GAME in serious trouble

Andy!!

caspa307 wrote: »

would love to drop them in stuff

I'm going to drop them in some blow up dolls later :pac:

Lambsbread

I think i said previously in the thread, but the prices mentioned in Pageant's post are the same as what I see in Paris. It would be a shame to see the same happen in Ireland with some competition gone.

You can say you don't like Game or whatever, but the loss is a shame for all consumers. Even those that didn't shop there.

Beefy78

I was chatting to an Australian about game prices recently. They're typically about double down under compared to what we pay.

folan

ive heard that alot about things down under. Beer is supposedly the same.

Notorious

Deleted User wrote: »

Of course I made it all up as there is no way that a disgruntled long term employee would say anything negative about his company which is telling staff they cannot pay for redundancy as there's no money left but then find enough to pay staff to pack up. Was told it last night by a manager who had been with game for well over a decade, he is disgusted by the manner in which he has been treated. In fact I believe that other managers have been posting similar comments on various forum boards. But I guess that too is a case of non Game managers spreading false rumours.

Sorry, I'm not trying to say you made anything up. But whichever manager told you that isn't right. Staff have all been promised our pay for working this week.

Helix

Beefy78 wrote: »

Do you have a source to support this?

google it

it's a known fact that bricks and mortar stores have threatened not to stock games/catalogs if their digital counterparts carry a lower rrp than their physical ones

its one of the reasons im absolutely delighted to see the likes of game go to the wall

Helix

Notorious wrote: »

Sorry, I'm not trying to say you made anything up. But whichever manager told you that isn't right. Staff have all been promised our pay for working this week.

have you got it in writing from the administrators?

Downlinz

sheehy83 wrote: »

Excellent, well done to the Limerick lads!

Recognise a few of them, really sound lads and very helpful. Really hits home seeing that, whenever I was in Limerick GAME was always the first place I wanted to visit right from a child up to last month.

Helix

Lambsbread wrote: »

but the loss is a shame for all consumers. Even those that didn't shop there.

its only a shame for ignorant consumers who like overpaying

AnCapaillMor

sheehy83 wrote: »

Excellent, well done to the Limerick lads!

The dude on the right has been in the limerick branch for as long as i can remember, fairly sound guy knew his stuff.

Notorious

Notorious wrote: »

Sorry, I'm not trying to say you made anything up. But whichever manager told you that isn't right. Staff have all been promised our pay for working this week.

I'm pretty sure that your wording accused me of making it up: "Well a Game manager certainly never told you that. There's no point in spreading false rumors." Unless that is the words used have taken on a new meaning over the past few hours.


The point he was making was that if they have no money for redundancy then where will they find the money to pay staff a weeks wages to pack up shops? Any member of Game who does this work without first receiving their redundancy or the weeks wage upfront is a fool. Game proved last week that they are happy to screw over their customers in order to boost up stock levels and with their refusal to pay redundancy it shows that they have no problem screwing staff too.

Downlinz

Don't actually understand the people who say GAME overcharged for things, I always tend to shop around for my purchases between GAME, Gamestop and HMV and I almost always found that GAME was the best value. Without even factoring in the loyalty card savings.

Maybe it was just the stuff I was buying, a lot of the more obscure japanese stuff or older pre-owned games tended to drop to very cheap prices. on more than one occasion I managed to find niche items so cheap that I resold online for a profit.

Maybe its comments coming from the ultra mainstream consumer for things like FIFA, COD etc? I know a lot of stores like Tesco have done loss leader promotions on those (with very limited stock) to get the masses in which might be behind the perception?

James Howlett

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

Ah if it came with big red letters to the side then maybe but this is a personal opinion

Seriously though as has been stated not just by me in this thread the retail prices here are artificially low. Retailers here and in the UK have been engaged in a long running price war - localised to this market - going as far as to be selling games at a loss to try and win. When the war is over (which it will be as retailers exit the market - or run out of money to fund it) prices will rise. We've seen Game go, HMV have well documented troubles too and Gamestop have an enormous parent company backing them so they can fund this war for longer than anyone.

But what about afterwards. As an example though have a look at Gamestop's Italian website

Most new releases are €69.98. (Anything from €50 plus here incl delivery)
Older AAA titles like Gears 3 are still selling for €64.99. (€47.97 here incl delivery)
Tomorrows release of Silent Hill HD Collection is €49.99 (€29.97 here incl delivery)

In a territory where they aren't engaged in a loss leading price war they are a lot more expensive and selling games at what the publishers would expect them to be selling at. So it's reasonable to assume that prices here would follow suit as the competition are wiped out.

