GAME (over?)

[Cookie]

I know something secret about a company, but I can't tell you the company name or the secret

 

[Jonnio]

Would be sad to see them go, I used to do pre-orders from them as you get a nice amount of reward points and they're generally cheaper than Steam. But after my pre-ordered game (Gears of War 3) got to me 5 days after release I stopped using them because as I'm sure you can imagine, it was very annoying

I do the same, got about 25 quid on my card from pre orders. Best get it spent lol.

Never had anything late from them (touch wood). Play managed to do that once though...

 

[Christopher]

I know something secret about a company, but I can't tell you the company name or the secret

You just perked my interest.

Do tell. Or not.

Right?

 

[StephenJ]

Whenever I've been into a GAME store there is 3 or 4 people browsing and about 10 members of staff behind the desk having nerdy conversations.

How can that be profitable?

 

[dk]

I know something secret about a company, but I can't tell you the company name or the secret

i'll trade you mine for yours?

But on PM so no-one else can know.

its a secret after all.

 

[ukaskew]

Things were bad, now they're really bad, especially as they apparently aren't giving people their fivers back if they pre-ordered, just store credit...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-29-revealed-games-memo-to-staff-on-mass-effect-3-cancellation

 

[James28]

Not selling EA games from March. Oh dear.
Trending on Twitter lols

 

[Longy]

Things were bad, now they're really bad, especially as they apparently aren't giving people their fivers back if they pre-ordered, just store credit...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-29-revealed-games-memo-to-staff-on-mass-effect-3-cancellation

I read it as full refund plus £5 store credit?

 

[Silent_Scone]

A lot of that is EA though, they have grown too big for their own boots and are pissing a lot of people off in the market which they really shouldn't. The whole reason they invested in Origin was for similar reasons and that Valve (Steam platform) wouldn't give them the administrative controls they were looking for.

So IMO I wouldn't link the two stories together, EA are trash

 

[Plummer]

This serious?

I had pre-ordered ME3 collectors edition with them! :dapprove:

 

[Plummer]

Just phoned Game at the Trafford Centre, they were just told today..

 

[Christopher]

Yep. Employees have just been notified.

Spend you reward points while you can! I'm going later.

Bad times.

 

[AK]

See what trade in you get offered for Saints Row, Turner.

 

[Christopher]

Ahh yeah, might as well.

 

[ukaskew]

A lot of that is EA though, they have grown too big for their own boots and are pissing a lot of people off in the market which they really shouldn't. The whole reason they invested in Origin was for similar reasons and that Valve (Steam platform) wouldn't give them the administrative controls they were looking for.

So IMO I wouldn't link the two stories together, EA are trash

It's Nintendo as well, Last Story last week and Mario Party this week.

 

[wag1]

Shame really. My PS3 went wrong a month before my warranty ran out. The chap then took that back and RE SOLD me the PS3 without me paying any money. A further 2 years down the line that one pakced up too. He then did the same again. So the original ps3 which i bought when they first came out has turned into a new slimline for about £100 exchange.

Suppose with staff like that they went down the swanny. great for me though

 

[dk]

sounds like Gamestop (US equivalent) are looking to maybe buy them, with a share price of under 5p now, they lost 90% of their share value last year! they actually turned over 1bn last year, thats a hell of a lot of money for a failing company!

 

[Revels]

Turnover doesn't mean anything.

 

[dk]

Well, yes it does, to be having that turnover with the products they sell means they have a lot of customers and purchases, so they are doing something wrong, their costs must be too high to make the margin, it's not like they are selling too cheap is it!

So I'd say they are doing some serious cost cutting at the moment to make the company more streamline, as clearly sales are not an issue.

 

[Turkish]

Doesn't that set alarm bells ringing though Dave, selling games at that price yet still being on shaky ground means something is seriously wrong with the business. Turnover is vanity profit is sanity, all their turnover highlights is that they are busy fools and need to look at their business model and practices and make drastic changes while they're still able to.

 

[Revels]

Well, yes it does, to be having that turnover with the products they sell means they have a lot of customers and purchases, so they are doing something wrong, their costs must be too high to make the margin, it's not like they are selling too cheap is it!

So I'd say they are doing some serious cost cutting at the moment to make the company more streamline, as clearly sales are not an issue.

If they don't know how to run a business by now then it's too late.

This isn't some new start-up worrying about getting people interested before they work out how to make a profit.

I could turn over a billion selling £20 notes. Doesn't mean I'll make any money.

 

[st3ve]

I was just on their website wondering why nothing was coming up when I searched 'mass effect 3'.

Bad times. I've always bought new titles from them for the last 3 or 4 years.

 

[ukaskew]

I'm sure STILL having duplicate stores (sometimes within a minutes walk of each other) in parts of the country doesn't help, and that's even when taking Gamestation out of the equation. It's been, what, 12 years since the EB buyout? Yet they still haven't sorted that out.

It was also several years ago that they announced plans to tie the website and store together properly, yet all they managed to do was offer a service where you can buy online, have it shipped from their distribution centre to the store, then collect it from there!

No surprise how bad things are considering how slowly they move.

