Game buys Gamestation

[Fierce_LiNk]

Mate, have you ever been in a Game/Gamestation? It's a nightmare experience. The staff, the customers, everything. Gets right on my tits. People wonder why people don't take videogames seriously, but the answer is pretty obvious. It's because their only experience of the industry if fucking Gamestation and the cretinous arseholes within.

 

The sort of shit I'm talking about:

I was going to rip into the bastards for spreading stereotypes, but on reflection, these really are the sorts of ***** you get in Gamestation.

 

Dude, that Gamestation Ad is hilarious.

 

I'm also pissed off at this. Gamestation was pure, and now it has been corrupted by GAME's vileness.

[4q2]

I was just about to say the same thing. How does this NOT violate monopoly laws?

 

Because its still a free market....You could set up a shop tomorrow if you had the means.

 

Yeah this is shite news, but there is always the internet, Comet, independants, HMV, Virgin, CEX, Cash Converters, Woolworths, so on and so forth etc, etc, and most of them offer the same amount of cluelessness for roughly the same price (if not cheaper).

[The fish]

Apart from the fact I have a £15 GAME gift card left over to spend, all my game's will now be purchased from shopto.net (if it's new games I'm after) and eBay (if it's old ones)...

[Ice9]

Dude CEX rules..

[Kurtle Squad]

Arent there anti monopoly laws against this sort of thing? I used to love the occasional price war between game and gamestation. If it wasnt video games im sure people would be a having a fit about this sort of thing.

 

I was just about to say the same thing. How does this NOT violate monopoly laws?

I think you'll find that there are still pleanty of shops that sell games at rip off prices.

Woolworths, Virgin, Tesco, Argos etc etc.

[4q2]

Dude CEX rules..

 

They are not a bad store, the best of the bunch if I'm honest....I just tend to find they never have the games in I am looking for and I end up going elsewhere. My g/f always usually walks out with an armful of DVD's though.

[ThePigMarcher]

shopto.net (if it's new games I'm after)

 

Have only started using them recently and I am more than impressed (so far).

[EEVILMURRAY]

Not really bothered to be honest, they're both pretty average.

[flameboy]

They are not a bad store, the best of the bunch if I'm honest....I just tend to find they never have the games in I am looking for and I end up going elsewhere. My g/f always usually walks out with an armful of DVD's though.

 

They do vary from store to store alot though, some of them are awful, crap stock, crap staff etc...

[The Bard]

Aww, fuck right off.

[Rummy]

Because its still a free market....You could set up a shop tomorrow if you had the means.

 

Yeah this is shite news, but there is always the internet, Comet, independants, HMV, Virgin, CEX, Cash Converters, Woolworths, so on and so forth etc, etc, and most of them offer the same amount of cluelessness for roughly the same price (if not cheaper).

 

Could you survive though? Whilst alot of people in here are using the word monopoly, including myself, I'm sure no one means it in the purest sense of the word. Game have just gained a ton more outlets, they've just grown massively in physical size in one small transaction, gained more oppurtunities too, and probably just gained a slightly bigger customerbase. I do believe they already hold the majority market share for gaming stuff, that'll have just grown to be even bigger too, making it harder for competition to compete.

 

Not so related, but I expected it to be a much bigger deal than £75mil, expected at least some sort of break into triples.

[gmac]

that'll now make 6 game owned stores in a 1 mile radius of where I work :p

[Ashley]

Could you survive though? Whilst alot of people in here are using the word monopoly, including myself, I'm sure no one means it in the purest sense of the word. Game have just gained a ton more outlets, they've just grown massively in physical size in one small transaction, gained more oppurtunities too, and probably just gained a slightly bigger customerbase. I do believe they already hold the majority market share for gaming stuff, that'll have just grown to be even bigger too, making it harder for competition to compete.

 

Not so related, but I expected it to be a much bigger deal than £75mil, expected at least some sort of break into triples.

 

Whether you can compete financially and whether you can compete at all are two different things really. It would be like opening any kind of store nowadays, you'd need some big idea to really get it anywhere decent.

[Cube]

;432923]Whether you can compete financially and whether you can compete at all are two different things really. It would be like opening any kind of store nowadays' date=' you'd need some big idea to really get it anywhere decent.[/quote']

 

But you can still survive without anything special to offer. I work for a small online software retailer.We get on fine, dispite many more well known sites offering stuff at better prices.

 

Edit: Although...a good Google rating helps (search google for PC Software. We're second)

[Dcubed]

It's sad, truly it is sad

 

Gamestation is a wonderful chain, it's fantastic that I can just walk into any store and pick up an old NES controller. The Gamestation stores will stay the same at first, but we all know that they'll eventually get phased out and turned into crappy Game stores

[Ashley]

But you can still survive without anything special to offer. I work for a small online software retailer.We get on fine, dispite many more well known sites offering stuff at better prices.

