Game (UK Retailer) Discussion

[Detective Shadzter]

Bosses may pull the plug on Game

http://www.express.c...he-plug-on-Game

Game Group on alert as fans are urged to switch

http://www.dailymail...h.html?ITO=1490

[Badnik Mechanic]

Did anyone else spot what Game did on their facebook page last friday? The day Mass Effect 3 was due out? They actually put on their 'pre-order Pokemon Black & White 2 now.'

What kind of idiots do they have working there?

[Katzii]

I have to admit, I saw that pre-order thing, kinda went "hahahaaaaaaaaa.....no" and left it at that.

Definitely not going to run the risk of pre-ordering anything from there when their stocking situation seems so erratic.

I did notice, after I went on my game shopping spree the other weekend, this sticker on the back of my Jak and Daxter HD trilogy:

Can't say I blame Sony, really.

[Covskin]

Now GAME are missing out on Capcom's latest:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/338566/game-wont-be-selling-street-fighter-x-tekken-or-asuras-wrath/

I've had a puzzling though. If GAME had an exclusive special edition for an unreleased game that they were then unable to stock, the SE seems to be getting split amongst other retailers.

What about previously-released games, like Batman Arkham City, and their exclusive Robin edition? I ask because I am yet to pick up AC, and probably won't until later on in the year when I have the time to play it. Will that just disappear, or will it start appearing on places like Amazon?

[BlueTidalGamer]

I had a feeling those two wouldn't make it to GAME. Sucks cause I had Street Fighter X Tekken Special Edition preordered at Gamestation, which may be affected by this as well. I might go to my local Gamestation tomorrow and ask if they know anything about it and if they are affected by this too just to make sure.

UPDATE: Gamestation won't have the games either so i'll cancel my preorder and get it online.

Edited March 5, 2012 by BlueTidalGamer21

[Stacy]

I've got about £20 on my Gamestation card should I spend it now before the poop hits the fan?

[Badnik Mechanic]

Let me think about that for a moment...

Erm! YES! Get those points spent asap, you think it's coincidence that none of the ME3 pre-orders have their £5 credit yet?

[Stacy]

My parents are saying the same thing so I think I'll do that.

God this sucks.

[BlueTidalGamer]

It is possible to gain back a £5 deposit right?

UPDATE: They will return cash back. I really should of known that already.

Edited March 5, 2012 by BlueTidalGamer21

[Blue Blood]

It is possible to gain back a £5 deposit right?

[Detective Shadzter]

Capcom releases now too? I'm definitely going to see if I can head into GAME tomorrow afternoon and spend my £10 gift card and £5 worth of points. I think I'll get myself some Microsoft Points, PSN credit or Nintendo eShop credit.

[Bisylizzie]

Now GAME are missing out on Capcom's latest:

http://www.computera...r-asuras-wrath/

I've had a puzzling though. If GAME had an exclusive special edition for an unreleased game that they were then unable to stock, the SE seems to be getting split amongst other retailers.

What about previously-released games, like Batman Arkham City, and their exclusive Robin edition? I ask because I am yet to pick up AC, and probably won't until later on in the year when I have the time to play it. Will that just disappear, or will it start appearing on places like Amazon?

[Badnik Mechanic]

But what about special/collectors editions

Edited March 5, 2012 by Hogfather

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

GAME today, GONE tomorrow.

[Katzii]

Does make you wonder doesn't it? Was this partly the reason why Game didn't get the Sonic Generations collectors edition?

I wonder that too, especially with the reasoning they seemed to give for it, the whole thing about not many people wanting it and all that.

But yes, definitely to anyone who has points and gift cards, get them spent up. I have to say I enjoyed my £95 shopping spree the other weekend, and I have another £2.50 on my GAME card that I may use towards some more PSN points or something.

Speaking of, you can tell how slack GAME have become. I spent my points well over a week ago, and it's still showing as me having £15 worth online (although when I go to buy a game, it only shows the £2.50. Boo).