 

[Revels]

There's one of each here within 2mins of each other.

The GameStation one is a lot newer too. Certainly since the buyout.

 

[Turkish]

I hate going in to the town centre to shop but from memory we have two branches of game within less than a minutes walk of each other, a branch of gamestation and a concession for each in one of the department stores.

 

[Cookie]

Crawley has 2 GAME's a minute walk from each other, and then a further minutes walk is a Gamestation. Probably the worst example I've seen tbh.

 

[Turkish]

The 2 stores and two concessions I'm talking about are no more than 5 minutes walk between the two which are furthest from each other. As said it's a crazy way to run a business given the cost of town/city centre stores and that's before the costs of staff, utilities, POS and periodic refits/replacement of equipment/shop furniture.

 

[Joe#]

I think it might be best to use up all my gift points.

 

[dk]

Doesn't that set alarm bells ringing though Dave, selling games at that price yet still being on shaky ground means something is seriously wrong with the business. Turnover is vanity profit is sanity, all their turnover highlights is that they are busy fools and need to look at their business model and practices and make drastic changes while they're still able to.

Absolutely, I totally agree.

What I was saying was that with a turnover that big, it's not a lack of punters or sales that's hurting them, running three websites, 2 branches of stores in some towns and the infrastructure and staff needed to run all that is what is.

 

[dk]

If they don't know how to run a business by now then it's too late.

This isn't some new start-up worrying about getting people interested before they work out how to make a profit.

I could turn over a billion selling £20 notes. Doesn't mean I'll make any money.

Revels, a billion turnover is a substantial amount, you have to be a serious player to be pumping out that amount of business and the infrastructure required to turnover than amount. It's absolutely relevant, it means they still have masses of sales and customers, to say it means nothing is wrong.

People normally go under becasuse they aren't selling enough, market has changed etc.

And while the games market has changed, game still seem to be massive players because I they are the only real major high street retailer. Yes asda and tescos might take some money around big release titles, but so do game with pre-orders on their website.

I guess they might go online only and close all the retail stores, that would slash a massive amount off their costs. They could then bring prices down to compete with throther online players.

 

[Christopher]

There's two stores in the Trafford Centre, one above the other. Mental. Lol

 

[ncoppen]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/338406/game-directors-considering-shutting-up-shop-report/

Poor Game. I guess I'll be purchasing all the games on Amazon from now on!

 

[Silent_Scone]

Who's left...

 

[Revels]

Revels, a billion turnover is a substantial amount, you have to be a serious player to be pumping out that amount of business and the infrastructure required to turnover than amount. It's absolutely relevant, it means they still have masses of sales and customers, to say it means nothing is wrong.

People normally go under becasuse they aren't selling enough, market has changed etc.

And while the games market has changed, game still seem to be massive players because I they are the only real major high street retailer. Yes asda and tescos might take some money around big release titles, but so do game with pre-orders on their website.

I guess they might go online only and close all the retail stores, that would slash a massive amount off their costs. They could then bring prices down to compete with throther online players.

It is a substantial amount. But it's still irrelevant.

Businesses go bust because they don't make any money. That's it. Nothing else. It doesn't matter if you sell one item/service a month or one a minute if you're making an overall profit.

 

[Gouldy]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/338406/game-directors-considering-shutting-up-shop-report/

Poor Game. I guess I'll be purchasing all the games on Amazon from now on!

After reading that I guess it's a case of when it's shuts down, not if.

 

[iain187]

I could turn over a billion selling £20 notes. Doesn't mean I'll make any money.

You simply could not.

No one would buy £20 for £20 and if you sold them at a loss you would run out of money before you got anywhere near a billion.


The point being GAME obviously have a product people want and I agree with DK they seriously need to cut out the waste somewhere because they are getting the sales, but yes it's bit late really.. time to do some trade in/collect on points.

 

[Revels]

You simply could not.

No one would buy £20 for £20 and if you sold them at a loss you would run out of money before you got anywhere near a billion.

Okay. Bad example. But the point stands. You could sell something/anything at trade +1%. You'd make a tiny bit but never enough to cover all your outgoings. You'd make a massive amount in turnover but never enough to turn a profit. Like Game.

 

[BatFastard]

In Newcastle City Centre - there are 3 GAME shops just in a single shopping centre - 2 main shops and one in Fenwicks. Serves them right tbh.

 

[ukaskew]

Lots of reports today that it's very much the beginning of the end, probably wise to spend vouchers/loyalty points asap (not that many stores have much in the way of new stock at the moment) as they are very unlikely to honour them if things do change soon.

 

[mace¬]

Okay. Bad example. But the point stands. You could sell something/anything at trade +1%. You'd make a tiny bit but never enough to cover all your outgoings. You'd make a massive amount in turnover but never enough to turn a profit. Like Game.

I can see what DK is saying but I also understand your point. £1 billion turnover is to much to be ignored. Games business model clearly doesn't work. They'll be bought up and stripped down by another competitor with a better model. The assets will be stripped and they'll try to keep as much revenue as possible losing the loss making units.

just like my hero, Edward Lewis in Pretty Woman!