GAME shares suspended from trading

[Danny]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17455742

We all knew it was coming, but its a shame another high street retailer is going down the toilet. pretty soon everything will be all tescos or asdas, not unlike wal mart in america i suppose.

still, i know it only existed to 'cater to the student crowd' whilst GAME catered to the parents and grandparents buying gifts, but i for one will miss gamestation when it inevitably goes.


But isn't it interesting we are witnessing the death of game stores in a 1st world country in the 12st century yet bookstores are still going? especially when ebooks are even easier to get than digital copies of games. so its not like GAME is being killed by digital downloads. its these super markets and megastores selling them at £29.99 the day they come out.

i guess really this just means the death of how we get our special editions. hell, if it keeps up maybe even the death of those as well.

[Tricky]

Its a shame to see it go, and it will be yet another boarded up shop on an already tragic looking high street in most UK towns. Or the stores will become charity shops/hairdressers as seems to be the case. I dont know what the UK high streets will look like in 15 years time, probably all converted to residential with a huge Asda, Tesco or Morrisons on the outskirts of every town...

[Danny]

motehrfucker.

friend of mine just went to GAME, got a psp for £30, ds lite for £20 and a brand new 320gb ps3 for £99. i know a lot of folks here have 360s, for that price a ps3 is totally worth it for shit like the last of us on the way.

[Tricky]

Tempting!! I converted to being a PC gamer years ago & havent had a console since, but if I can snap one up at bargain price I may go for it. Are they flogging the Sony Vita off cheap too?

[Danny]

Tempting!! I converted to being a PC gamer years ago & havent had a console since, but if I can snap one up at bargain price I may go for it. Are they flogging the Sony Vita off cheap too?

dunno, but id totally go for a ps3 for that price, especially with valve becoming more eager to put more steam integration on there. with game stores going i wouldnt be surprised if that drives them to take the plunge.

god knows if i had steam on my ps3 id never buy a hard copy ps3 game again.

[Andy]

motehrfucker.

friend of mine just went to GAME, got a psp for £30, ds lite for £20 and a brand new 320gb ps3 for £99. i know a lot of folks here have 360s, for that price a ps3 is totally worth it for shit like the last of us on the way.

Your friend must have gone in with a shotgun and ski mask becuase i just went into our local store and everything is pretty much regular price :lol:

[Danny]

Your friend must have gone in with a shotgun and ski mask becuase i just went into our local store and everything is pretty much regular price :lol:

yeah, apparently a few stores arent doing it because they arent closing down, GAME is keeping 300 stores worldwide open, the other 1200 however are gone and as such need to sell all their stock due to closure so it seems.

Guess you just live near one thats not closing down just yet?

[Knighty]

Hey I'm a PS3 owner already :p

I just don't feel sad about it going, the prices are extortionate and I don't see picking something up that's £10 cheaper from an Asda as a bad thing. Play get most of the special edition stuff if you are desperate for a Soundtrack or special packaging and model.
Be sad to see a another closed shop on the high but obviously what they were providing was not good enough.

[EvilNed]

Eventually, even the bookstores will fade away. More and more business is moving online.

[Danny]

Eventually, even the bookstores will fade away. More and more business is moving online.

makes you wonder, if all these high streets in city centres have the shops close down what happens to the city centres without the stores?

Do they become housing?if so where does that lead in the future? 200ad style 'residence hives'? or do they all become bars and clubs or offices and the cities become even more seedy and crime ridden and less safe to be in?

It sounds crazy, but its fascinating to think how we still feel the effects of the internet today and have no idea where its influence will lead in terms of real world societal development yknow?

[Rancid Carcass]

It sounds crazy, but its fascinating to think how we still feel the effects of the internet today and have no idea where its influence will lead in terms of real world societal development yknow?

Eventually we won't ever need to leave the house as everything will be done online and society will become increasingly isolated as the need for human interaction diminishes. We'll probably end up in goo filled pods like in the Matrix - a sort of perma-log on and an 8.99 a month subscription fee to keep you alive - years of life will be packaged as paid for DLC - wanna live from 40 to 50... that's 15 billion microsoft points...

Oh yeah, it's going down people - fight the system...or something... :shifty:

[Tricky]

Eventually, even the bookstores will fade away. More and more business is moving online.

