GRcade

GAME are getting less and less interested in, well, games. If it's not Fifa/CoD/Battlefield they don't really give a gooseberry fool. There's way more profit for them in second hand games where they just get what they're given, second hand mobile phones and random gaming related tat that now occupies most of the stores. The branches near me dedicate less than half of the actual floorspace to games, and less than half of that to new games.
There's one branch near me where they halved the size of the store to turn the back section into some PC Gaming arena as well where you can pay to play PC games.

Lagamorph wrote:GAME are getting less and less interested in, well, games. If it's not Fifa/CoD/Battlefield they don't really give a gooseberry fool. There's way more profit for them in second hand games where they just get what they're given, second hand mobile phones and random gaming related tat that now occupies most of the stores. The branches near me dedicate less than half of the actual floorspace to games, and less than half of that to new games.
There's one branch near me where they halved the size of the store to turn the back section into some PC Gaming arena as well where you can pay to play PC games.

The one nearest me still has a big wall display for infinite warfare, nearly a year on.

Second hand phones and tablets in the window of the GAME in Sutton, making it no different to CEX or Cash Converters. Actually, at least CEX had a £25 PlayStation in the window. GAME have opted for a PS4 Pro in their other display. It's off, of course. Just as the Xbox One and PS4 are always off in the store.

Now Square-Enix are reporting strong digital sales, but declining physical sales.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/square-e ... ng/0185550

One has to wonder why Ashley bought 26% of Game shares when physical games are, let's face it, going the way of the DoDo.

JNR wrote:Hardly surprised they are struggling. The guy in the Leamington Spa branch is a decent guy but the stock level outside the casual market is none existent.

To give a counter example of sorts, Game was the only place (between Argos, Sainsburys, HMV, an independent game shop, and themselves) that had Ever Oasis on 3DS and Fate Extella on Switch in stock recently.

They did appear to only have a single copy of both, but yeah. At least I got them!

OrangeRakoon wrote:

JNR wrote:Hardly surprised they are struggling. The guy in the Leamington Spa branch is a decent guy but the stock level outside the casual market is none existent.

To give a counter example of sorts, Game was the only place (between Argos, Sainsburys, HMV, an independent game shop, and themselves) that had Ever Oasis on 3DS and Fate Extella on Switch in stock recently.

They did appear to only have a single copy of both, but yeah. At least I got them!

How is Fate Extella on the Switch? I've been looking at it but thinking I'll wait until I can get it sub-£25, but I'm not sure that's ever going to happen for the Switch version.

Gemini73 wrote:Now Square-Enix are reporting strong digital sales, but declining physical sales.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/square-e ... ng/0185550

One has to wonder why Ashley bought 26% of Game shares when physical games are, let's face it, going the way of the DoDo.

He probably knows strawberry float all about gaming and the trend to digital and just thinks he can make a quick buck.

GAME is in a genuine death spiral, it's not going to last.

Preezy wrote:...(Ashley) probably knows strawberry float all about gaming and the trend to digital and just thinks he can make a quick buck...

Although I am definitely not a fan of the guy, he does seem to be a pretty shrewd businessman. When making the purchase, I suspect that he was looking at the value of many of the shop locations rather than at the gaming business.

jawafour wrote:

Preezy wrote:...(Ashley) probably knows strawberry float all about gaming and the trend to digital and just thinks he can make a quick buck...

Although I am definitely not a fan of the guy, he does seem to be a pretty shrewd businessman. When making the purchase, I suspect that he was looking at the value of many of the shop locations rather than at the gaming business.

Yeah most likely he's looking to full on convert them to CeX type stores after seeing how well they're doing, he's probably just waiting for the company to be on the actual verge of going under so he can buy out the rest of it dirt cheap.

jawafour wrote:

Preezy wrote:...(Ashley) probably knows strawberry float all about gaming and the trend to digital and just thinks he can make a quick buck...

Although I am definitely not a fan of the guy, he does seem to be a pretty shrewd businessman. When making the purchase, I suspect that he was looking at the value of many of the shop locations rather than at the gaming business.

Yeah you're probably right, jawa. Before it know it every GAME will have a Sports Direct section

Preezy wrote:

jawafour wrote:

Preezy wrote:...(Ashley) probably knows strawberry float all about gaming and the trend to digital and just thinks he can make a quick buck...

Although I am definitely not a fan of the guy, he does seem to be a pretty shrewd businessman. When making the purchase, I suspect that he was looking at the value of many of the shop locations rather than at the gaming business.

Yeah you're probably right, jawa. Before it know it every GAME will have a Sports Direct section

You'll be able to buy your new tracksuit, giant mug and CoD game all in the same place. What's not to like?

