GAME Goes Bust [Updated!]

[Wil213]

No matter how you look it [the store being a rip-off or anything else for that matter], the biggest videogame chain is going under taking all of its jobs with it. Its already throwing a few thousand people out of work and, my guess, theres gonna be more. [If not all].

I just find it ironic that GAME goes under at the same time as the buget is released which said that it was going to create jobs and give tax break/cuts to the entertainment industry. [Film/Game/TV]

Anyway, my heart goes out to all of the former employes. Good luck with future endevers

 

[Nalbis]

Yup, heard myself today that the store I worked for last summer in Canterbury (UK) was closed down without any prior warning at 12:30pm today (26/03) - they had no clue the store was closing and all employees contracts have been terminated on the spot. Considering the store was one of the best in the region, its not looking good...

 

[Leftnt Sharpe]

This is the passing of a legend, I feel like we should have a moment of silence or something...............oh wait they had the most stupid business strategy in the world. Ever. Shame to see more empty shops across the country though.

 

[WingedWalrus]

As much as I acknowledge that their business strategy sucked (who needs 2-3 GAME/GameStation stores in every town?), considering theyre the only video game retailers in my town, Im pretty sad about it... Not a fan of buying on the internet... Would much rather browse games in a shop and be able to talk to people than just click a few buttons on amazon.

Still, got some good bargains before they went under... Every cloud, n all that XD

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

This whole thing has been an incredibly sad state of affairs. The fact that I was in a GAME store this weekend and had about 3 staff members show a friendly interest in what I was up to was nice, but it looks like it was too little too late.

I'm glad to see that if you run your business like a dick, eventually you'll go under.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Great, nothing of interest in my town now. I even heard that our branch of HMV might be closing its doors soon.

That just leaves a massive host of charity shops, womens shoe shops, modern-age-mild-prostitute-fashion girls shops and 4 McDonalds. Someone stop me before I become over excited with awe

If charity shops are the same thing we call "thrift shops" in the U.S., I wouldn't write them off so quickly. I've bought more PC games at my local thrift shops in the last couple of years than I have games for other systems at all stores combined, and that's not counting all the awesome music and movies I've bought. Granted, most of that was on vinyl and VHS, but I've got a turntable and a VHS hi-fi unit, so I'm not exactly complaining about the $0.99 albums and the $0.50 movies.

Edit: Oh, and books. Thrift shops are great places to find used books.

To add an OT to this, I feel sorry for all the employees at Game. Never having been to the UK, I can't really comment on what the stores were like, but it sucks for the employees and all the small towns that now have no place to buy new videogames.

 

[Andaxay]

I've felt awful all afternoon following this. The store I worked at for 4 1/2 years is safe for now, but I worked temporarily at two other stores which have both shut today. So gutted for the people I worked with, they were genuinely lovely, enthusiastic people and I couldn't have asked for better people to work with. I'm just hoping that something can be made out of what's left, and the people facing a very sudden redundancy today can get back on their feet quickly.

Say what you like about pricing, the business model, etc. At the end of the day, over 2000 have lost their jobs (and that's only so far). That's nothing to be glad about or say "good riddance" to. The upper management handled everything badly and the prices weren't in the least bit competitive these days, but this much sudden unemployment is nothing to be happy about.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

Damn, sucks for them. God knows the last thing this world needs is more unemployed people.

 

[Bvenged]

Karma is a *****.

What goes around, comes around...

 

[zidine100]

oh yay even less bloody jobs here.

if you cant tell the yay was sarcastic.

 

[Dogstile]

Can someone explain how game was bad barring personal experience with shop employees (because lets be honest, for every bad employee you've got, somebody had met a good one) and the trade in's (which you can say no to and go somewhere else if its too low.)? Because everyone keep's talking about this terrible business practise but i'm not exactly seeing anyone talking about what this practise is.

 

[Ferisar]

I am CEO Sheperd, and this is my favorite store on th- :|

 

[Motakikurushi]

We had some good times Game. Remember when I traded in a copy of Marvel vs Capcom 2, and you gave me 5 pounds for it? Yeah. Or, when I paid 30 pounds for a preowned game when the game at retail was actually less. Shit, now where the hell are UK consumers going to buy their game copies now? Oh yeah, the internet...

 

[JasonKaotic]

Odd. The Gamestation in my town is still open. Game's closed though. I loved taking advantage of the clearance sales, but now that it's come to the closing I really hope things can turn around. While Game was always too expensive for me, it's still one of the few big game retailers we have.

 

[MinimanZombie]

I probably should be feeling glad that GAME is shut down. But I'm not because that isn't me. That's the internet me who states what opinion is best instead of stating my actual opinion. So truthfully? I'm sad. Like on the verge of crying sad. I have so many fond memories of walking into GAME, if only to browse. I didn't care about the prices I just wanted to look around a place fit for me, a gamer. It made me feel happy inside. Maybe I'm lucky and my local one is still open. But for now I think I shall put on some sad music and say goodbye GAME. I'll never forget you.

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

it was nice having to find out i lost my job from MCV instead of my employer/sarcasm. I feel sorry for all my frineds in the two stores i worked at though and all the other staff who got laid off. i know quite a few of you people didnt like it, but i'm quite sure many of us will miss it

 

[Murmillos]

Here's one GAME that got a worse ending than Mass Effect.

No, ME3 is still worse. Yes it's not a "happy" ending, not that endings required to be "happy", but at least we have closure (*ba dum tss*).

 

[Mestraal]

Yup, heard myself today that the store I worked for last summer in Canterbury (UK) was closed down without any prior warning at 12:30pm today (26/03) - they had no clue the store was closing and all employees contracts have been terminated on the spot. Considering the store was one of the best in the region, its not looking good...

There was me wondering if it was one of the ones closing down (I'm at the uni, so it's my local store now)
Well, thanks for answering that one!

Shame really, I had a lot of friends working in the GAME back at home, as well as it being my hometowns last game store. Hopefully there'll still be something salvageable at the other end of this process.

 

[CoL0sS]

Crap. GAME was my main supplier of PS3 titles. Shitty prices and customer support, but acceptable delivery costs. There aren't any retail stores in my town, and with game prices on par with Australian their online store proved the best choice. Also, if you were fast enough you could nab a pretty good pre-owned deal. They pissed me off, but I'll miss them.
On top of that, this also means that more than 2000 people will lose their jobs. Fuck.