back to article Game Group shares halted, 'no value left' admits board

Retailer Game Group has inched closer to administration after requesting that its shares be suspended from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as there is "no equity" left in the business. Europe's largest seller of video games, which has 1,300 stores, also revealed it remains locked in discussions with suppliers and lenders over …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    bah

    Obviously, I feel for the ordinary workers losing jobs because of this. On the other hand, I have been boycotting GAME for quite some time, over their increasingly desperate and vicious attempts to strongarm publishers in order to prevent them selling games on Steam in a timely manner, if at all.

    GAME cost more, gave a worse service, the meatspace shops were awful, and the mail order was slow and crummy. Clinging to a dead business model while bullying people was never going to end well.

    On the other hand, please, spare a thought for the normal employees whose fault this clearly isn't, it's an especially harsh economic time to be facing something like this.

    1. CD001

      Re: bah

      Actually - I found GAME online ordering was great... would generally be next-day; sometimes I'd get games on pre-release on my doorstep the day before the release date because they allowed 2 days for shipping.

      I never found any great difference in price to other retailers (ordering online) and it was always nice when you'd clocked up some points on your reward card to get a "free" game.

      Not really used the physical stores very often in recent years though - maybe 1 game in 5 I've bought from GAME has been from a physical shop.

      So I'd never really had a bad experience with GAME ... and bear in mind my Reward card started off as an Electronics Boutique one.

  2. SJRulez

    Partly agree with you, we have 2 Game and 1 Gamestation in our local shopping center which seems pretty stupid anyway.

    I tended to avoid going in game as they seemed to have complete muppets for staff, the game station people tended to be a lot better.

    1. Fogcat

      I didn't realise until all this kicked off that Game and GameStation were owned by the same company. I've always found GameStation better. Were they a takeover or something?

      1. Chad H.

        Game and Gamestation

        Gamestation used to be owned by Blockbuster, then BB sold the Gamestation brand and all non-co-located sites to Game a year or two ago IIRC.

  3. pig

    Legs left in the business.

    I think whoever picks up the business, from the ashes, will have a chance of doing very well.

    If they rationalise, down to 1 shop in each town, their costs will be slashed yet their physical reach will remain similar (as they currently have multiple shops in each location. At one point Croydon had 5 - 4 Game and a Gamestation).

    A lot of people, myself included, prefer to buy physical games then downloads (and not only because my 40gb PS3 can only hold about 2 games, or 1 d/l game and a few saves, before decalring itself full). Even when games are released digital only there will be a market for shop downloads - to thoise people who don't have the speed or allowance to download a 50gb game at home. Add to this other shop based sales of digital items, such as X-Box points for cash to people without a credit card, and the future for physical shops doesn't look so bleak.

    1. CD001

      Re: Legs left in the business.

      In Wolvo there are 2 GAME shops on the same street - literally only about a dozen shops apart... it's a hang-over from before EB and GAME merged (or at least from before they were all rebranded to GAME) so one used to be an Electronics Boutique, the other GAME.

      Why they didn't close one down and save the rent, I never understood.

    2. rich_a
      Thumb Up

      Re: Legs left in the business.

      I agree with you, mostly. My town centre has two Game stores a 15 second walk apart (one is an ex EB store) and a GameStation a two minute walk away from both of those.

      If they got rid of the Game stores (in shopping centre with extortionate rents) and concentrated on the Gamestation (on the high street, smaller shop but piled high with games - possibly more choice than the two game shops put together), they'd save a fortune in rent and serve the same populace. Combine with a reasonable pricing strategy (i.e. shaving a couple of quid off the RRP, not exactly Amazon prices, but not the current gouging prices they set for new releases) and they'd turnaround the business in no time.

  4. JDX Gold badge

    Does this mean I should pop in...

    ... on the look out for sales?

    1. Chad H.

      Re: Does this mean I should pop in...

      Most of the good stuff I understand went in the fire sales they've been running in the past few weeks... But if you're after a cheap POS machine, now might be your time.

      1. ElNumbre
        Joke

        Re: Does this mean I should pop in...

        "Cheap PoS machine"? So, there's a sale on Wii's then?

    2. Dotter

      Re: Does this mean I should pop in...

      Probably, yes. The sales have already been on for a couple of weeks, though.

  5. wardster
    Meh

    Game

    over man, game over.

  6. Captain Underpants
    Unhappy

    According to the Beeb they've openly stated they're going to file for administration. Sucks for the grunt-level staff, though no doubt the management bellends responsible will still get to trouser some decent cash. Check out the denial on display:

    "Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games at IHS Screen Digest, said...'there was still a place for a large specialist games retailer on the High Street, with 70% of spend on games content in the UK still in the form of physical media.' " (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17455742)

    Notice how he hasn't made *any mention* of how much of that spending is on the big-ticket new-releases, nor how much of it happens through high-street retailers.

  7. Ben Rosenthal
    Go

    Good riddance

    1. thecresta
      Stop

      @ "Good riddance"

      At a time when unemployment is at an all-time low, and the global economy is showing no immediate signs of recovery, we should be putting our petty annoyances behind us and showing our support for those who are going to be out of work.

      I couldn't care less about Game, they screwed up and we all know it, but I do care for the majority of the 10,000 ex-employees who are suddenly going to be signing up for jobseeker's allowance....

  8. I think so I am?
    Megaphone

    All I hear in my head

    .....is the death music from Sonic or Mario , ha ha

  9. Drew Scott
    Stop

    I had £40 in a game gift card from Christmas. Walked around for about 15 minutes trying to find something I wanted. As I've only got a PC for gaming that was impossible as I didn't want the Sims 3 or games from 2 years ago; the only PC stock available.

    So, I walked out with 2 iTunes Gift cards that I could use conveniently and on anything from Music, Films, TV shows, games, apps...

    I think that's pretty much their problem - if all you do is sell 1s and 0s I'd be questioning the viability of your rent paying shop.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Legs left in the business."

    Err... no... second hand sales are going to die out as developers kill them with activation codes etc.

    New sales will go direct as physical media moves (as it will) to online delivery.

    Add to that more competition from supermarkets and online (Amazon etc.).

    RIP.

    1. Chad H.

      The first two have a couple of years to go yet. The third is a problem, but not an insummountable one. Time to create events for these stores to hold - Championship COD, etc.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Someone (like Tesco?) will just buy the web address - who would really want the stores / overhead.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'll give them a Quid for the business

    though i dont think the £100 in my bank account will quite cut it to refloat the company.

    though im sure i might make a bit back on the liquidation sale of all assets...

  13. P. Lee
    Meh

    No differentiation, no price competition, no success

    Game's problem is that they sell exactly the same product as can be found in non-specialised shops at a higher price. Unlike a book shop which could have rare or unusual books, games are all over-hyped and widely available. There simply isn't enough variety to support a game-only shop.

    In the 80's where you had specialised and dissimilar kit, computer shops could survive. Now they have to compete with massive warehouses and the postal system selling homogenous goods. Only Apple survives, but they have the USP of nice touchy-feely kit, OSX and iLife.

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