Sucks to be GAME

The UK retailer GAME and Gamestation continue to do poorly. First they didn't stock The Last Story, then they didn't stock any Ubisoft launch titles for the Vita, then came the announcement that they wouldn't be stocking Mario Party 9, and finally they announced that they were not going to stock Mass Effect 3. But that's all right because they still have their used game sales to keep them going...

Yesterday I got wind of a 'firesale', GAME and Gamestation have dropped the price on many of their pre-owned games in an effort to generate some cash. So this morning I went to my local GAME store and walked away with six pre-owned games for less than £20. The games and their prices are:
Super Scribblenauts £4.99
Tomb Raider Anniversary £4.98
Cursed Mountain £1.98
Conduit 2 £4.98
Red Steel £0.98
Trauma Center New Blood £1.98
Sure, I still overpaid for Red Steel and the same could probably be said for Tomb Raider Anniversary and Conduit 2 but at these prices I didn't really care. Cursed Mountain is supposed to be a good idea that was poorly executed, so for less than two pounds I thought it was worth checking out what redeeming qualities it might have.

The sad truth is that it looks as though GAME will soon go bust, as they aren't getting in new titles and they are clearing out the old titles I would guess that they are minimising the number of assets the receivers have to deal with. The question is why can they not stay in business? Video games are hugely popular and the industry continued to grow during the recession. I feel the problem is that the stores lack any sense of community, so people who read up on games online have no need to visit the physical store because they can also order the game online, often for less. The only reason to visit GAME is if you are buying for someone else and would like advice, or you are trading in your old games for new ones, something that online stores also now cater to.

While it will be sad to see these stores closed I just hope that either whoever buys them out accepts their gift cards or another retailer, such as HMV, makes a deal which enables them to still be redeemed.