Moggy wrote:

Preezy wrote:

jawafour wrote:

Preezy wrote:...(Ashley) probably knows strawberry float all about gaming and the trend to digital and just thinks he can make a quick buck...

Although I am definitely not a fan of the guy, he does seem to be a pretty shrewd businessman. When making the purchase, I suspect that he was looking at the value of many of the shop locations rather than at the gaming business.

Yeah you're probably right, jawa. Before it know it every GAME will have a Sports Direct section

You'll be able to buy your new tracksuit, giant mug and CoD game all in the same place. What's not to like?

Well GAME already sell giant mugs and shirts, so a tracksuit wouldn't be much of a change.

Lagamorph wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Preezy wrote:

jawafour wrote:

Preezy wrote:...(Ashley) probably knows strawberry float all about gaming and the trend to digital and just thinks he can make a quick buck...

Although I am definitely not a fan of the guy, he does seem to be a pretty shrewd businessman. When making the purchase, I suspect that he was looking at the value of many of the shop locations rather than at the gaming business.

Yeah you're probably right, jawa. Before it know it every GAME will have a Sports Direct section

You'll be able to buy your new tracksuit, giant mug and CoD game all in the same place. What's not to like?

Well GAME already sell giant mugs and shirts, so a tracksuit wouldn't be much of a change.

I haven't been in Game for years so didn't know that.

Sounds like a perfect fit between Sports Direct and Game then.

Giant mugs available now at Sports Game Direct

Imagine if/when GAME goes bust, he gets all the stores for nothing, sells them off and puts concession stand in sports direct, selling only cod, fifa and pes

Agreed. Buying the rest of the business as it's about to go under, then closing those stores in Iess profitable areas before turning Game into a CEX type retailer seems the most likely scenario.

The rare times I window shop in game always seems wildly overpriced compared to online. So like bovvered

Moggy wrote:

Lagamorph wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Preezy wrote:

jawafour wrote:

Preezy wrote:...(Ashley) probably knows strawberry float all about gaming and the trend to digital and just thinks he can make a quick buck...

Although I am definitely not a fan of the guy, he does seem to be a pretty shrewd businessman. When making the purchase, I suspect that he was looking at the value of many of the shop locations rather than at the gaming business.

Yeah you're probably right, jawa. Before it know it every GAME will have a Sports Direct section

You'll be able to buy your new tracksuit, giant mug and CoD game all in the same place. What's not to like?

Well GAME already sell giant mugs and shirts, so a tracksuit wouldn't be much of a change.

I haven't been in Game for years so didn't know that.

Sounds like a perfect fit between Sports Direct and Game then.

Giant mugs available now at Sports Game Direct

I'm almost certain I saw some Pokemon branded tracksuit bottoms in Game the other day. Swap them out for Dunlop or something and Game are there.

Lagamorph wrote:How is Fate Extella on the Switch? I've been looking at it but thinking I'll wait until I can get it sub-£25, but I'm not sure that's ever going to happen for the Switch version.

I waited for the Switch version so I can't compare it against the PS4 or Vita performance other than saying it comes with DLC costumes included (which, at least for Saber, are all varying levels of shameful - as you would expect).

As a game I'm enjoying it. I'm only really familiar with Fate from watching Fate/Zero (I tried reading Stay Night but VNs aren't for me), but I have a pretty decent understanding of the universe/concept. Being a fan of it definitely helps, and I wouldn't recommend anyone going into Extella if they know nothing of the franchise. It's also a direct sequel to Extra (which I own for PSP but have never played), but the game sets up the MC to have amnesia so you don't need to know what happened in the first game. I imagine it would add to the experience though.

Gameplay-wise it's a competent Musou game, so you should basically already know if you're going to enjoy it. There are plenty of enemies on screen and it all runs smooth and flashy, as you would hope.

The story is as you'd expect if you're a series fan - it's a very interesting world with some cool concepts as long as you can put up with constant, overbearing and somewhat creepy adoration of Saber in the writing.

Basically, if you like Musou games and like Fate it's an easy recommendation. If you don't I'd say avoid.

I've never watched/played any of the Fate games/series. Think one of them is in Netflix so I might check it out.

Something about battling for the Holy Grail is about all I know. And it borrows a fair bit from Arthurian legend doesn't It?

Heroic figures from the past (both real and fictional) are brought back to fulfill roles in a battle for the Holy Grail. Saber, one of the main characters, is a gender-swapped King Arthur, but there are famous figures from all over the world and from different eras.

Extella is set in the Extra universe, which is an alternate take on the concept where the Holy Grail is on the moon and everything takes place in a digital world. The main character looks like King Arthur Saber, but that's just because the whole series is infatuated with her character design. In Extella she is still called Saber, but is actually the manifestation of Emperor Nero of Rome.

Jeanne D'arc also looks exactly the same.