GAME in serious trouble

hightower1

RobbingBandit wrote: »

Wonder have Gamestop bought the Irish stores or at least their stock,might explain the actions taken today.

God I hope not, gamestop on William street (Limerick) have terrible CS. Game staff i always found really helpfull and somewhat more up on games and games news than gamestops. (Had a game stop staff member say catwoman DLC wasnt for the xbox 360.... while standing right behind him was a poster for the DLC with a big 360 logo at the bottom :rolleyes:).

Granted most video game store staff these days have very little interest in games but game seemed to be the most interested at least. Its a shame to see game go but particularly game in limerick. Fond memories of going there since I was a kid. Hope the staff find other employment soon, judging by the ones actually interested in games I have no doubt they will.

Azure_sky

Terrible news. I wonder will Gamestop take over some of the closed stores? Monopolies are never good.

Website says down for maintenance and will be back soon.

http://www.game.co.uk/wcsstore/holding_page/game/index.html?storeId=10151

Retr0gamer

I'd say game are strategically leaving shops open that aren't in competition with other shops so that they are more attractive for a buy out. I bet the spanish stores are going to be mostly left open. Not sure Gamestop is going to be interested in all that debt though and can't think of anyone else that would be interested.

chrislad

FutureGuy wrote: »

Right, onto something more positive....


What were your favourite memories of GAME?

As stated earlier, seeing the PS1 for the first time on a giant 50-60 inch screen was epic.

Also, playing Super Mario 64 for the very first time in there was pretty memorable!

I can remember buying trading cards in there in the early 90's when they were way cheaper than in other stores.

Getting my first job there, and more importantly, getting Zelda: Ocarina of Time a day early! Fantastic!

4 Player GoldenEye on that 50in was a great laugh.

Blowfish

Given that Gamestop reported in their Q4 results about a week ago that they plan on closing more stores than they open this year and that they are pulling out of the UK, NI and Portugal completely so they can focus on competing digitally, I'd doubt they'd be interested in a buyout.

Personally I think it'd be a very very bad move for them.

NTMK

MagicMoose wrote: »

MCV reports all Irish stores closed. I would have thought at least some of them would be viable. Are they really all unprofitable? I don't see how it makes sense to close an outlet if it makes money.

Though saying that, the Cork city store has been conspicuously quiet for some time now. A Gamestop is about 100 yards away and seems a lot busier.

I never had much interest in either outlet though. They're too expensive. I can see the benefit of buying a console there in case it is fault and needs replacing, but for games you can shop online and get exactly the same title for 20 or 30% less.

cork is a bit of an odd shop customers come in waves one minute it would be empty and 10 minutes later it would have a long enough que. There location didnt help to get there from any of the car parks you would pass both hmv and GS probably lost a load of customers that way.

Galway was the same poor location unless you knew where it was you wouldnt see it

alot of their stores suffered because of poor locations i feel

Coriolanus

MagicMoose wrote: »

MCV reports all Irish stores closed. I would have thought at least some of them would be viable. Are they really all unprofitable? I don't see how it makes sense to close an outlet if it makes money.

I'd say there's a few that are profitable, but they'd be the branches that are most likely to have idiotic rentals and lease agreements.
If they're going for a prepack on the whole company they'll need to shed those kind of chains.

DerekDGoldfish

MagicMoose wrote: »

MCV reports all Irish stores closed. I would have thought at least some of them would be viable. Are they really all unprofitable? I don't see how it makes sense to close an outlet if it makes money.

Though saying that, the Cork city store has been conspicuously quiet for some time now. A Gamestop is about 100 yards away and seems a lot busier.

I never had much interest in either outlet though. They're too expensive. I can see the benefit of buying a console there in case it is fault and needs replacing, but for games you can shop online and get exactly the same title for 20 or 30% less.

I would imagine most of the stores have leases on the stores that were drawn up during the property boom and an way ahead of current market prices, many of these stores might be taken over either by existing rivals or small scale indie stores who can negotiate new much lower rents which may make some stores profitable

Oafley Jones

NTMK wrote: »

cork is a bit of an odd shop customers come in waves one minute it would be empty and 10 minutes later it would have a long enough que. There location didnt help to get there from any of the car parks you would pass both hmv and GS probably lost a load of customers that way.

