U.K. Retailer GAME Loses Mass Effect 3

[Insideout Ink Demon]

yikes, not good for gaming.
Game going will shrink the variety retail options available, n lets be honest, can anyone see Game lasting beyond a year now?

 

[xxDontknowHowtoDeleteanAccountxx]

I feel quite guilty now, as I have managed to grab a ME3 Collectors edition before they are all grabbed up again.

So, does this mean I have indirectly stolen a collectors edition copy from someone? That makes me unhappy... but not as much as not having a physical copy of the game

And I thought things seemed bad when they cancelled the PSP games, but after this I cannot see GAME recovering...

 

[jackanderson]

What.

The.

Fuck.

Seriously: what the fuck?! I've had my N7 edition pre-ordered (with a £5 deposit) at Gamestation for the last month and a half! I've even traded in games and had that money put on a gift card in order to pay for it! Hell, it was the only way I'd be able to afford it!

And now, 8. Frakking. Days before release (8. FRAKKING. DAYS!), "Oh, sorry! We're not selling it anymore! Here's a £5 gift card to ease the pain! Why are you aiming that shotgun at my head?"

I'm not expert, but I'm fairly certain that, as a videogame store that sells videogames, you earn money by selling some fucking videogames! And Mass Effect 3 will sell. And sell and sell and sell. Shit, why don't you just cut off the rest of your body parts whilst you're at it?

In summary: GAME and Gamestation...

 

[Kmadden2004]

Now I am well and truly pissed off.

It's bad enough having your order cancelled with a week's notice, but now verified by visa is f--king around with me so I haven't been able to order it off any of the alternate suppliers who are still stocking the collector's edition.

Not happy.

 

[tommy15994]

I somehow managed to secure a pre order at a gamestop *shudder* for the N7 collectors edition minutes after i got the news. Lucky as all hell. Still really pissed about this though

 

[MarsProbe]

Well, after getting up this morning and frantically checking online for somewhere to buy the CE (to no avail) I was finally saved by HMV of all places.

I had resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be able to pick up the CE at short notice, I popped into HMV and asked to preorder ME3. I was pleasantly surprised when the shop assistant advised they were getting some of the Game stock so they would be able to offer the CE (which they normally wouldn't have stocked). So yeh, ME3 preorder in hand once again! Good times.

I wonder though, will I also be able to get the N7 t-shirt HMV are giving away with the standard edition? I know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but still....

 

[Spygon]

Well, that's really gonna cripple them, since GAME own gamestation, if they go that would largely be the end of specialist games stores in the UK.

Or a huge enough opening in the market for new retailers

Nope they are just giving more room for the supermarket chains to muscle in on rather stupidly it seems.

 

[MarsProbe]

In this economic climate?

In case you hadn't noticed, the UK economy is pretty much on life support at the minute, and we're pretty much guaranteed to head back into a recession. If you can find a way to convince banks to give you a massive start up loan to get a chain of games retail shops going, go right ahead.

As for me, I'm just pretty sad that one of the only high-street shops that deals exclusively in games seems to be on the way out.

Yeh, it's highly unlikely that even a small independent game shop would get off the ground in this climate, let alone a massive nationwide chain. In fact, if Game (and Gamestation) were to disappear, here we'd be left with one dedicated game shop, which just so happens to be a small independent.

Regardless of what we all think of Game (there are times I've really liked them, other times I couldn't see them far enough) but it would indeed be sad if they went. Sadly, given all the vitriol directed their way by the community, the chances of people holding back on their rage for long enough to try supporting them seems slim to none.

That said, it doesn't really help that here in the UK especially, people just aren't spending much on such luxuries right now. It's not like Game would be the first entertainment chain to go under in recent times. Remember when we used to have Borders? And Virgin Megastore?

 

[David Fernandez]

After the leases on their loss making high street shops expires, they should shut up shop and abandon these sites and focus on being a really good competitively priced online order games firm. I know it means lay offs and it will be painful for people but ultimately the consumer will get what they want. I pre-ordered around 8 months ago and now look where I am. Scrambling madly to get my pre-order sorted last minute.

You must be really in deep trouble if you take a list of all your pre-orders for games from consumers to a bank (RBS) and you are already established in the industry and the bank turn around and say 'NO' to giving you credit.

I'm going to spend those in store point real soon before game goes under, this weekend probably.

 

[coolbeans21]

What.

The.

Fuck.

Seriously: what the fuck?! I've had my N7 edition pre-ordered (with a £5 deposit) at Gamestation for the last month and a half! I've even traded in games and had that money put on a gift card in order to pay for it! Hell, it was the only way I'd be able to afford it!

And now, 8. Frakking. Days before release (8. FRAKKING. DAYS!), "Oh, sorry! We're not selling it anymore! Here's a £5 gift card to ease the pain! Why are you aiming that shotgun at my head?"

I'm not expert, but I'm fairly certain that, as a videogame store that sells videogames, you earn money by selling some fucking videogames! And Mass Effect 3 will sell. And sell and sell and sell. Shit, why don't you just cut off the rest of your body parts whilst you're at it?

In summary: GAME and Gamestation...

Dude I think they'd be selling the video game if they could, as it stands a £5 giftcard on top of your deposit is a pretty nice apology from a store thats on its last legs.

=edit for expansion=

also if you've credit on a giftcard, spend it quickly, as in the past stores going into administration have stopped accepting giftcards as a condition of the administrators and the money is lost.

 

[putowtin]

After the leases on their loss making high street shops expires, they should shut up shop and abandon these sites and focus on being a really good competitively priced online order games firm. I know it means lay offs and it will be painful for people but ultimately the consumer will get what they want. I pre-ordered around 8 months ago and now look where I am. Scrambling madly to get my pre-order sorted last minute.

You must be really in deep trouble if you take a list of all your pre-orders for games from consumers to a bank (RBS) and you are already established in the industry and the bank turn around and say 'NO' to giving you credit.

I'm going to spend those in store point real soon before game goes under, this weekend probably.

Yeah but as RBS are treading water as it is, I doubt they'd have lent GAME a tenner!

 

[GraveeKing]

Seems to me this is going to bugger both of them up pretty badly.
Which isn't a problem for me much because I never really supported either of them!

Still, there are always other ways of buying the game - it's hardly the end of the world for us in the UK. It just means it'll be considerably harder to get store-bought, but that's about it really.

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

Good, I hope this finally kills GAME.
I've been pissed off at them for a very long time and I think it's about time they got what's coming to them.

 

[sideshow]

why do i get the feeling that this is some weird ass karma for EA's stupid UK petition stunt?

 

[jackanderson]

Dude I think they'd be selling the video game if they could, as it stands a £5 giftcard on top of your deposit is a pretty nice apology from a store thats on its last legs.

=edit for expansion=

also if you've credit on a giftcard, spend it quickly, as in the past stores going into administration have stopped accepting giftcards as a condition of the administrators and the money is lost.

Yeah, I understand now. I've had to do some research on this for a news story I'm writing and... it's bleak. I understand that it's not totally their fault and that was my knee-jerk "What the hell happened to my pre-order?!" reaction at the time.

Christ, now I feel super guilty at being mad at them with what's just been happening.