De oudste nog overgebleven game-winkel dreigt uit het Nederlandse straatbeeld te verdwijnen. Game Mania, al dertig jaar de onbetwiste nummer één op het gebied van fysieke verkoop van videogames, loopt in de rode cijfers en is nu naarstig op zoek naar een overnamekandidaat. Game-deskundigen zien...
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Article in Dutch, but the gist of it is that Game Mania, sort of the less malevolent Benelux equivalent of Gamestop and only remaining brick & mortar game stores, is pretty much done for. They're deep in the red and basically have 3 months to find a buyer or they're probably finished. Article is talking particularly about the Dutch branch, but I can't imagine the Belgian one is faring much better. A few months ago my local store closed shop and since then 3 more have bitten the dust.
It's not unexpected. Competition from Amazon and Bol is fierce, both offering a wide range, sometimes at lower prices, and with more frequent discounts. And game stores are suffering all over as physical is fading to start with. Nintendo will likely be the last holdout, but I can imagine even that will in time become limited to release via Limited Run Games or it's like for anything that's not Nintendo 1st party. Which for the record would suck balls.
I was never a huge fan of Game Mania, but I did like that they let you buy second hand games with ecocheques, which essentially amounted to 5 government subsidized games since I didn't really have much other use for the cheques, because who buys an eco-friendly fridge every year? Anyway, I'll miss that.