GAME (as in the shop GAME): Retailer Of The Year 2019

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **Hypes** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 1:50 pm

GAME was ok until it got bought by Electronics Boutique

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **Poser** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 1:56 pm

It was the chance of finding a used rarity/bargain that kept me going back. I feel like the arse fell out of the used market a bit with the arrival of digital; I possibly cared less as I became better off and less reliant on used stuff to keep my hobby going.

Just feels like a bit of a relic now and in a couple of years we'll be talking about it in similar terms to those we now use for Blockbuster.

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **jawafour** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 1:59 pm

Hyperion wrote:GAME was ok until it got bought by Electronics Boutique

I liked Electronics Boutique! Great stores on London's Oxford Street and in Bromley.

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **OrangeRKN** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:00 pm

chanticleer wrote:The branch in Newbury closed without warning the week before last. They were trading on the Sunday as normal, and on Monday the shop was deserted with whitewashed windows. Only a small unit, and it was the only place in town which sold games at all.

Oh damn

It was only last time I was in Newbury that I found out the indie game store had closed down, that was saddening.

To think if it had just held out a little more it would have benefited from being the only game store left in town

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **Frank** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:34 pm

NickSCFC wrote:Enjoy playing the demo pods and chatting with the staff when I pick something up, I've been using the same store in the Potteries Centre since the NES days.

I can't remember the last time I was in a GAME store that actually had a demo pod that A) Was actually connected to a working controller or B) Wasn't some dreadful pay-to-play-FIFA idiot scheme.

Every time I go in one they've got less and less actual stock, too. And what little stock they've got is predominantly Disney Infinity tat and Funko Pop figures :dread:

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **Peter Crisp** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:43 pm

I wish we could pool our money together and just rent one store and give it a makeover as I have a feeling we'd be able to do a better job than these clowns. We could prove that game shops can still make a profit (even if it's tiny) and be places where people enjoy going instead of piss smelling hellholes aimed at teenagers.
Make it more like a nice bookshop and don't hassle people or try and upsell them gooseberry fool they don't need.

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **jawafour** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:49 pm

Peter Crisp wrote:...Make it more like a nice bookshop and don't hassle people or try and upsell them gooseberry fool they don't need.

Peter, it's a lovely thought... but there are barely any bookshops around now :-)

.

Thinking about it, I would buy from my local GAME store if new games were "only", say, £2 or £3 more than Amazon pricing... but usually they're about £5 or £7 more and that's for a copy that has been opened and the disc stored in a cabinet. Plus their in-store range seems to be pretty small compared to the shelves of second-hand games and mobile phones.

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **Cumberdanes** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:50 pm

A GRcade branded game store would be pretty cool, the logo would look great on a storefront.

I remember when I applied to work at GAME as a greeter years ago and as part of the interview I had to do a role playing exercise during which they really hammered home that whatever the customer wanted to buy you weren't allowed to give an opinion on it so if they picked up say Ninja Bread Man on Wii and asked if it was any good you weren't allowed to say it was shite and point them in the direction of something better.

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **LewisD** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:53 pm

Peter Crisp wrote:I wish we could pool our money together and just rent one store .

Deaths head posted before about how he wanted to start a CEX franchise and employ GRCadians.

That'd be a laugh.

Until Hugo turned up for his shift ...

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **Cumberdanes** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:55 pm

LewisD wrote:
Peter Crisp wrote:I wish we could pool our money together and just rent one store .

Deaths head posted before about how he wanted to start a CEX franchise and employ GRCadians.

That'd be a laugh.

Until Hugo turned up for his shift ...

Is Chips still around? That was a franchised game store but I've not seen one in years.

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **That** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 3:10 pm

jawafour wrote:
Peter Crisp wrote:...Make it more like a nice bookshop and don't hassle people or try and upsell them gooseberry fool they don't need.

Peter, it's a lovely thought... but there are barely any bookshops around now .

Wholesome nerd shops really struggle. I think everyone has had the idea "let's make a nice little book shop + games shop + cafe which doesn't smell of teenager piss" but it's really hard to encourage a primarily internet-based target audience to come to a place like that, let alone spend a premium there.

I've seen one such place work out but it really emphasises the cafe element. And it's in Oxford, which helps.