Galway was the same poor location unless you knew where it was you would see it

alot of their stores suffered because of poor locations i feel

Eh? The location was great, expensive I'd say, but it'd be hard to find a location with a higher footfall in the city.

cherryghost

GAME offering no redundancy to the employees being let go apparently. There's a sit down protest in Athlone and Monaghan atm

hightower1

Just another chain thats closed for us all to talk about in 10 years time that makes all of us feel even more ancient!!!!

Bring back quinnsworth Game.

cherryghost wrote: »

GAME offering no redundancy to the employees being let go apparently. There's a sit down protest in Athlone and Monaghan atm

I wouldnt go that far, i mean we all work for a company in some form or another if it goes bust then you can hardly expect redundency as an entitlement. It'd be nice but if its bust then where is the money gonna come from? If my own employer went bust in the morning I would LIKE it but realistically they are shutting down cause they have no more cash... cant expect blood from a turnip no matter how much you may want or need it.

RobbingBandit

Updated list has all Dublin stores closed,thanks to the staff hope you guys land on your feet.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/store-closures-begin-at-game-and-gamestation/093365

RogerWilco1982

FutureGuy wrote: »

Right, onto something more positive....


What were your favourite memories of GAME?

I remember going in there to buy my XBox with some savings five years ago, and my Playstation 3 last year. The joy of walkin' out of there with sweet new tech... :cool:

I always found their staff a pleasure to deal with; a bearded chap in The Dawson Street Branch who actually knew about games and was approachable and witty.
A manager in in The Ilac Centre Branch who price matched something that was €5 cheaper in H.M.V. when I told him I'd rather give the business to his shop as I'd been treated well there before.
An attractive brunette in The Ilac who I had a chat with about the Skyrim dragon statue they had on display.

I sincerely hope there's still a chance those jobs can be saved. If there isn't I wish the staff the very best.

NTMK

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Eh? The location was great, expensive I'd say, but it'd be hard to find a location with a higher footfall in the city.

it was a great store and a huge shopfloor im just looking at it from a competition stand point. if you parked in any of the multistories(except tescos) or got the bus from the northside you would have to walk down past GS and HMV to get there. anyone that would buy games regularly would pop in to both and check to see prices or any deals. chances are you'd buy in GS or hmv.

there is a reason GS moved out of merchants quay and it was because of poor sales

Blowfish

cherryghost wrote: »

GAME offering no redundancy to the employees being let go apparently. There's a sit down protest in Athlone and Monaghan atm

As harsh as it may sound, those involved in the sit in protest are wasting their time. The point of these protests usually is that it disrupts the business of the company involved. Given that GAME is effectively no longer trading anyway, it makes it kind of irrelevant.

A-Trak

I went down to Dundrum for the midnight launch of Halo 3.
Everyone in the queue got free dominos pizza while they waited.

Staff were incredibly friendly despite working at 12 AM.

Another time I went to went to trade in a game, The Darkness.
Instead of the game disc, somehow I'd managed to put a DVD in.
Not a manly DVD mind you, but Ms Congeniality starring Sandra Bullock.

Red Face for me. The lad behind the counter was very good about it, instead of pissing himself laughing he just chuckled and asked had my mrs been trading in my games for cash on the sly.

I'll fully support any sit in if management try to shaft them on redundancy.

Coriolanus

Can't see the sit in working, though I wish them well. I've a feeling the Irish part of the business is too leveraged in rent terms for it to be a part of a future buy out.

RobbingBandit

sugarman wrote: »

Tallaght was closed today with a sign in the window, as someone else said so where Ilac & Dawson st.

All the Irish stores North and Republic seem to be gone I have posted an list but it is being updated by the hour. Sad day for both the staff and customers.

dmcg90

I can't see Gamestop taking over the Galway branch and having two stores because they are so close to each other. I wouldn't rule out Gamestop moving into that premises though, much bigger store and they can finally have midnight launches in it.

cml387

I've got to post here as a "mature" gamer who has shopped in Cork's outlet for many years.

I liked the shop. I liked the purple/black logo. I liked browsing the PC section and later when XBOXED that section as well.
I thought the staff were knowlegable and friendly.

I prefer live shopping to internet shopping mainly because of the uncertainty of getting An Post to deliver properly and not drop in an undelivered note so that I have to race down to the post office to collect it (and they're not open on Saturdays either).

I don't think this is a good omen for the future of gaming in general either. If a professional outlet like Game can go under then I see little hope for Gamestop either, and remember HMV aren't exactly in rude good health either.Xtravision are equally dodgy.

