UK High Street vide game stores suffers a massive blow...

[max_cady]

Source: MCV-UK

GAME will close Gameplay.co.uk next week, MCV can reveal.

All that website's customers will now be served via Gamestation.co.uk as of March 1st.

The move makes sense for GAME. It acquired Gameplay back in 2004 but since then it has become a forgotten brand at the retail specialist. The site was also not updated when GAME and Gamestation relaunched its websites last year.

Meanwhile, GAME has also informed a further 35 stores that they will be closed. It is part of the store closures already announced by the firm. There are currently 610 GAME and GameStation High Street stores and this will be reduced to 550 outlets by Christmas 2013.

Yikes... 

[MadeManG74]

Tough times alright.

[max_cady]

It's ain't too easy over here in Portugal either...

Gamestop closed all their stores recently, they now only sell through their Spanish counterpart. A lot of Mom and Pops game shop also closed down(and it wasn't something that happened over time, it was like sudden) Even the one where I bought all my Dreamcast games when I was a kid. Got to know the store owner too. :/

Basically the one physical places that actually sell games right now are either GAME or general consumer electronic stores like MediaMarkt, Worten and those huge supermarkets.

It's not surprising at all. Most people finally discovered the joys of buying games online without dealing with annoying sales clercks and long lines whenever a popular game is out.

There's a couple of good portuguese online video game retailers that are starting to crop up and many of them are starting to sell at a more competitive price point(ie closer to the UK market)

[Aki-at]

Massive blow? More like hammer of justice!

To be honest, I would have shed a tear a decade ago, but Game has ruined the high street here in the UK. I cannot forgive them for buying up Gamestation (A store that specialised in secondhand retro consoles and games) and then having them destroy all their retro stock. Yes, Dreamcasts, Playstations and Mega Drives, all destroyed and then they made Gamestation just another carbon copy of Game. Which is a damn shame, Gamestation was great competition for Game now I see very little reasoning going to either.

Their policy of ordering games is also disgusting, for every three preorder they get, they only order two new copies. The understanding is that they would hope the third person, following stock shortages, will come in a purchase a used copy of the game instead. And do not get me started off on how big a ripoff merchent they are. Let's just compare Binary Domain shall we, Amazon, Zavvi, Shopto, SimplyGames etc, all have it for £29.99 - £32.99 whilst Game has it for the full £39.99! No wonder they are going bust.

So yes, whilst I do not like people losing their jobs, Game deserves it sadly.

Especially for burning Mega Drive and Dreamcast consoles and games, RETRIBUTION!

[MadeManG74]

Let's just compare Binary Domain shall we, Amazon, Zavvi, Shopto, SimplyGames etc, all have it for £29.99 - £32.99 whilst Game has it for the full £39.99! No wonder they are going bust.

That's not really fair. Operating costs would be higher at a specialist bricks and mortar retailer for one thing. Not to mention that if they are like EBGames in Austaralia they probably have excellent customer service. Finally, if people are willing to pay that, why shouldn't they do it?

[max_cady]

To be fair, GAME is at least a little more serious than Gamestop. The thing that irks me the most is when employees walk up to you the second you step inside the store and be like "May I help you, sir?" (Think about those clothing shops were the employees are always asking costumers what they want every five minutes).

Normally, I buy my games online. But the GAME store that's within 15 minutes of my apartment is handy for picking up some accessories there, namely the very useful charge & play kits. The only other questionable issue they have is used games. Sometimes you might catch something as ludicrous as Gears of War for £3.99, but games like Stranglehold, Virtua Fighter 5 are still at £30 in the used section?

But anyway, back to the topic, I understand them shutting down Gameplay.co.uk. They've screwed me over so many times... Two games that I bought from them(SvR 2009 and some other game that I can't remember), they never sent me those(they did refund me, though). Missed the pre-order deadline since 2009. The one thing that bothered me most, was when I pre-ordered Alan Wake. The game was scheduled to be released on Friday and they were preparing for dispatch. Then I checked my order again and they said it was delayed till next week. When I e-mailed them about canceling the order, they answered a day later, saying that it couldn't be done... because they had already shipped it. Hardy har har...

Gameplay.co.uk, Gamestation.co.uk and GAME.co.uk are basically the same website to be honest. It's actually pretty redundant to have all three of them.

[Aki-at]

That's not really fair. Operating costs would be higher at a specialist bricks and mortar retailer for one thing. Not to mention that if they are like EBGames in Austaralia they probably have excellent customer service. Finally, if people are willing to pay that, why shouldn't they do it?

But there is the problem, people are not willing to pay, their sales are declining and their once loyal customer base has left them because they charge premium price. Its not as bad as certain other places, but when TESCO, ASDA etc are charging £29.99 for some new games, whilst Game charges the full £39.99 regardless, you know people are not going to shop at Game.

[max_cady]

True. Plus, since video games are not the Supermarkets major revenue stream, they tend to do markdowns pretty often, so it's worth keeping an eye out for this. I got Splatterhouse for 5 bucks at Auchan, it's just insane.