It seems things are going from bad to worse for poor old Game UK with MCV reporting that their stock prices have reached an all-time low of 0.5p (and it may drop further).  The current rumours suggest that if they can't raise some significant cash in the next two weeks, they won't be able to make their rent payment and they will going into administration.

I'd like to say I'm surprised, or indeed sad, at the prospect of Game's demise (especially as I worked for them for quite a while)... but I'm not really. It often puzzled me how they could afford to run more than one store in a town centre.  Portsmouth, for example, has a Game store (ex Electronics Boutique) inside the Cascades centre with another right outside the front door.  Newport, on the Isle of Wight, is only a relatively small town and yet they have a Game and a Gamestation.  Surely it must have occured to someone that fake competition like that isn't really going to work as you're running, stocking and staffing two stores but you'll only get one sale regardless of which store the customer goes to (please tell me that we're not that easily fooled)?

On top of this, as an avid PC gamer, it certainly didn't please me to see them almost completely abandon the platform on the high street.

Sadly, while I have no feelings for the potential downfall of the company, I do feel for the poor staff that will lose their jobs if no solution can be found.  If they do go under without someone like GameStop buying them up, it could also spell bad news for the gaming industry as a whole.  Without a gaming retail chain on the high street, consumers will be reliant on the supermarkets who rarely keep a large range of titles in stock.  Seems buying online will become the only real way to purchase some games... not that PC gamers will notice a difference.  That said, there are already rumours suggesting that the next generation of consoles will use digital delivery anyway so even if Game survive, it may only be a question of time.

There are also rumours that some of the stores are selling off as much as possible at incredibly low prices (one forum user claiming he picked up a couple of PS3 consoles for £50 each) so it might be an opportunity to do a little shopping and, possibly help save their jobs.

Update: Seems that even more titles will fail to make it on to Game's shelves with both MCV and VG24/7 reporting that Microsoft and Activision have pulled support for the store.  Looks like they won't be stocking the limited edition Star Wars Xbox 360 either.  Surely they can't last much longer...

Update 2 (21/03/12): According to a number of sources, including gamesindustry.biz, Game have suspended their stock as of 7:30am this morning as they are "unable to assess the business's financial position, and is of the opinion that there is no equity value left in the Group".  The suggestion is that, even if they do find a buyer before the weekend, at least half the stores will close.

Update 3: It was only a matter of time.  It would appear that Game have filed for administration, as reported by MCV

Update 4 (2703/12): Yesterday saw 277 GAME stores close their doors and 2104 staff suddenly unemployed (15 from the company's head office).  All gift cards, reward cards, GAMEWallet fund and trade-ins were suspended and both game.co.uk and gamestation.co.uk are "down for maintenance".  More information can be found on the GAME Facebook page: Facebook

Update: GAME has been saved, it's official! OpCapita stepped in after the numerous store closures to buy the chain and have stated that they do not plan to close any more stores.  Good news for those remaining staff.

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