Mr. Luchador
Member
I can see what Linkified is suggesting.
Put it this way: Did HMV's prices go down or did they increase?
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UK Retailer GAME is dead | Brera's Lament
- Thread starter CrunchinJelly
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I can see what Linkified is suggesting.
Put it this way: Did HMV's prices go down or did they increase?
Corleth the Fey
Member
killer_clank
Member
i really have to spend my £80 credit NOW.
I went in today to at least get ssx on 360, but they didn't have any left. (I really want it
) They claimed they should get more in by wednesday, but I don't exactly believe them given the current situation.
so i could risk until wednesday and see if they get it in and thats ok or i could just go in tomorrow and spend it all. thoughts?
Goddam it's like playing with fire here, it just gets worse and worse.
I went in today to at least get ssx on 360, but they didn't have any left. (I really want it
) They claimed they should get more in by wednesday, but I don't exactly believe them given the current situation.so i could risk until wednesday and see if they get it in and thats ok or i could just go in tomorrow and spend it all. thoughts?
Goddam it's like playing with fire here, it just gets worse and worse.
heliconsoul
Member
Difference is HMV are now the only high street shop in their market. Shopto isn't the only online retailer. If shopto do increase prices another online retailer will pick up the slack.
We'll probably have to wait until Kid Icarus is out to know for sure, Nintendo will really be wanting to push that so if Game doesn't stock it then it'll be almost certain that Nintendo is out.
i really have to spend my £80 credit NOW.
I went in today to at least get ssx on 360, but they didn't have any left. (I really want it
so i could risk until wednesday and see if they get it in and thats ok or i could just go in tomorrow and spend it all. thoughts?
Goddam it's like playing with fire here, it just gets worse and worse.
They're probably not going to close down THIS WEEK.
But I would not be surprised if they don't survive summer.
bobs...onGaf
Member
i really have to spend my £80 credit NOW.
I went in today to at least get ssx on 360, but they didn't have any left. (I really want it
so i could risk until wednesday and see if they get it in and thats ok or i could just go in tomorrow and spend it all. thoughts?
Goddam it's like playing with fire here, it just gets worse and worse.
I actually had the exact same thing happen to me, HMV didnt have stock either though, and apparently supermarkets had low stock of it. That might be down to the SSX distribution from EA rather than Game.
Mr. Luchador
Member
Well, yeah, I agree its different trying to compare High Street to Online, but I can still see what he's trying to suggest.
BRILLIANT!
Game Group owned the 3 biggest videogame only websites, the 4th biggest is shopto. Shopto will be moving from 4th largest to the biggest videogame only online retailer. Just like when Game stopped being competitive when they bought their biggest direct competitor, Gamestation.
J Tourettes
Banned
Game weren't exactly competitive then either.
heliconsoul
Member
Yeah and what's happened to Game...........
I'm guessing Shopto aren't stupid, and if they are another will take their place.
killer_clank
Member
Yeah, I was hoping they still might have some more in their warehouse or something and the girl did seem quite confident about getting more in (I didn't mention their current troubles).
Still, with the news about Capcom I feel very uncomfortable waiting until Wednesday. The company might just decide to cut its losses tomorrow.
Thats exactly my point, they became uncompetitive because they did not need to become competitive.
Shopto wouldn't exactly be stupid especially in this economy.
Little Old Man
Member
Seems like unless Game manage to pull a miracle with publishers, it will be all over soon. But I just don't see that happening once they've left. Very much a domino effect- the more pull out of stocking Game, the weaker the company becomes, thus making the remaining suppliers less likely to stick with them.
You've now got the biggest games specialty store on the high street:
Lacking stock of new games (older and new releases).
Lack of good preowned stock after the Christmas firesale.
Lots of bad word of mouth news about them being passed to customers (can't get stock, Game am doomed etc).
Bloated number of stores from the good times they can't get rid of.
Money issues last month.
Can't really blame the publishers for being wary in such circumstances. I doubt though that Game will fully die given it's significant share of the UK games market. Parts of it will be snapped up by investors/competitors when it goes under and restructured. Perhaps lots of parts, perhaps split into just a couple. Wonder if the Game/GS brands will be kept- an 'under new management' approach, or thrown out?
You've now got the biggest games specialty store on the high street:
Lacking stock of new games (older and new releases).
Lack of good preowned stock after the Christmas firesale.
Lots of bad word of mouth news about them being passed to customers (can't get stock, Game am doomed etc).
Bloated number of stores from the good times they can't get rid of.
Money issues last month.
Can't really blame the publishers for being wary in such circumstances. I doubt though that Game will fully die given it's significant share of the UK games market. Parts of it will be snapped up by investors/competitors when it goes under and restructured. Perhaps lots of parts, perhaps split into just a couple. Wonder if the Game/GS brands will be kept- an 'under new management' approach, or thrown out?
glaringradio
Member
Thrown out, definitely. I'm questioning why people think GameStop are going to come back to the UK, that brand is, like GAME, pretty much poison given how shitty their prices/stores were.