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **OrangeRKN** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 3:16 pm

What if the shop was full of telepresence robots - then people could visit the store from online!

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **Preezy** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 4:31 pm

Lagamorph wrote:Shares in GAME dropped 30% this morning after an announcement that profits will be "substantially below" expectations.

Quelle surprise

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **Peter Crisp** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 8:14 pm

I don't know what these people thought but my expectations of the groups financial results are that they'd be a steaming pile of gooseberry fool read by someone gently sobbing in a corner.

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **Godzilla** » Sat Jul 01, 2017 7:58 am

The current store in the metro centre is genuinely terrible:
One staff member hovers at the door to catch shop lifters.
Half the shop is a big black box which appears to be an online gaming room.
Terrible merchandise takes up about 4 shelves.
The switch is at the back of the store, I didn't spot it when I went looking for one.
The staff are forced to push pre order and the new paid for loyalty card.
They don't price match, so when I went to get Mario Kart and they were charging £50, I went around the corner nand got it for £40.

I remember when it was EB, borrow games for 10 days, pre orders guaranteed and it was just games. Lots of games.

Any store that charges more for second hand games deserves to fail.

7256930752 · PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **7256930752** » Sat Jul 01, 2017 8:14 am

With the popularity of video games, I'm sure there is a way they could have reinvented themselves. As it stands they aren't competitive in either retail or online and the only thing that differentiates them from most places is the ability to trade things in.

I have no idea what they should do, probably should have made a deal with a big supermarket when the brand still meant something. As it stands there is simply no reason to use them over a competitor and I think their days are numbered.

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **gaminglegend** » Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:10 pm

Last time I checked in on the Game Situation a few years ago after Gamestation and the like left the high street Game were in the gooseberry fool. Closing down stores left right and centre. Flash forward a few years and they seemed to be doing well, opening new stores and such, and the stores I've seen were often packed. But I've still never purchased anything in there, either purchased online or in all honesty Tesco or Sainsbury's because of the pricing. How anywhere can sell a game at full RRP in this day is beyond me. I've also used CeX quite a bit for 2nd hand games for those that I'm not as wanting to buy on launch.

I think with Game, it's nice to have a store (like HMV used to be) that you can walk around and see interesting things, check out some games , try a demo. But Game seems too costly, never have any working units of consoles or demos, and over staffed with people with high targets to reach. I remember when I was 13 or so Game shops in general were more prevalent and fun, staff were genuinely interested in conversation with you, recommending games or keeping something back because they thought you'd like it and there was lots of demos playing and such. The best game store I've seen is perhaps in Hull. It had a sonic statute and something else and a massive PC hub with consoles set up for command and conquer or LaN battles (not sure which). But it seemed cool, whether that transcends into sales I guess is another matter

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **Preezy** » Tue Jul 04, 2017 10:37 pm

It's the target-driven staff that do my head in. No I don't want to pre-order some random game that you've been told to push, no I don't want to insure my disc for an extra quid, no I don't want to sign up to your shitty overpriced membership card.

Preezy wrote:It's the target-driven staff that do my head in. No I don't want to pre-order some random game that you've been told to push, no I don't want to insure my disc for an extra quid, no I don't want to sign up to your shitty overpriced membership card.

Indeed. I bought a switch at game last weekend as it was to my surprise the only place I could find one last weekend, including online. The guy serving seemed a nice guy but he tried to push me to buy insurance cover for the console, to pre order a game that I had no interest in and to sign up to the new membership scheme. The selling tactic was something along the lines of the fact that because I was spending £279 on the switch the credits I would get back for that would actually cover the cost of the membership scheme for the year. I told him that this was the first time I had bought something from a game store in around five years so I can't see myself buying anything again there soon.

And the other thing was they gave me a free power bank. Now unless someone gave Game a load of Avengers branded power banks for free to give away I see no reason why game would do this. Surely no one is deciding to buy an expensive item in game just to get a free power bank? So if game have bought these then it's an example of them just wasting money.

PostRe: Game Shares "Collapse" by **Lagamorph** » Wed Jul 05, 2017 10:56 am

GAME charge £5 up front to pre-order games now as well.

Except FIFA. It's £10 to pre-order that.

GAME (as in the shop GAME): Retailer Of The Year 2019

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