Let's talk about Game store!

So, if you've been living in a dynamo powered bubble on the moon and forgot to pay your TV license and your broadband is up the spout (how are you reading this?), you will not be aware that the retailer 'Game' is facing uncertain times!

Game store, with it's 610 retail outlets in the UK triggered a mass spate of eyebrow raising two weeks back when it reportedly announced it would not be stocking any Electronic Arts games due to non payment of owed monies.

This on it's own is quite an achievement in terms of timing, with Mass Effect 3 now top of all gaming sales charts, however, their share price yesterday fell 67% to 1.1p, showing the world there is no confidence in the once leading game retailer.

This is a huge worry for the 6,000 employed by Game - with Game chief Ian Shepherd reportedly already telling staff that they should expect administration.

Game stores owe £15m in rent this coming quarter and not taking revenue on titles like Mass Effect 3 will really put a dent in their bank balance.

Other companies have also started pulling away from Game, Nintendo & Capcom being two huge players of those reluctant to deal with the big purple beast.

What's gone wrong with Game?

We have our suspicions, one of which being their online sale.

This sale is massive, offering HUGE discounts on games (Virtua Tennis 2009 on the Xbox 360 for £1.98 inc free delivery for example), yet of all the people we talk to, no one at all has ever seen any of these cheap sale items in stock.

There have been rumors circulating that the site never actually had these items at the sale price and the sale was just a lure to get you on to the site so you'd end up fishing around until you came to a 'reasonably priced item' and end up purchasing it.

Could this be true? Surely not?!

Since Game opened officially for business in the guise we know it today in 2002 times have changed, we have learned to trust the internet to do our shopping more and online stores have adapted to meet our every need (perhaps excluding Play.com which has done exactly the reverse of this, but that story is for another day!).

People are more than happy to pre-order online through places like Amazon.co.uk / .com and can almost certainly be guaranteed to receive their item on lunch day, delivered to their very own front door.
Prices online can also be far cheaper and often come bundled with some form of free gift, be it downloadable content, dog tags and the like.

So in short, will Game stores be here for Christmas 2012? That remains to be seen.
If you are passionate about the store go in and buy some software, spend your cash on a shiny new console with them, tell your friends to do the same... but just in case.. make sure you spend all the points you have remaining on your Game Store Reward Cards!!!!!


If you have any feelings on this matter, drop us a comment below or send us a tweet: @GamesShed