...except it's competing with some *massive* non-videogame-only online retailers. Play, Amazon, supermarket sites... It may have the advantage of being specialist, but it has the big disadvantage of having a *ton* of competition just a click away.
ScreenSplitter
Member
... Did not disappoint.
Perfect. 10/10.
checkeredknight
Member
I'm sorry, but I don't think GAME willingly chose not to stock a title that has pre-orders and that they haven been advertising for months.
BlazingDarkness
Member
Joke character confirmed
APZonerunner
Member
Good old Brera.
Zomba13
Member
I really can't tell if you're trolling or not any more.
A few hours ago I thought you were serious, but you've either jumped the shark, or you're seriously melting down at your computer right now.
Quality stuff.
MarshMellow96
Member
The funny thing is brera is right. No one is going to buy Asura's Wrath and the people who buy Capcom fighters know better or buy cheaper.
If only the reason for not stocking them was because they didn't want them, rather than because they're swirling the drain.
If only the reason for not stocking them was because they didn't want them, rather than because they're swirling the drain.
I'm interested to find out how they know they're getting SSX in on Wednesday? At my store we only find out what's coming in the morning of the delivery when the delivery notes arrive.
With these titles not being stocked it seems like we're not actually stocking any of Friday's new releases. The weird thing is, all stores are getting ordering systems linked to distribution and the websites this month, and we received a load of Nintendo display stuff today (new bundles and things) which suggests we'll be getting Nintendo stuff back in stock this week as well!
I'm honestly not sure what's going on right now!
killer_clank
Member
Wrote a little piece on my blog about the current situation:
http://madhatpirates.blogspot.com/2012/03/game-group-what-happens-now.html
Not much anyone here doesn't know, I just had to get my frustrations written down and give a little advice.
http://madhatpirates.blogspot.com/2012/03/game-group-what-happens-now.html
Not much anyone here doesn't know, I just had to get my frustrations written down and give a little advice.
Fare Godmace
Member
I went to two GAMEs today, and they didn't have Mario Party 9. Those were the only shops that didn't have it yet. A clerk told me that they'd get it later this week.
I'm from Spain, where as far as I know there shouldn't be any problems. The PC section of one of them was almost empty, and the Wii section had free space too (the rest was fine, though). Almost every single game of every platform in both stores had a "Super Offer" sticker. Is it a coincidence?
I'm from Spain, where as far as I know there shouldn't be any problems. The PC section of one of them was almost empty, and the Wii section had free space too (the rest was fine, though). Almost every single game of every platform in both stores had a "Super Offer" sticker. Is it a coincidence?
killer_clank
Member
AFAIK, all the international stores are fully owned and run buy GAME Group, so they'll be in the same situation as the UK stores are.
*Clicks on Darksiders II Pre-purchase link on Steam*
"OOPS! This item is currently unavailable in your region!"
Just one of the reasons Game are disliked by some of the very customers they're meant to serve. What's the point of an exclusive on a game you probably won't even be able to stock?
"OOPS! This item is currently unavailable in your region!"
Just one of the reasons Game are disliked by some of the very customers they're meant to serve. What's the point of an exclusive on a game you probably won't even be able to stock?
To GAME's credit, they vehemently deny this charge every time someone makes it.
Normally companies just remain silent if something's got a whiff of truth to it, so GAME's denials suggests something else may be up.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
Game have fucked over their suppliers AND their customers previously, so I really don't see why publishers should act like a charity and bend over backwards to keep them on life support.
It's not a binary choice between stocking every title in existence, and only stocking current chart titles with whatever random pre-owned selection happens to be in-store.
It is entirely possible to have a selection of chart stuff at the front, and some back catalogue or niche titles filling out the selection. You know, like HMV does.
When HMV are in trouble, the music publishers were out in force defending them.
When Game are in trouble, they get Mastertronic and Rising star games defending them. Lol.
I don't know why I'm arguing with your delusions, but;
1) Game were never particularly competitive
2) Who gives a shit about the rankings of 'game only' retailers? As long as Amazon / Play / Zavvi / any other online retailer are price competitive, shopto will never just jack up prices.
AFAIK, they have denied this once and it was along the lines of 'we are not currently doing any such thing' rather than 'we have never done this'.
And it was made in the short time gap between Brink becoming available and prior to Space Marine not being available.
Game PR also just the other week (earlier in this thread) were reassuring people that they wouldnt be missing out on any more preorders.
Except ones by EA, Capcom or Nintendo apparently.
You're bias knows no bounds. Start looking at it not as a gamer but as an outsider. You need to remember, these publishers are not refusing to sell to GAME, GAME are refusing to buy their stock as they are operating within tighter credit from their banks. They need to show that they can keep to those agreed spending limits. They've clearly chosen to not waste it on the 2011 dregs and will wait for later in the year when the big guns come out.
Mass Effect 3, SFvTekken et al will be in stock at GAME later this year in the pre order section at 70% profit mark up rather than 10-25%.
GAME's strategy is clear, write off this financial year, only 2 months left and minimise loss by not stocking games that won't totally sell without bomba prices.
