Game Over? Not yet.

Video game retailer, Game Group, finally went into administration in March and the outlook looked pretty gloomy to say the least. A massive 609 shops across Britain and Ireland were sadly closed down with over 2,000 employees made redundant in one fell swoop. Time was ticking down ominously as Game prayed someone out there would stick another pound in and press continue.

And at the very last second someone did! Yes it was OpCapita, the private investment firm that pulled Comet from the mire not so long ago, who threw down a quid and took on the company. I was a little surprised that GameStop didn’t make the purchase as that’s what I thought they would do when they withdrew from the UK market last year; leave, wait for Game to drop into administration, buy them and have instant access to the UK market. But instead it was OpCapita who, like an extra life, swung in and dragged them from the jaws of hell.

Although this is great news and safeguards the immediate future of both Game and Gamestation along with their many employees, I can’t help but think that if they just carry on doing what they’ve been doing, they’ll end up in administration again.

The UK now spends more money on video games that it does on DVDs, so why then is the biggest video game retail chain on the high street struggling to keep their heads above water? One reason is that the video game market has changed drastically over the past decade or so, and Game have never really adapted to it.

I used to shop at Game, in fact whenever I’d buy a new game I would always shop there. I’d been a customer of the store for so long I even remember them being called Electronics Boutique; but all of a sudden I just stopped going in.

Sure, I’m a bit of an internet shopper these days, if I buy a new game, I tend to just go online and buy it. It’s generally a bit cheaper than the high street and I usually don’t need to play it straight away so can wait for the delivery time. However when I go online, I don’t use Game because their attempt at e-commerce is frankly embarrassing. There are no benefits to buying from Game’s website; the prices are the same as they are in store, so why spend your hard-earned money there?

The one time I have actually bought from Game.co.uk ended in complete disaster. I was looking everywhere for an old Gamecube game called Battalion Wars and I finally saw a copy on Game’s site for £25. I snapped it up immediately, but when it leaped through my letterbox I found that it was in fact a pre-owned copy and not a brand new one the site advertised. Not only that, but I couldn’t return it as there was no seal on the box, apparently only games with seals can be returned. At least I got the game!

It’s fair to say they haven’t grasped the whole online revolution very well at all. However, this isn’t the reason I stopped patronising Game.

If I was in town, for whatever reason, I would always pop in Game to see if there were any good deals on, and generally have a browse, but I had to put a stop to it when the company decided to become a hard-sell store.

Every single time I would go in I’d be pounced upon by a member of staff asking if I needed any help or if I knew what I was looking for and every time I’d just say the same thing:

“I’m just looking thanks.”

This is fine for a while, but it started to get so ridiculous I started avoiding going in. I would get collared by a staff member at the door, down one area of the store, down another area, all the while saying “I’m just looking thanks.” I remember the ultimate straw that broke that poor camel’s back: I was hassled three times by the SAME member of staff! I remember just giving up and walking out, and I never really went back.

Instead I went to Gamestation, which at the time was Game’s big rival. It had a bit of an indie vibe to it, the staff there would generally leave you alone, and if they did talk to you it was just to say hello or to talk about games, usually the one you had in your hand. This was brilliant! And then Game took them over.

Unfortunately, although the Gamestation brand still has that ‘gamers store’ vibe about it, the old habits of Game slowly crept in and polluted the fantastic culture Gamestation had going. Gone were the days when you could enter the shop and browse at your leisure, pick up a game, head to the counter and buy it whilst having a friendly chat with the staff member resulting in you leaving the store with a big happy face.

Instead, now when you walk up to the counter it’s like a game of Trivial Pursuit with the amount of questions they bombard you with. “Do you want to buy these accessories?” “Have you seen these deals we have on pointless tat?” “Would you like to pre-order an upcoming title?” and the one that annoys me the most: “You can get it for £5 cheaper if you buy it pre-owned instead.”

As you may have already guessed I really dislike pre-owned games; I just disagree with them as a concept. If I want to buy a game, I want the game developer to get the money not the retailer, so I tend to always buy a brand-new copy. I just think that if you buy a pre-owned game and you don’t like it, you can’t complain to the developer as you haven’t given them a penny.

Game decided a long time ago that pre-owned games were going to be its market, it sounded like a good idea at the time, taking a bigger slice of the pie someone else baked, but as a result they’ve just become another CEX on the high street. I wouldn’t mind but quite often you’re only saving a fiver by buying pre-owned, just pay full-whack and get the real deal. Give the money to the people who deserve it!

For me, the final nail in Game’s coffin was last year when the 3DS was released. Because supermarket giant Tesco were undercutting them massively, Game told its employees to go down to Tescos, buy as many as they could, bring them back to Game and sell them as pre-owned, but for more money.

Well Game it was nice knowing you.

This is why they’re in trouble, they abuse their loyal customers. Their focus completely changed from offering a good service to their customers to harvesting money from them in any way they can find. It’s no way to run a sustainable business. Needless to say I bought my 3DS from Asda, the first time I’d ever bought a console from somewhere that wasn’t Game or Gamestation.

I think I must be clear though, that I do not blame any of the members of staff in Game’s stores for any of this mess; they’re just doing their job. The real python here is the people at the top, who are strangling the business for all it’s worth. If Game is going to make a recovery they need to make big cultural changes. If they don’t then they’ll be back in administration again faster than the time it takes Sonic to die on spikes.

And quite frankly I think they’re all out of continues.