Edited March 6, 2012 by Katzii

[Agent York]

I would recommend spending this time to buy rare games or games you've been meaning to buy for your catalog. There was a time where a certain game store chain in my city was closing. It was a shame since I actually liked the chain a lot, but in the closing weeks they had some amazingly cheap sales since everything had to go, and I was able to buy some games I had been meaning to buy for a while for super cheap.

[BlueTidalGamer]

I went to get my deposit back from Gamestation today and talked to the manager about the current problems with GAME and how it's affecting Gamestation too. She said she's not that worried by it. She said that March is a rough time for new stock due to the recession. She said give it a month or two and things should be back to normal.

If March is a rough time, what about February and January?

Wither things will go back to normal or not depends I guess. The manager and staff in there are so nice. I'd hate for them to lose their jobs.

[Detective Shadzter]

Just spent my £10 gift card and £5 worth of reward points this afternoon at GAME on 2100 Microsoft Points. I couldn't believe how many recently released games from a variety of publishers on various platforms had 'Coming soon' stickers on them. There weren't many new copies of games on sale.

I wonder that too, especially with the reasoning they seemed to give for it, the whole thing about not many people wanting it and all that.

Their reasoning was that they were "put off" by the £99.99 RRP for it.

http://www.sonicstadium.org/2011/10/game-group-put-off-by-sonic-generations-collectors-editions-rrp/

[Badnik Mechanic]

The Game Facebook rep has mysteriously vanished... maybe he ran out of extra lives?

It's just utterly crazy how quickly this has happened. There really is no way back for them is there? No nintendo games (goodbye Wii-U), no EA games, capcom titles are in doubt (chances are both the Resident Evils won't make it into their stores), Ubisoft vita titles.

And many many more!

They're just never going to come back from this are they? Well not unless they do a Zavvi and go online only.

[Detective Shadzter]

GAME's Twitter rep has linked to this Service Update about them not stocking Street Fighter X Tekken and Asura's Wrath.

Service Update

Unfortunately we have not yet been able to agree launch plans for Asura's Wrath and Street Fighter X Tekken, and they will not be available in our stores or online when they're released this Friday (9th March). We're in talks with Capcom to resolve this temporary situation and we apologise to our customers for this disappointing news.

Customers who have already placed a deposit for a preorder for any of these titles will receive a full refund using the method of payment used for the purchase e.g. for those who paid by credit card, the amount will be reimbursed to the card used for payment. For customers who have placed either a deposit or preorder we will be offering the £5 worth of Reward points next time they visit the store*

Customers who have preordered in store*, will have the opportunity to add £5 worth of Reward points to their card if they visit us from 6th March through to 31st March 2012

• Customers who have placed a deposit for the title* will receive a refund as well as the £5 worth of Reward points between 6th - 31st March 2012

• Customers will need to provide evidence of deposit or preorder to qualify for their extra points.

• Customers who have preordered online, will be provided with an online voucher code to the value of £5, redeemable before the end of March.

For more information we would advise customers to visit Capcom at www.capcom-europe.com on how to get hold of these titles.

[Bisylizzie]

^The rep(it's the same guy for both) seems to still be hanging around, just kinda staying in the background. I think they're not trying to get too many peoples hopes up at the moment, just trying to sort out problems that people are having and stuff

[Danj86]

I worked at GAME! I always tried to be as helpful as possible and actually listen to customers and not be too pushy. But you HAVE to push extra products on people like accessories, deals, GAMEcare etc because it counts towards your stats which affects your performance as an individual and as a store. If your stats get too low you can get in big trouble.

We were targeted on how much money you get into the till, what percentage of that is accessories, what percentage is GAMEcare, pre-owned, trade-ins, how many pre-orders you got and how many reward cards you swiped. So when you consider that staff are targeted to get within a certain amount every day it's understandable that some can be a little pushy.

Although some staff are just jerks. One guy I worked with was really pushy to the point of flat out lying to customers or purposefully pushing annoying customers (as in people who didn't want any extras) onto other members of staff so it wouldn't effect his stats. I had customers flat out tell me that they avoided coming into the store on days he worked because they hated having to talk to him.

