UK Retailer GAME To End All In-Store Video Game Sales
https://www.gfinityesports.com/news/game-ending-in-store-video-game-sales/
Posted by CallumBrine
UK Retailer GAME To End All In-Store Video Game Sales
https://www.gfinityesports.com/news/game-ending-in-store-video-game-sales/
Posted by CallumBrine
34 Comments
What’s the point in it then? you might as well just shut it down at that point.
There’s actually a market for Physical game things that I’d personally use. I’m not sure if it’s a viable business though?
There’s a whole world of specialist gaming hardware that I’d love to be able to browse for in person. Aim at the hardcore gamers, not people that want to just buy actual games.
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Advanced controller market has sky rocketed recently. From Elites, to Scuf controllers, Razer Wolverines, GuliKit KK3 MAX Controller, the list really is endless these days. They all have slightly different back paddle layouts and trigger stop styles, and it would be nice to hold them in person before buying.
Then there’s all types of accessories for them that would be nice to see in person. packs that replace the battery back with extra shoulder buttons. Stick extenders. grips and covers.
Gaming keyboards and mouses, they don’t have to stick to console.
I’m thinking basically PC world, for the keen gamer.
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Then they can keep selling the popular video game related things, like board games, cards and so on also.
There’s a market for people that buy gaming things as their main hobby, and I’d happily pay a little more than I can get it online, to be able to go into a shop and get it then and there after trying it.
GAME got me into gaming and I could have spent hours just browsing in there as a kid. Increasing digital sales, expensive products, prioritising mercy over games, and the death of the high street generally have all helped kill it off. There has not been one near me for over five years and they have not been missed.
Last time I went into game it was about 3% videos games and 97% plastic junk toys and merch.
I completely forgot that Game even exisited. I’d normally just go into CeX.
Didn’t they normally have a small collection on vinyl records in Game also?
Damn, end of an era. I’m surprised it lasted this long.
They sell physical games and consoles for full whack and they just can’t compete with the online retailers who sell the same games and consoles significantly cheaper.
Honestly not surprised – you know a business has reached its end of life when sports direct have bought it
I mean, sports direct owns it now, not suprised.
The stores are an afterthought in other stores most of the time now.
But also, digital sales are the way forward. I don’t know how they can run a business selling board games and tat.
I give it a year.
I’m honestly surprised they haven’t tried to transition over to boardgames and trading card games. Videogames are essentially entirely digital these days outside of a niche group who like to buy physical and that group is only getting smaller. So they need to use the shop space for something else.
Not surprsing. Been one of the most expensive shops for games for quite some time, easily by an extra £10, sometimes more, even for preowned.
Nobody buys them. Like CEX. The merch though does sell, so makes sense to sell clothing, accessories, pokemon and figurines – all with large fanbases.
Popped in to GAME Chester last week. Oh, it’s a sad shelf behind the till in sports direct with stupid prices. Nevermind then
I think this is pretty much shows they’ll likely be shutting down relatively soon then, if they’re stopping doing the main thing the shop was for in the first place.
I don’t buy games from them as the prices and such aren’t good these days so its better to get stuff from elsewhere, but when they’ve been around as basically the main iconic highstreet video game retailer for so long that It’ll be a shame if they close.
I still go in fairly often just to have a look around at all the merchandise and other stuff they have, and while that is most of the shop now (lots of pop figures, unfortunately) it’s still nice to have somewhere that’s dedicated to that sort of thing. I remember buying some of my first consoles from them. A PS1 and PS2, and several other things over the years, so definitely a shame if they close but it’s understandable i guess with how things have been handled.
I have very fond memories of going to the GAME store in Manchester’s Arndale centre in the mid 90s. Around the release of the Playstation (the original one) they had a demo station setup running Wipeout at the entrance to the store. I can only imagine how many people bought the console just because of that!
It’s probably about 20 years since I actually went into one of their store though.
Damn, end of an era I guess. Always loved just browsing in GAME and not buying anything. I stopped buying games when they started to cost £70
It’s a store which tries to sell a specialist product which is not bespoke and where the staff don’t have any specialist knowledge to assist unfamiliar buyers.
A person therefore might as well buy from a local supermarket or online, and buy some other stuff at the same time.
Sunk so many hours of my childhood wondering around GAME with my mate, reading the back of game cases and chatting about games. Might have a go at the demo they set up on a screen of some random game.
So many good times.
I worked there a long time, starting in the 90s when it was EB. The decline started around 2012, the Wii was an amazing high point but after that digital sales just eroded the market.