I dont know about that, I cant think of anything worse than staring at a bright backlit screen as opposed to reading a proper paper book! Sure kindles are fancy & a nice invention for people on the commute or whatever, but I'm sure there are more people than just me who feel that they spend enough of their day staring at a screen and reading an actual real physical book is a nice way to relax and give their eyes a rest...

[Danny]

I dont know about that, I cant think of anything worse than staring at a bright backlit screen as opposed to reading a proper paper book! Sure kindles are fancy & a nice invention for people on the commute or whatever, but I'm sure there are more people than just me who feel that they spend enough of their day staring at a screen and reading an actual real physical book is a nice way to relax and give their eyes a rest...

erm, kindles dont have a backlit screen dude, its eink is made specifically to mimmic paper and ink. the fancy ipad competitor ones do sure however they are ones that play video and games and crap, but the regular paperback sized £70 one literally looks like a single page with some silver metal around it and a button on the side makes it load the next page. ive got 1200+ books on my kindle, that many .epubs/.mobis is lotta tree not used to make something thats going to rot and take up real world space- space for 1200+ books i dont have, and it literally fits in my pocket. and it never hurts my eyes because it and a page from a real book look exactly the same.
I sort of get why people have a certain level apprehension to ebooks if they think its like staring at a laptop screen or something but thats not most ereaders at all. i just wish they would actually know what they are and how they work first before saying what a bad thing they are....

[Tricky]

Well, regardless, I still dont want one, I'd find it hard to read a book on it without being distracted by the gadget itself, or by having too many books on the go at once! Give me a physical book in my hand and its got my full attention

[MinionZombie]

Well, regardless, I still dont want one, I'd find it hard to read a book on it without being distracted by the gadget itself, or by having too many books on the go at once! Give me a physical book in my hand and its got my full attention

I have seen Kindles in action and yeah it's good for some people (like if you're travelling a lot and want to keep up on reading, or if you're a voracious reader, or a gadget freak), but personally I like having a paperback with it's spine bent in my own hands ... plus if I accidentally drop a paperback in the toilet it's not as big a deal. :p

FYI - I've never dropped a book down the bog, but you never know, one day it could happen. :lol:

I'm still very much in the view that I prefer to physically hold what I've bought. To each their own, but that's how I roll... :shifty:

[Andy]

http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/543661641.jpg?key=7641024&Expires=1332422183&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIYVGSUJFNRFZBBTA&Signature=0L89toaCbo0h7agS81c4n1tIJnGbLw2R1b2AXtI3 GK~VRenvEsHe1hDo0VsAiqobUyiJ1FzuFyQwZNPyTLVv535uYg pMOyiPVuLwCxZ~jHVf3dOvL66903FElNxwa~d17ZmWbssnPFD7 yFl54YfOBQSLz0XoybmBwu99MoYbEI8_

Spot the Scam.. i know game are desperate but thats ridicolous!!

[MinionZombie]

Apparently Game has been saved - it's out of administration.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-04-01-confirmed-game-saved


Administrator PwC has confirmed OpCapita's purchase of GAME UK.

Baker Acquisitions Limited, an entity advised by private investment company OpCapita, has picked up GAME's UK assets, including all 333 UK GAME and Gamestation stores that remained open during administration.

The acquisition brings the UK business out of administration, which it has been in since last Monday. Baker said today it will provide GAME with "the capital it needs to trade on a normalised basis", and that the jobs of nearly 3200 GAME employees have been saved.

Baker will also seek to re-employ a "small number" of staff who previously worked at GAME's head office but were made redundant last week. There are "no plans" for any further store closures, it said.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but media reports indicated GAME UK was bought for a nominal £1 fee. The cost comes from paying off the £85 million debt owed to GAME Group's syndicate of lenders, led by The Royal Bank of Scotland.

OpCapita managing partner Henry Jackson said: "We are pleased to have reached agreement with the Administrator. We strongly believe there is a place on the high street for a video gaming specialist and GAME is the leading brand in a £2.8 billion market in the UK.

"We have assembled a strong team of experienced industry operators to implement the programme of operational change that is needed. There is a huge amount to do but we look forward to the challenge of restoring GAME's fortunes in partnership with its employees and suppliers."

PwC partner Mike Jervis added: "We are delighted to be able to secure this business sale and provide some much needed stability for customers, suppliers and employees alike in these uncertain times. The support of these stakeholders has been crucial over the last week and I would like to thank them for their support throughout this difficult period.

"This means that the GAME brand will not be another one of the retail names disappearing from the high street in the current difficult climate."