Again all of the above is my personal opinion just to be clear !

This is something I always thought the competition authority should be looking into. Supermarkets and the like selling items at a loss and then forcing other sellers to have to do the same (as Gamesnash have confirmed earlier) is ridiculous. It may benefit the consumer in the short term but it's not worth seeing people out of jobs.

Helix

Downlinz wrote: »

Don't actually understand the people who say GAME overcharged for things, I always tend to shop around for my purchases between GAME, Gamestop and HMV and I almost always found that GAME was the best value. Without even factoring in the loyalty card savings.

Maybe it was just the stuff I was buying, a lot of the more obscure japanese stuff or older pre-owned games tended to drop to very cheap prices. on more than one occasion I managed to find niche items so cheap that I resold online for a profit.

Maybe its comments coming from the ultra mainstream consumer for things like FIFA, COD etc? I know a lot of stores like Tesco have done loss leader promotions on those (with very limited stock) to get the masses in which might be behind the perception?

it's more than anyone shopping in bricks and mortar stores these days is getting bent over

Downlinz

Downlinz wrote: »

Don't actually understand the people who say GAME overcharged for things, I always tend to shop around for my purchases between GAME, Gamestop and HMV and I almost always found that GAME was the best value. Without even factoring in the loyalty card savings.

Maybe it was just the stuff I was buying, a lot of the more obscure japanese stuff or older pre-owned games tended to drop to very cheap prices. on more than one occasion I managed to find niche items so cheap that I resold online for a profit.

Maybe its comments coming from the ultra mainstream consumer for things like FIFA, COD etc? I know a lot of stores like Tesco have done loss leader promotions on those (with very limited stock) to get the masses in which might be behind the perception?

HMV have been beating Game on most releases for the past few years. The biggest problem with Game and Gamestop is that the prices for new games (not new releases but rather new copies) took forever to fall in price. HMV would have them for 18-28 euro a few months after release. I picked up the last Castlevania on Xbox for 23 in HMV while it was still 50 in Game and Gamestop. This was a months after it's initial release.

nerd69

Helix wrote: »

it's more than anyone shopping in bricks and mortar stores these days is getting bent over

there really not any brick and mortar business needs to pay rent staff electricity etc so the products are going to be a bit more expensive

Andy!!

I actually don't think I've ever read a thread of boards that was so full of bitching and blatantly inaccurate and unsubstanciated information.

Feel sorry for all of the staff in Games stores.
It was one of the few retailers where the staff spoke to you with enthusiasm and a friendly smile.
Makes purchasing more pleasurable.
And i'm talking about the lads here, when it's a gurl it's doubly pleasurable.

:cool:

Helix

nerd69 wrote: »

there really not any brick and mortar business needs to pay rent staff electricity etc so the products are going to be a bit more expensive

obviously, but the last 2 words of your reply is the important piece

krudler

Andy!! wrote: »

I actually don't think I've ever read a thread of boards that was so full of bitching and blatantly inaccurate and unsubstanciated information.

you've never been in After Hours have you?

Pacing Mule

Deleted User wrote: »

HMV have been beating Game on most releases for the past few years. The biggest problem with Game and Gamestop is that the prices for new games (not new releases but rather new copies) took forever to fall in price. HMV would have them for 18-28 euro a few months after release. I picked up the last Castlevania on Xbox for 23 in HMV while it was still 50 in Game and Gamestop. This was a months after it's initial release.

More often than not though these price falls are being paid for by the retailer - perhaps sitting on stock they over ordered (and especially after a month)

If you considered that Castlevania could have been costing €45 - €47 or thereabouts to buy in (don't have exact figures but it would be approx that) - then HMV were selling it at half their cost price whilst Game / Gamestop were selling it with minimal profit and probably not enough to pay running costs for their stores.

Pageant Messiah

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

More often than not though these price falls are being paid for by the retailer - perhaps sitting on stock they over ordered (and especially after a month)

If you considered that Castlevania could have been costing €45 - €47 or thereabouts to buy in (don't have exact figures but it would be approx that) - then HMV were selling it at half their cost price whilst Game / Gamestop were selling it with minimal profit and probably not enough to pay running costs for their stores.

I used to work in a store that sold games, there was very little profit on new releases and often we would sell them at a loss in order to compete but after a few months the price to get these titles in fell considerably. I seriously doubt that Game were still paying the same price for a game 4 months after it's release as they were the week it was released. The cost of getting stock in decreases over time and as such so should prices.

Procrastastudy

Fussgangerzone wrote: »

IMHO, it's the high-street retailers that have been pushing up the prices of downloadable games for years. When the likes of steam try and sell one of their own games for a lot less money than a boxed game, the retailers threaten to not stock their merchandise.

