Earlier today website GFinity published a report in which it was claimed “Sources close to the retail store” stated that GAME, a UK based high-street retailer, was planning on ceasing sales of physical video games and hardware.
The report went on to say that physical games and hardware would still be available but only through pre-orders. This move would presumably have been made to free up more shelf space for GAME’s moves into board games, gaming related toys and collectibles.
“Anonymous sources at GAME that Gfinity talked to have expressed disappointment at the move away from video game sales,” said the GFinity report.
However, GAME themselves have been quick to kick this report right in the nadgers.
“This reporting is categorically not true,” a GAME spokesperson told Eurogamer. “GAME continues to support the physical gaming market, offering a wide-range of physical games, hardware, software, accessories and digital gift cards, in stores and online.”
GAME’s parent company Frasers Group also assured Eurogamer that there has not been any change in store policy regarding the sale of physical games and consoles.
Franky, the real story here is just how easy it was to believe that GFinity’s sources were accurate. GAME has been struggling for years as digital videogame account for more and more sales. They’ve leaned heavily into selling gaming-related tat and pop culture stuff, such as leaning towers of Funko Pops! while actual videogame shelf space has decreased. What videogames they do actually have in stock are vastly overpriced, especially second-hand titles. Mind you, they’ve stopped taking in second-hand titles now.
The worst part is that you aren’t even guaranteed to get the latest releases in-store anymore. The few times I’ve ambled into a GAME store in recent memory just for the rush of nostalgia, they’ve informed me that they don’t have the new release I was looking for and that I needed to pre-order it.
It’s a shame because as a wee lad I loved to hang out in GAME. It was a paradise of videogames, most of which I couldn’t afford to buy. I’d happily buy pre-owned games by trading in my older titles, and while the prices they offered were undoubtedly a bit of a rip-off, it was a rip-off of convenience because I didn’t have access to Ebay or anything else to sell my old games. The meagre credit they gave was the only way I could afford new games.
At this point, you have to ask if GAME will actually make it until next year? Or will it collapse, buried under a million Funko Pops!