It hurts right now but it's for the long term good of my share portfolio.
Hum.
Wickerbasket
Member
You can't really talk to people about bias when you have a stake in the company.
All thse people commenting in this thread ARE outsiders, the majority of us have been GAME's customers at some point. The big issue now is that GAME's customers no longer have any faith in GAME to stock the games they want and they can easily buy them elsewhere. They also arn't stocking Mass Effect 3; one of the biggest games of the year. If they can't make money off that, then what can they make money off of?
I think you're kidding yourself if you think your investment isn't in a sinking ship. I really do hope your investment turns out well, but it doesn't look that way.
I think any outsider that sees that GAME can't stock titles from Nintendo, EA and Capcom is going to be pretty worried whatever way they look at it.
They're "refusing" to buy games because they have no money. They would be stocking Mass Effect 3 if they had the cash to. EA is perfectly within their right to not give stock to Game on promises of future payment when it looks as if Game might not be around for much longer, possibly meaning EA will never get the promised future payments.
I'm not sure about writing off the financial year, they might not make it to the end of the year at this rate.
Are you suggesting that they wouldn't profit from selling Mass Effect 3? There's no way the decision not to stock it was anything but forced on them and you're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.
And when you write off a financial year that doesn't mean you put your feet up and kick back. As a share holder I'm surprised that you're fine with the fact that (according to you) Game group don't care about missing out on profit opportunities, in fact they're actively avoiding stocking titles they would profit from. If I was a shareholder I'd be pretty unhappy with the way they're dealing with things. Store closures and redundancies are their best bet of survival but I'm not sure they've got it in them to pull through. They've got none of the good will HMV had when they were struggling and no Christmas period to drag them over the line.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
I don't much care for Game, but I also have no particular axe to grind.
I honestly don't think the British gaming industry (which I do care about being a part of) will see any negative effects
I actually think it is a good thing for the gaming industry that videogames are now perceived as mainstream enough to be sold in a supermarket along with music and dvds.
Yeah, the real question is, if the decision is theirs, why not buy just enough copies to cover your pre-orders? You're guaranteed to sell nearly every one of those copies, and make a small profit at it. In addition, you avoid all this bad press and don't piss off your customers.
That's the clearest sign that it's EA saying that they're won't sell copies to GAME rather than GAME refusing to buy them.
GAME have a £120 million war chest. They're looking at a £30 million loss this year will sales in the billions.
There is space for efficiency savings as well as a buffer to eat up the loses.
GAME aren't stocking mario party 9, mass effect 3, street fighter vs tekken or asuras wrath. This is not the same as GAME not stocking games from EA, Capcom or Nintendo any more.
The games listed are well known but hardly going to massive massive sellers. All of them are the sort that will be in part ex bins in bulk within a month. GAME's pre order bins at massive markup!
I do have a stake in GAME, I invested after threads like this caught my eye. I hate GAME, I'd be the first to line up and make the same comments many of you are making but this is a money making situation for me.
I could have sold up at 9.5p a few months ago after the shares recovered and make 35% profit but chose to hold out. Hindsight, I should have sold and rebought at 3p but we all live and learn! I'm sitting on a £150 loss right now but I'm confident they will recover!
There is space for efficiency savings as well as a buffer to eat up the loses.
GAME aren't stocking mario party 9, mass effect 3, street fighter vs tekken or asuras wrath. This is not the same as GAME not stocking games from EA, Capcom or Nintendo any more.
The games listed are well known but hardly going to massive massive sellers. All of them are the sort that will be in part ex bins in bulk within a month. GAME's pre order bins at massive markup!
I do have a stake in GAME, I invested after threads like this caught my eye. I hate GAME, I'd be the first to line up and make the same comments many of you are making but this is a money making situation for me.
I could have sold up at 9.5p a few months ago after the shares recovered and make 35% profit but chose to hold out. Hindsight, I should have sold and rebought at 3p but we all live and learn! I'm sitting on a £150 loss right now but I'm confident they will recover!
Zomba13
Member
Fair enough not stocking games that won't sell loads, but why stock SSX and not ME3? ME3 is all but guaranteed to sell more than SSX so if it's their choice why not stock the one that will sell more?
The joke character is kinda getting old now.
Okay, I know you want your shares to do well, I would if I had shares.
But you're deluding yourself if you honestly think Mass Effect 3 and probably FIFA Street won't be massive sellers. ME3 sold 3000 copies in one hour on ShopTo. 3000 copies of the N7 edition, in one hour, on one website. If we take the lowest value they were selling the N7 edition for (PC, £55) then 3000 copies of that is £165,000. In reality it'll be higher as they were selling the PS3/360 copies for £10 more. Game have lost out on millions by not stocking ME3, that much is obvious.
And where are you getting the figure for this £120 million warchest from? If they really were sitting on £120 million they'd be using some of it to, you know, buy some games so they have stock to sell to their customers.
Wickerbasket
Member
Brera, you're the most optimistic guy I know.
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