 

Edit: Although...a good Google rating helps (search google for PC Software. We're second)

 

I meant more growing and developing into something grander. But ah well.

 

It's sad, truly it is sad

 

Gamestation is a wonderful chain, it's fantastic that I can just walk into any store and pick up an old NES controller. The Gamestation stores will stay the same at first, but we all know that they'll eventually get phased out and turned into crappy Game stores

 

Thing its a bit too early to be decideding what will happen. Plenty of companies are taken over without changing on the surface.

[Rummy]

I had meant to change that 'survive' to compete, I changed what I was saying halfway through. I won't mind about this, if they try and leave gamestation as much as it is, but I just can't help but think they won't do that

[McPhee]

Could you survive though? Whilst alot of people in here are using the word monopoly, including myself, I'm sure no one means it in the purest sense of the word. Game have just gained a ton more outlets, they've just grown massively in physical size in one small transaction, gained more oppurtunities too, and probably just gained a slightly bigger customerbase. I do believe they already hold the majority market share for gaming stuff, that'll have just grown to be even bigger too, making it harder for competition to compete.

 

Not so related, but I expected it to be a much bigger deal than £75mil, expected at least some sort of break into triples.

 

Thats business though, if a company needs to expand quickly they buy others.

There is still competition in the specialist sector, Chips for example have expanded a massive amount over the past couple of years! 8 year old company and this is their store map:

 

Game's share on the high street is massive but i think overall they'll probably only be taking around 25-30% between Game, Gamestation and Gameplay

[Rummy]

On the subject of gameplay, have they always owned it, or did they acquire it at some point, and if so, when exactly was that?

[McPhee]

Game bought Gameplay in 2004

 

Found out an interesting fact while looking that up, GAME themselves were a small retailer until EB bought them up. The company we now know as GAME is just a re branding of Electronics Boutique

 

It went down the lines of:

 

1995 - Electronics Boutique expand into the UK buy buying the Rhino Group (Future Zone stores)

1999 - EB buys it biggest rival, GAME

1999 - EB buys BarrysWorld, ScoreGames and CentroMAIL, expanding into Europe

2002 - EB rebrands as GAME and begins the process of separation from it's US counterpart

2004 - GAME buy Gameplay

2006 - GAME buy Gameswizards (Australia) and re brand them as GAME

2007 - GAME buy Gamestation

 

Got to wonder how hard EB are kicking themselves now for letting the European leg split off

[killthenet]

It's fairly annoying really. Gamestation isn't perfect, but it's much better than Game and looking through Gamestations pre-owned and Retro stuff is - for me - the gaming equivilant of being in a good record store. I do hope they don't change much, but they're bound to slowly roll out shop refits to make them more "slick" but they'll just end up looking garish and bright. Just like Game.

[fatnickc]

"By investing in both brands" seems to suggest that they'll keep them seperate. I hope they do, because Gamestation have a great selection of pre-owned stuff. The one near me closed down just before the Wii launch last year, so I have been going to Game recently, but I still prefer Gamestation.

[4q2]

Could you survive though? Whilst alot of people in here are using the word monopoly, including myself, I'm sure no one means it in the purest sense of the word. Game have just gained a ton more outlets, they've just grown massively in physical size in one small transaction, gained more oppurtunities too, and probably just gained a slightly bigger customerbase. I do believe they already hold the majority market share for gaming stuff, that'll have just grown to be even bigger too, making it harder for competition to compete.

 

In my area there doesnt seem to be a problem with surviving...I know of 3 independants that are still open after sitting under the noses of the bigger names.

I'd say it is a good market of opertunity for anyone willing to take the plunge

[flameboy]

Game responds to monopoly talk:

 

Group chief executive Lisa Morgan defiant after Gamestation acquisition

GAME’s buy-out of nearest rival Gamestation, which was confirmed on Wednesday, has got the whole industry talking about whether the super-specialist could face an investigation by the Competition Commission over its dominance of the sector.

 

But GAME group chief executive Lisa Morgan has told MCV that the retailer is confident that the deal is all above board.

 

“Blockbuster would not accept an offer that had any potential conditions attached to it,” she said. “The deal will be subject to a regulatory review process and that will be an ongoing process during the first ten weeks. We have taken considerable advice in this area and we are confident and comfortable to proceed.”

 

Morgan also moved to calm fears that the deal would lead to widespread store closures.

 

“We are looking forward to putting new GAME and Gamestation stores into the market. This transaction is not about store closures – this is about bringing a second brand into the fold and serving more customers.”

 

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/26896/GAME-dismisses-monopoly-talk

[Ashley]

Speaking of, we're apparently not allowed into Gamestation for two weeks. Not that I'd want to go, but its suddenly much more tempting to do so...