But the loss of GAME would weaken the High Street, warns entertainment retailer
LEADER SO… NOW WHAT?
WITH GAME in administration, that’s the question everyone in the trade is asking. Don’t expect too many certain answers straight away. A buyer or buyers may well have stepped in to buy one or all of GAME, Gamestation, GAME.co.uk or that valuable Basingstoke HQ by the time you read this, but the wider implications will linger. Was it really a simple case of a difficult Q4 that killed the GAME we once loved and, at times, feared?
What does this rotten last three months mean for other retailers? HMV had a boost with GAME effectively out of the new releases
market, but that just seems to prove the market has shrunk and shopped elsewhere. It wasn’t rekindled as such. We’ll be looking at these issues in more detail in the coming
weeks – and via MCVuk.com– as the possibility of a world without GAME becomes increasingly likely.
IT’S A RELIEF – BUT STOP by Christopher Dring
HMV says its market share on new games has more than doubled.
The firm is now getting the support it needs from suppliers. And as a result the latest blockbusters – namely products not stocked by GAME – have been flying off its shelves.
But far from feeling triumphant, HMV’s new games boss Ewan Pinder tells MCVthat the loss of GAME would be a blow to the UK High Street.
“Unsurprisingly we’ve seen quite a few extra customers coming in or pre-ordering online recently –mainly to pick up the likes of Mass Effect 3, FIFA Street, Street Fighter X Tekken, Mario Party 9and other new releases,” said Pinder. “And by concentrating on our own positive message about these releases we’ve actually seen our share on quite a few titles more than double compared to their usual levels. “Although GAME is clearly facing a difficult situation, all sorts of permutations are still possible and we wish them and their staff in particular the very best.”
HMV lost market share in games last year. And as a result CEO Simon Fox told MCVthat the firm will reduce space given to games in-store.
By concentrating on our own message, we’ve seen our share on titles more than double.
“ Ewan Pinder, HMV
increased demand from games customers – as we’ve seen recently, then we would obviously look to cater to this and reflect it in our offer – both in-store and online,” he added. HMV: 020 7432 2000
But Pinder suggests that this could still change. “Simon also said that we would look to respond to developments in the market, and if there were to be any
BEGGING FOR CREDIT ED VAIZEY’s remarks about TIGA/UKIE in our interview (p28) were unprompted – and all his opinion. From my point of view, there’s a huge wave of people to thank for getting games on the Government’s financial agenda. Not just the man who has become our Whitehall emissary, Ian Livingstone, or the eagerly progressive folks at UKIE – or the team at TIGA which has never let go of tax breaks as a policy point. But businesses like Jagex, Mind Candy, Media Molecule, Rockstar, Rocksteady or Traveller’s Tales prove the UK can be a haven for creative powers in games. A cumulative force of creative talent and circumstance has helped bring this finance policy change about. It has been spearheaded by some individuals with influence, yes, but not just them. And, yet some people are set on claiming the glory here. On our sister site Develop, the comment thread cheering the announcement devolved into a spat about who deserves the praise. It became pretty tragic, pretty quickly. It was behaviour like that which got the Government saying we didn’t deserve a tax break in the first place. I don’t care which trade body you work for. This isn’t a done deal. The consultation period will be crucial. Maybe after then we can start popping the champagne corks. Michael.French@intentmedia.co.uk