Theres very little margin on selling a digital code compared to a hardcopy of a game (which is totally backwards imo). Preowned games had a margin of 30 – 40% generally and new 10 – 20%. Hardware very little. Digital was in single figure %. With rents increasing every year and footfall declining it brings a death spiral into retail and with the added increasing dominance of digital on consoles the store could never survive on games alone.
All that tat kept hundreds of people in work. All those extras they offered were the difference between stores going under or not. I had some amazing times there, worked with fab people. SPD didn’t kill the company, natural market forces did and SPD ironically gave it a few more years of life even though its current state is nothing like it was.
The more that GAME has started to turn into a Forbidden Planet type shop with mostly toys and the like taking up all of the floor space, I stopped going in there. It’s a small shop and it makes it nearly impossible to browse the actual video games.
They seem to be busy all of the time, so definitely have a target market – it’s just that I’m not in that market
Last actual game I bought at retail from Game was Skyrim Alduin Edition at a midnight launch event. They’ve been going downhill ever since.
Still remember hopping on the bus to go into town and buying my copy of Battlefield 2 from Game, though i think it was not too long after that when things started leaning heavily digital, even then I would typically buy my physical games online (shopto, amazon etc)
Go further back, I can remember Electronics Boutique, my mum bought me Desert Strike for my Amiga from one of those…
One important aspect though is collectors editions which do still see a lot of popularity, got my Stalker 2 CE preorder with them…hopefully they don’t go under or something.
The cex model of being a general technology trader was the way to go. Ironically the name “Game” is out of date and the original “Electronics Boutique” would be far more apt to change the business in to.
I haven’t been to a game in probably 8 years when I was at uni. Always cheeper to either go 2nd hand in CEX or buy new at other stores like Smyths/Currys/John Lewis etc. It’s a shame because as a kid it was huge for me, but they clearly pivoted towards merchandise and I just don’t care about any of it.
They are just in corners of Sports Direct now. I had to go into Sports Direct to get some shoes the other day and it’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. An overweight Game employee pushed away into a corner while surrounded by all the young, in shape Sports Direct employees.
Stopped shopping there when it changed from Electronics Boutique and they stopped selling edge magazine in the one near me.
Finally my boycott is paying off.
Yeah they’re 50% Funko Pops at this point, no point selling games
I knew it was the end when my local Game opened up in House of Fraser. Failing retailer moving into another failing retailer.
On a similar note they also just opened a small Toys R Us section in WH Smith – again failing (or once failed) retailer moving into a failing retailer..
HMV had a pretty successful revitalisation, but they actually had some high priced stuff to build their stores around, where the customer is willing to pay a premium for a specific experience/reason. Vinyl is cool to collect and display and people will pay to support their favourite artists more directly than just having a Spotify subscription, and 4K blu-ray is much better quality than streaming, and having your own copy of a movie is getting better and better in an age where stuff is getting removed/deleted from streaming.
GAME has none of this to fall back on. Console makers are practically digital 1st nowadays and you still have to do massive installs when you have a physical disc. Having it preloaded the week before and ready to unlock just makes more sense for most people these days. It sucks for game preservation, but Playstation and XBOX games are so bloated, discs are making less sense.
Shame but i can’t remember the last time i ever bought anything in there during the transition to digital games. What i do remember was crazy release and 2nd hand prices compared to CEX and online retail like Shopto and Amazon.
I’m still sour over them absorbing Gamestation, it was the far superior store, and incredible for secondhand games.
I remember picking up this janky looking copy of something called “Sonic 3D Blast” on the Gameboy for £2 there back in 2007. I captured some footage of it and uploaded it to YouTube and got flooded with comments from people begging to buy it from me. It turned out to be some rare, sought after bootleg that was prized by collectors.
Things like that simply don’t happen any more, with the advent of the internet these companies only know the price of everything but the value of nothing.
Game not selling games? It’s like Asda not selling Asdas.
End of an era, time to move on.
Another brand that failed to move with the times. They were perfectly positioned with consumer recognition to move into, and be the lead in, the online retail space, bit like Blockbuster who should have been Netflix.
Fairwell nostalgic memories of reselling and trading games.
End of an era. My local one opened up a gaming cafe type thing for a couple of years that was pretty cool (nice to go play games with the other half there as she doesn’t have her own gaming pc).
Why? I like having a physical disk to play my games on. Plus I can exchange it for money or an other game when I’m done with it