Also, the download sector is getting a lot more competitive with, EA, Amazon and even GOG.com getting in on the action. My money says prices will drop, but not a whole pile.

Of course "charge as much as you can get away with" is still part of retail, so who knows what way it'd go? At least the people who make the games would be getting a few quid every time, unlike with Game's resales.

You humble opinion, while you are entitled to it, is completly wrong.

Firstly I love steam - buy all my PC games from it - it's WAY more expensive than buying from a retailer - especially for new releases. Steam are not a publisher so I've no idea what your talking about when you say shops wont stock steam merchandise.

Secondly EA wanted to fix PS3 games on release at €74.99 in Ireland. Collective presure from the bricks and mortor retailers stoped them. There was a further disagreement again with Fifa Street 2 (or 3 cant remember now) where GAME put it on sale at the proce EA insisted on - it didnt sell because no one else bowed to the publisher and EA were eventually forced to back down.

The games industry will eventually go completely online and direct with publishers charging what they want. There wont be any amazon, play etc as the publishers will bypass them. You'll buy your console in Dunnes hook it up and stick your credit card in and be paying €80 for the next elder scrolls game. The only thing that keeps prices down is competition.

Pacing Mule

Deleted User wrote: »

I used to work in a store that sold games, there was very little profit on new releases and often we would sell them at a loss in order to compete but after a few months the price to get these titles in fell considerably. I seriously doubt that Game were still paying the same price for a game 4 months after it's release as they were the week it was released. The cost of getting stock in decreases over time and as such so should prices.

You said "a months" after release. I took that as being 4 weeks - not 4 months as you mention above. Some publishers will cut the cost price and RRP of games a few months after release. Doesnt happen all the time though and price protection (where the publisher credits the retailer for existing stock at the time they cut the price is getting rarer and rarer) So the retailer has the choice of discounting the stock they paid full price for or trying to sell that through before buying in reduced stock.

Procrastastudy

http://www.facebook.com/GameIrelandFight#!/GameIrelandFight

Probably the most upto date info

Helix

GCDLawstudent wrote: »

The games industry will eventually go completely online and direct with publishers charging what they want. There wont be any amazon, play etc as the publishers will bypass them. You'll buy your console in Dunnes hook it up and stick your credit card in and be paying €80 for the next elder scrolls game. The only thing that keeps prices down is competition.

people wont pay 80 per game

cloud493

N64 games were pretty expensive if I recall right.

Pageant Messiah

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

You said "a months" after release. I took that as being 4 weeks - not 4 months as you mention above. Some publishers will cut the cost price and RRP of games a few months after release. Doesnt happen all the time though and price protection (where the publisher credits the retailer for existing stock at the time they cut the price is getting rarer and rarer) So the retailer has the choice of discounting the stock they paid full price for or trying to sell that through before buying in reduced stock.

Obviously it was a typo thought the months part should have implied that I was discussing months later not weeks. If a retailer such as Game wanted to stay competitive then they should have cut back on the bulk buying somewhat so that they could rebuy the same stock at a reduced price later on. If Game wanted to continue to stay competitive then they could have diversified somewhat like Gamestop have, it may not have been an ideal solution but at least it could have help them survive. I know that some Game stores did stock some Blu-Rays but their new releases were far more than anywhere else and their preowned stock was often more than the price of the same film new in HMV or Xtravision.

Disregarding the cost of new releases, Game had they wanted to could have easily lowered the price on their preowned games. On numerous occasions I've been offered anything from 17-23 euro for a trade in which they would then stick on the shelf for 45. When trading in a few weeks back for my Vita I found HVM to be offering a hell of a lot more in credit aswell as selling them on much cheaper. I know people will say that HMV can make up the money in CD, DVD sales etc but at the same time had Game wanted to they could have reworked their pricing structure on preowned titles. If giving the seller 17 euro for a title why could they not sell that same title on for 30 or even 35 euro. Even with such a price drop Game would still be making one hell of a profit on those games.

nerd69

Helix wrote: »

obviously, but the last 2 words of your reply is the important piece

there not bending you over so just adding the necessary fees
pretty much everything is cheaper online i personally like to drive to the shops and have a look around and im not alone so there not dead iv been treated well in most game shops iv gon into be it game or gamestop

Procrastastudy

They'll pay the lowest price the game is available for as has been proven time and time again. If the lowest price is €80 they'll pay it.

If you'd told me games would be €54.99 for PC when I was buying my CPC tapes at £3.99 id have said - no one will ever pay that.