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After a turbulent few weeks GAME's future is finally a little more stable.Although it had its initial bid rejected by lenders, Comet owner OpCapita's fresh bid to acquire the 333 GAME stores looks to have been accepted, earlier today it confirmed it's to buy a large portion of the troubled retailer. According to multiple press reports a consortium of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which is owed £85m, have approved the takeover, which will save 333 stores and 3,100 jobs.
The investment group has an uphill struggle to return the retailer to full strength, and you can be sure competitors aren't going to make it easy. Tesco has already started to capitalise on the absence of a dedicated video game retailer, its latest print ad campaign positions the supermarket as "the home of gaming" and boasts "the largest number of gaming stores in the UK".
PwC, GAME's administrator, said the retailer's demise was largely a result of having too many stores positioned too close together, and also because it expanded overseas too quickly. Opcapita will no doubt be mindful not to make the same mistakes again, but it is also in an excellent position to address some of the retailer's more irksome practises.
Obviously the main sticking points that will require immediate attention is the disparity of prices between GAME and its competitors. Although it might unrealistic to assert it should be competitive with online rivals, it should at the very least stay on par with outlets such as HMV, which almost always undercut GAME on software launch prices. It's trade-in model could also do with an overhaul, otherwise gamers will likely head to alternatives such as CeX, or sell their games online.
As consumers you're in the best position to analyse what worked and didn't work for GAME, and to come up with solutions and new ideas for what could drive the retailer to success again. So, tell us: how you would change GAME?
computerandvideogames.com CVG Staff Recommended Links From The Web Comments 11 comments so far... Post a comment Report this post Reply with quote IplayVideogames on 1 Apr '12 said:Price the games competitively with supermarkets and online retailers and have more playable games in store.Also, have the staff stop pouncing on customers as soon as they enter the store.
Report this post Reply with quote beemoh on 1 Apr '12 said:GAME can't compete on price, so it has to compete on choice. To do that, it has to wean itself off its over-reliance on the used market and use that shelf space to offer a wider range of games than it already is, including but not limited to keeping less recent games on for longer than they would have otherwise, as well as stocking games it would otherwise have passed up.
To an extent this does mean that GAME would have to become a publisher itself, or at least cozy up to/buy out an existing smaller publisher in order to bring games that may have bypassed retail and gone straight to digital distribution back to The Disc Side.
It probably wouldn't hurt to do some kind of events in-store, but I've no idea what sort of thing they'd do- most personalities in gaming aren't based in the UK, so anything in the vein of signings or talks are out of the question, and I'm not sure tournaments are the big draw people think they would be.
That all being said, apparently GAME's UK operation was always profitable and it's expanding overseas too aggressively that's hurt them- so maybe they'll be fine in the short term.
Report this post Reply with quote JBoo on 1 Apr '12 said:Well if GAME prices where the same as say Amazon.co.uk then i would shop at GAME. It is as simple as that really.
Report this post Reply with quote Sammy_bham on 1 Apr '12 said:Well if GAME prices where the same as say Amazon.co.uk then i would shop at GAME. It is as simple as that really.
as silly as it may sound, you are correct.
a lot of us "gamers" are waiting for the next big release.
so for example, me3.
i personally shopped around until i got the ultimate lowest price of the standard edition, which at the tie i pre-ordered, was Zavvi. I never use Zavvi. like ever. But, most people are wise-ing up to cheaper prices online.
my most recent walks into games stores saw games like professer layton and uncharted 3 at 35 to 45 quid mark.
i have recently purchased uncharted 3 on play.com on playtrade brand new, for 21 quid. because, i shopped around. why on earth would i go on a bus on weekend to town, just to look at silly prices of games in a game shop, when i can just type into google "price comparison for ps3 games" and find it compared across about 10 different retailers. and get the same game for about half the price.
game and gamestations biggest market was selling games for cash, and trade ins and their deals for trade-ins on new releases.
They need to set an example. they need to pick a few big A-class titles, like uncharted, like me3, skyrim and make them sudenly low, lke ultra low, for one week only or something. 25 quid for me3 etc. get people into the store. get people to notice other bargins and make people wnt to come to the store.
if i saw an advert for game tonight on tv and it said, ps vita, half price, for one week only, in store only, i would be there in a shot. anything else that caught my eye would then be on my etc, its how marketng works.
game became un-popular by a few experiences and word of mouth.
Report this post Reply with quote WHITEyy118 on 2 Apr '12 said:Don't just expect gamers to shop in your store, entice them. Simple!
Report this post Reply with quote TheDragonDoji on 2 Apr '12 said: Bundles would be a step in the right direction; either combining new releases with their predecessors under one competitive price OR with peripherals. Though to be honest their Ps3 choice has always been so lacklustre I doubt I'll ever return.
Also I am ashamed to admit I wouldn't change having that hot student work there who knows sweet FA about games, computers, media or technology.
Report this post Reply with quote The_Iron_Man666 on 2 Apr '12 said:Reserving games as soon as they come in stock, using gift cards online, hire staff who know something about games and have a console/dedicated rig, BOGOF sales, more exclusive content for pre-orders and eliminating Wii games and replacing them with PS2/Gamecube games. Reason being that the PS2/GC were better consoles and actually fun to play. Annihilate casual games of all types and rebrand GAME as a hardcore gamers shop.
Report this post Reply with quote FiltyMonkey on 2 Apr '12 said: Stop calling me buddy! I'm not your buddy, I'm a customer and wish to be spoken to accordingly.
Report this post Reply with quote martinawatson on 2 Apr '12 said:Obviously as you stated CVG adjust the prices to be more reasonable, past that i would suggest some sort of track system built into the ceiling of all stores with adult size baby bouncer harnesses , so i could literally float around the store+ plus fit birds.
Report this post Reply with quote roland82 on 2 Apr '12 said:I think the first thing they have to do is cut back on the used game sales. This is necessary to get the publishers back on side.
Then I think then need to pump the publishers for a bit of promotional money/ discounts that can either be used to bring more instore attactions or cheaper prices. Its things like that in my opinion that would bring gamers back.
They need an event or two (even a local COD tournament), a reason to bother going into the shop. A dedicated section for lesser know games would be nice with staff that knew about them and tried to expand casual gamers beyond COD and fifa.
As I said before they need to win the publishers back.
Report this post Reply with quote me4pd on 2 Apr '12 said:GAME cannot compete with online retailing. The same is true in all kinds of retail markets. Online retailers are killing the highstreet. GAME felt the effects worse because of excessive expansion and a poor business model. And (of course) the crash.
As a consquence GAME has to offer something online retailers cannot offer: somewhere people can go to meet. All the gamers I know I know through the internet. This is ridiculous. In the 21st century gaming is not gay. Film goers can go to cinemas, fans of bands can go to arenas: where the f**k do we go? OK, so there might be some embarrassment but a complete re-brand is inevitable so why not re-brand (and re-name) as some kind of bar/gaming setup?
Course, it might only be me who would be interested in this sort of thing...
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