FutureGuy

Bought my first Xbox, my PS3 and my Wii in there. In for the 7 am launch of the Wii, myself and the gf playing Wii Tennis at 7:10 am before work!

nix

Notorious wrote: »

Right, I'm gonna call you out on this one (not as a personal attack), because you don't seem to know what you're talking about. I work in an area that has Game, HMV and Gamestop, and I am constantly comparing prices between all three.

Game don't bump up the prices of new releases by €10, for starters. HMV usually undercut Game's price by €5 and Gamestop are usually either in the middle or the same as Game. Now that Game aren't stocking new releases, HMV have started charging €50 for new releases as opposed to the €45 they charged before. Saying all of that, HMV charge more of a premium than Game on Xbox live points and memberships (2100 points cost €22.50 in Game and €25 in HMV).

They also don't sell new releases and their pre-owned equivalents for the same price. Uncharted 3 was €5 cheaper pre-owned when the game was released. When it comes to buying pre-owned games or trading-in games, I never find that one store is offering constantly better prices - you find better deals in each store.

Prices are never 'normalised' - sometimes Game would put a new release on sale a few weeks after its been released, but usually after a week or so at a reduced price, it gets bumped back up to the full retail price.

And finally....



This is a bad way to be thinking. It's all about competition. With Game out of the equation that means HMV will probably charge €50 for a new xbox release since they won't have to compete with another store in the area. So that's bad news for consumers, regardless of which store they prefer to do their business in.

Also, think about all of the employees that will be out of a job if/when Game close their doors. I'm sure you're not glad that they face unemployment.

I havent bought a new release from game in years because they do just that, so dont tell i dont know what im talking about, perhaps they stopped doing it recently? I havent bought a new release from game in years, as a result of them doing just that, ive SEEN them boosting prices and then dropping them a week later so go shit in your hat.

I went from spending hundreds in game yearly to spending nothing because they did just that, maybe they changed it recently within the last few years, who cares? HMV have been my go to shop as game have always sucked for prices. And i check with every game release i purchase, its like a ritual and i always hit game first and HMV last and HMV always win.

If game were getting undercut by hmv they should atleast make the effort to counter it, match the price. They didnt, EVER. So its their own fault, please dont defend them as if they tried everything they could to be a good shop.

They were the shittest for new releases and their preowned prices are a disgrace, now that may not include all game shops, just every single one in Dublin.

I wish i was wrong, but its the sad truth, i used to always shop in game, then one day they just got greedy as **** and never looked back..

if gaming goes digital its gona go down hill the same way music films and to a lesser extent pc gaming has gone piracy will ruin it for all of us

LostCorkGuy

was in game in cork today , was trading as usual only 1 guy in there , really clear they've cut back on their stock tho

WarZoneBrother

And there goes the only actual game shop in my county gone... Damn it Gamestop please come to Monaghan... I dislike XtraVision over past issues with them...

Wolverine359

There's a feature about the store closures on Sky news at the moment. They showed a diagram of the rise and fall of GAME's shares on a PSP go, a failed console - was this deliberate, or a happy accident?

cml387

..and if you think Game were price gouging,have you seen the prices in Tesco or Argos, who will be all that's left if this trend carries on.

nix

Oh and for the record, i truly am sad that so many will be losing jobs, its never a good thing, especially with how hard it is to get a job these days.

But the people in charge of making the difference can go **** themselves, they should have tried to do better years ago and from my perspective there was alot of things they could have improved on. and by that i mean just their prices.. Staying top dog for overcharging customers isnt an unfortunate occurance, its a choice they made, again and again and again!!

hightower1

Wolverine359 wrote: »

There's a feature about the store closures on Sky news at the moment. They showed a diagram of the rise and fall of GAME's shares on a PSP go, a failed console - was this deliberate, or a happy accident?

TBH I think a lot of where thewent wrong was their sluggish uptake into teh pre owned market. I always recall gamestop hitting that market hard from day 1 but game being a bit behind on that. Even now if I went to my local game the pre own section is smaller than the new section... total viceversa in gamestop.

dillo2k10

If all Irish stores are closed permanently but if even some of the UK stores are saved would those who paid for pre-orders and have gift cards not still get their pre-orders or a refund of the value of the gift cards eventually?

They do still have to pay debts if the company is bought/saved don't they?