Noticed something in Game today...

[m0ds]

And sadly that's probably the first and last time you'll see an AGS game in Game. Too bad, they've always been..err...expensive and Xbox orientated. So, who will be the new leader? Gamestation?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17512143

[Anian]

And sadly that's probably the first and last time you'll see an AGS game in Game. Too bad, they've always been..err...expensive and Xbox orientated. So, who will be the new leader? Gamestation?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17512143

They seemed to have had a fight with everybody like EA and Ubisoft and a whole bunch of smaller studios...you can't really sell games when you do that, unfortunately.

[Stupot]

So, who will be the new leader? Gamestation?

Gamestation is owned by Game I think.  They'll be in the same boat, I guess.

[Victor6]

Some in the industry are probably cheering at the news, however it's going to make the pre-owned situation worse. Without a major games retailer at street level, the indy stories, or places like CEX can do whatever they want.

Until the Origin - Steam juggernaut crushes them and the entire concept of physical ownership.

[Grim]

Saw Game shop all empty inside today.... It's awful. I liked that place. Yeah, it was xBox oriented, and it sucked in so many ways... But I bought most of my games there and it was always... just there. Convenient. And obviously, it's a damn shame for Gemini Rue, to have its Game life span cut short for such stupid reason.

Gamestation look like they're closing too. I don't think they're ordering new stock. The place looks like a ghost town....

Now I can't find a shop that'd sell Silent Hill: Downpour for PS3 on Friday the 30th release day... It's most bizzare... HMV won't have it, Blockbuster aren't getting any... What the fuck is going on in England?

[Stupot]

I was in my nearest Game today.  And it was actually pretty busy.  Or about as busy as you'd expect on a Tuesday afternoon.  I hope they manage to sort something out, but it's not gonna be without casualties.
In better news there was also only one copy on Gem Rue on the shelf, meaning somebody probably bought the other copy.  I was tempted to buy it for the poster and stuff, but I already have a boxed version from the initial batch.

[Chicky]

Indeed, dark times for British casual gamers. I remember some ten years ago, before the mass 'Game' store outbreak there were a lot more independent game stores. Hopefully they'll be on the rise as they usually stock retro consoles and games.

Grim: I plan on picking it up from Tesco, the 24hr stores usually restock the game shelves at midnight.

[magintz]

GameStation and Game are the same company. It's all shutting down... HMV doesn't look too stable either. Where am I gonna buy my games now? Online? But I wanna play NOW!

[Ali]

As far as I can tell from the business pages, the release of Gemini Rue didn't have anything to do with it. What a relief!

I wasn't a big fan of Game or post-takeover-Gamestation, but lots of jobs lost at a time like this is pretty sad.

[m0ds]

I remember some ten years ago, before the mass 'Game' store outbreak there were a lot more independent game stores. Hopefully they'll be on the rise as they usually stock retro consoles and games.

I hoped similar 10 years ago, but alas - it never happened. My town hasn't had a games shop for over 20 years. It's just to expensive to rent a building these days, it's not just sucked up all the independants, its starting to suck up some of the multi-nationals too! Well certainly round here, but this is a very expensive area of the UK.

For me personally, it's no massive deal. All the games shops are far away from me so I rarely find myself casually strolling in one, but I probably would if I was actually visiting the city or what not, so it'd be a shame not to be able to pop in somewhere. But I admit I'd only browse, I get my games from the net and usually the games I want/like can be found in bargain bins and boot-sales Considering games depreciate within about 3 years, and the fact none of the retailers (around here) keep old stock like they used to - for retro gamers like me they have nothing to offer. Adventure games in general have become strong in the last couple of years on the shop-floor but look at that, they do so when high street retailers give the impression they are struggling (and closing) - but this could just be due to their EA contracts and not the state of the economy.

But I noticed some of the larger appliance retailers like Comet have a better than usual selection of games these days. I'd like to say "I'm sure someone will take their place" but it's always a gamble with computer games on the high street. Virgin megastore doesn't exist anymore, Blockbusters have been on the brink of collapse for the last few years and HMV are feeling the strain, I'm still struggling to see hope for anything beyond online sales in the next few years. Considering every computery device is now hooked up to the internet to the point it still is even if you don't need it to be, high street retailing in the UK to me has an unclear future. Crowd-source fund a shop & warehouse?

[Frodo]

All the Game shops in my town stopped selling pc games a while ago.  They only did the latest console games (  ), so I stopped going in them.

Gamestation was a brilliant shop.  You never knew what bargains you would find in there.  But that closed down ages ago.   :'(

[Grim]

Just on a side-note, I managed to get an American version of Silent Hill on Ebay. It should arrive tomorrow.....

I still don't like buying stuff online, though. That feeling of holding an actual box in your hand... Browsing... Picking one, then putting it back, than going for it again... That's a kind of magic we are being denied.

Personally, I blame COD for all this mess. Damn you COD!.... Damn you! I do hope Tescos will soon store you in frozen goods section so every single soldier wannabe can get a copy while they get their bloody salmon.

[LimpingFish]

We've had Gamestop in Ireland since the final days of the original XBOX. They aren't as ubiquitous as GAME were - Dublin city centre alone had seven or more outlets during GAME's peak - but there's no shortage of them either. I suspect they probably won't be involved in any potential purchase of GAME, but it's likely they'll open some new stores to fill the ensuing retail vacuum.

I'd also put money on them entering the UK market, now that the main competition is dead.

Gamestop staff seem to be somewhat demonized in the US, but my local one is run by a bunch of friendly people, and the other outlets I've been in seem to be similarly obliging. The fact that they now stock second-hand DVDs, CDs, and phones, is a bit of bummer though, considering the lack of a significant PC section and next to zero support for anything other than current consoles.

[Stupot]

I'd also put money on them entering the UK market, now that the main competition is dead.

Weirdly, an American friend of mine left this on my Facebook wall back in January. "Hey Stu, heard the UK is losing it's Gamestop stores! Tough break man!".  I didn't even know they had any in the UK.  I knew they had some in Ireland though.  Maybe he heard Ireland and assumed UK.

[Stupot]

Seems an investment firm have decided to buy Game.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17575500
It's good news, but still a large number of jobs lost.  I wonder what is next.  I think Game really need to push the online side of their business. But I can't really see how they can get people to keep coming into the stores.

If it was me, I'd turn some of the stores into Game Caféâ,,¢, and turn Game into a kind of gamers lounge where they can drink coffee, hang out, play videogames, get addicted to said videogaems and then buy said videogames.  They could even have those little 'buy 9 cups get 10th free' cards, but instead of using it for a free coffee you can choose to have £3 off the price of your next Game purchase.

Or just get Yahtzee to buy them all and turn it into a chain of Mana Bars