decent business.

Anyway i go in one day to take a look and the owner tells me he's forced to shut up shop, he was getting hardly any business. They lasted about 10 weeks. People would just much rather buy online these days, a lot of online stores like Play, Amazon etc all sell 2nd hand games too so there really isnt any point in independent stores anymore either. Sad but thats the way it is now.

 

[daviyoung]

Yep. Unfortunately if you want to open a videogame shop you'll have to offer much more than just videogames because there is no way you'll be able to compete with the retail giants regarding price.

A modern arcade, or play cafe, where people could have a nice environment to play together locally on their handhelds, try out new games on linked-up consoles and have soft drinks or snacks is the only game-based idea that I think has any potential to pay off the rent on the building.

 

[LordAlu]

Yep. Unfortunately if you want to open a videogame shop you'll have to offer much more than just videogames because there is no way you'll be able to compete with the retail giants regarding price.

A modern arcade, or play cafe, where people could have a nice environment to play together locally on their handhelds, try out new games on linked-up consoles and have soft drinks or snacks is the only game-based idea that I think has any potential to make pay off the rent on the building without crumbling.

I always thought this too. A place with maybe a small cafe inside and some chairs with consoles/TVs to play on in the center may possibly work. Unfortunately margins are almost non-existant with such massive RRPs that you need to look elsewhere for your profits so your normal B&M game store would fail pretty hard now.

 

[Coppertracks]

If you fund it, I'll run it

 

[Dynoro]

A modern arcade, or play cafe, where people could have a nice environment to play together locally on their handhelds, try out new games on linked-up consoles and have soft drinks or snacks is the only game-based idea that I think has any potential to pay off the rent on the building.

This is similar to what we have in my town; its a place to play games, meet up for local multiplayer and grab a bite to eat while you are at it and have been running a few years. They don't sell games though - that's a mugs game.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

Yep. Unfortunately if you want to open a videogame shop you'll have to offer much more than just videogames because there is no way you'll be able to compete with the retail giants regarding price.

A modern arcade, or play cafe, where people could have a nice environment to play together locally on their handhelds, try out new games on linked-up consoles and have soft drinks or snacks is the only game-based idea that I think has any potential to pay off the rent on the building.

Even that doesn't work, there was a store where I used to live that tried to offer all of that but after the first few weeks he was only left with a small handful of regular customers - without selling on eBay as well the store would have been closed within the month.

There simply isn't any room in the market for small indie stores nowadays, every single one I've known over the years is either dead or dying.

 

[Brera]

Unsubstantiated rumors. No way would loose talk like that be allowed into the public domain. Pull the plug on a company that makes billions in sales every year rather than try and make savings?

Try getting that past shareholders!

I'm only in for £500 on GAME, £1000 total portfolio, I've made £100 messing with short term dealing, buying low and selling high. I am a beginner but getting the hang of it. I have approached this casually like I'm playing a game, heck, I'm using my iPhone to make all my deals. Ive expanded to invest in thomas cook and lloyds, all volatile shares where I'm sure I'll make megabux!

My next move is to save up £1000 which'll be my buffer fund and I'm going to start day trading. People have made shitloads just buying and selling GAME and TC shares!

I hate GAME as much as you guys...for longer than you guys as well. I came to the conclusion it was a shit company when they were EB and offered me £7 for indiana jones on the SNES despite selling it for £29.99. Even as a 14 year old, I knew they were a bunch of cocksuckers and they haven't changed at all. They only use GAME as a brand to avoid paying royalties to EB.

Like I said, they ain't going anywhere and I intend to make money out of them and so should every other gamer!