But yeah I'm being totally off topic lol...

Well...GAME is our topic, so I don't think talking about customer relations is going off topic...

Now that I think about it, was there a lagitimate reason for GAMEs downfall? I had to skip over most of this thread simply because it's so long, so I wouldn't know it it has already been mentioned...

But back to what you said. W-What kind of trouble does somebody go through if there stats are too low? I would think being fired would be a bit extreme. I'm not sure I like the idea anyway. I mean it does seem like a system with several flaws, one being with this co-worker you mentioned. I would abandon the whole store rather then only go when that person isn't there, if one of the workers was unpleasent to me...

late post is late, and i've been ninja'd every which way

but yeah, my local GAME's staff are a blast to talk to, make you feel welcome and always, and i mean always ask if they can help you with something? of not i just go in for a chat with the manager about his latest games/achievements etc.

i know what you mean though, my Gamestation (before that closed down) where all a bunch of sad miserable bastards that mocked anyone that didn't buy Halo, CoD or Mass Effect oh and Gears of war, in fact one time one came out and asked if i was an otaku pervert because i bought Blazblue over street fighter... i took it with a pinch of salt but did complain to the manager later in the week when picking up Bayonetta at launch date, so i know how you feel, sometimes people that work in game shops take for granted they have a cool job, and tend to be snobby and rub it in peoples faces sometimes.

Grr...that sort of thing p***es me off so much!! I mean, I expect the workers to be gamers themselves, otherwise why choose to work there? But to actively insult paying customers and clearly know nothing about the games in question...that's a punchable offence!

I don't mind being called an "Otaku", although it is...technically an insult, but to label someone a pervert over something that isn't there? Does that mean all Tomb Raider fans are pervs? (Some probably are...)

Anyway, I should reframe from a rant, because I can feel one brewing as I type...

So back to the main issue, at first I didn't think the loss of GAME would effect anything. But after thinking about it and reading several posts, I'm no longer sure...

There's only like...2 or 3 other stores I can think of, that exclusively stock games in my local area. I'm always being told fresh air and walking can help improve the mood, but if I can't physically go out and buy games, how else could I motivate myself to get out more? I mean, going for walks with no purpose is a strange area for me, I need a purpose...

[Blue Blood]

I laughed at this:

Paradox: 'GAME is a bully, current problems karma for past mistakes'

Published Wednesday, Mar 7 2012, 12:05 GMT

Paradox Interactive has claimed that GAME's current problems are a result of its past mistakes.

The PC publisher said that the European retailer is a bully and has itself to blame for its current stock issues and store closures.

"GAME has basically been bullying people around and now it comes back to bite them on the ass," executive Fredrick Wester told GamesIndustry.Biz.

"It's been abusing their situation in the UK for a long time but it always come back to you. Look at EA and Nintendo, they're not even willing to help. They will take the hit just to get rid of GAME and start over.

"One of the biggest problems is they haven't behaved nicely to other people, so it's karma."

However, Wester said that GAME is one of many businesses failing to adapt to the changing marketplace, calling out Xbox Live Arcade and PSN.

"The problem is with the technology shift in this industry, they're so quick," he said.

"Why didn't XBLA and PSN become like the App Store when they came out four years before? It's because they don't have the same openness to new content, they have multiple filters before you're in."

Paradox Interactive is a Swedish-based publisher which releases its PC titles through digital channels. Recent games include Crusader Kings II, Cities in Motion and Magicka.

GAME recently received lender support to alleviate financial troubles following apparent concern from publisher EA.

The high street retailer's shares plummeted by 90% in 2011, despite £1 billion in annual turnover.

Edited March 7, 2012 by HYDROCITEE

[Stacy]

I still want to buy physical copies of games as I don't want to buy throught the publishers they tend to fuck you over especially EA.

[Scott]

Yeah, I'm with ben, I download quite a number of Digital games, but I don't want all games to become Digital only, especially on a console.