[JoeTheBlow]

I need to know how this works, as it seems to me that a mysterious company now not only owns a struggling british electronics chain, but now an even bigger, even more struggling international video game chain.

Do they interfere in the running of the stores? I guess they do in some way as they just fired 1000 Comet employees. But will the stores get any autonomy back? Will OpCapita just enable things to go back to business as normal (as Comet seemed to)? No deciding on one brand, or one store per town? What about the near-700 international stores? What about the suppliers owed millions, and who wanted GAME DEAD for years of pre-owned profit-"theft".
So many questions, and probably no answers for months :(

I'd have preferred Gamestop to buy them out, at least they would make changes instead of just injecting adrenaline into the body and letting it twitch for a while longer.

[CrunchinJelly]

OpCapita paid £1:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...edly-buys-game

Comet owner OpCapita has reportedly bought GAME. The Daily Telegraph and the BBC both report that OpCapita has secured the bulk of GAME's UK business, which amounts to 333 shops. An announcement could be made tomorrow morning. The Telegraph believes OpCapita has bought GAME for a nominal £1, which brings the retailer out of administration. But it has taken on the group's £85 million debt. No deal for GAME Group's international business has been made, however. Hilco and GameStop are said to be interested. The BBC claimed the deal will keep open GAME's 333 stores and save 3100 jobs. GAME went into administration last Monday after failing to pay its £21 million rent bill. Shortly after administrator PwC closed 277 shops and let go over 2000 staff across the UK and Ireland. The Royal Bank of Scotland, which reportedly blocked a bid from OpCapita before GAME went into administration, was thought to be ready with its own bid. That has now fallen by the wayside.

[Jeff Albertson]

Dumb question but the shares people had are now dead yes as in they were under the old company so are gone for good no matter what?

[Little Old Man]

I need to know how this works, as it seems to me that a mysterious company now not only owns a struggling british electronics chain, but now an even bigger, even more struggling international video game chain. Do they interfere in the running of the stores? I guess they do in some way as they just fired 1000 Comet employees. But will the stores get any autonomy back? Will OpCapita just enable things to go back to business as normal (as Comet seemed to)? No deciding on one brand, or one store per town? What about the near-700 international stores? What about the suppliers owed millions, and who wanted GAME DEAD for years of pre-owned profit-"theft". So many questions, and probably no answers for months :( I'd have preferred Gamestop to buy them out, at least they would make changes instead of just injecting adrenaline into the body and letting it twitch for a while longer.

Throwing guesses into the wind here, but I imagine they take each takeover on a case by case basis. So they'll have a dedicated team who researched GMG extensively before becoming involved, and during its demise, creating initial plans for different scenarios depending on when/in what state they purchased GMG in. I'm assuming they might even hire new analysts if it is a market they feel they have not much experience with.

My guess is now they'll have a long look through the books, and see how it runs with 300 stores, with emphasis on sorting out the poor relations with publishers, and seeing if the international stores are worthwhile, perhaps with some other minor changes such as changing GS stores to Game ones etc. Then in 6-12 months, the rebranding and proper restructuring will begin, with any more store closures happening then.

[checkeredknight]

I think this thread needs renaming after chequeredknight. GMG doesn't deserve you. Did you tell them to stfu? They can't et the clear out sorted in time and stressed out? Go fucking pay someone to do it you fucknuts. Knight, do yourself a favour. If you want to stay in retail, get a job in tesco. Better pay, better conditions and from what I've heard, they treat their staff well.

Funny story Brera, I used to work at TESCO! I was on the CD, DVD and Game department there for two years before I moved to University. The upper management didn't give a fuck and often looked down upon the shop floor / warehouse staff. The only time the management would ever interact with the likes of us was when we were being told what to do and what not to do. Other than that, it wasn't a bad little job.

I agree with what you're saying though and I appreciate the kind words. I doubt I'm the only staff member doing shit like this in their final week, so I would feel selfish with a thread named after me. My colleague Phil (who has been Senior Sales for the company for nine years) worked a full day for free on Thursday. He's more deserving than I am.

Ohhhhhhh shit... http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/forme...mission/093715

Hmm. What does this mean? I'm not expecting redundancy, but I am expected to be paid next Friday. According to my regional manger, we will be paid the two weeks we're still owed by GAME on Friday the 6th of April. The PWC guy said that we should expect the weeks pay (that's just gone by) from the administrators soon after.

Also got my redundancy letter today. Ticking that I got no notice of redundancy. Applying for compensation. Expecting to receive jack shit.

[bigtroyjon]

Dumb question but the shares people had are now dead yes as in they were under the old company so are gone for good no matter what?

yes

[CadetMahoney]

I'm not expecting redundancy, but I am expected to be paid next Friday. According to my regional manger, we will be paid the two weeks we're still owed by GAME on Friday the 6th of April. The PWC guy said that we should expect the weeks pay (that's just gone by) from the administrators soon after. Also got my redundancy letter today.

dear oh dear, does that mean you worked for some weeks for free?

[JoeTheBlow]

I thought that "article" (this is MCV here) was on about the poor Ireland sods, who are a different country and have different redundancy laws. Not sure, it was the usual bullshit.

And is it wrong of me to hope that EA, Nintendo, Activision, and all the other suppliers tell the new management to fuck off? No new stock and they are stone dead no matter what.
Without word that they'll change their tactics and stop pushing pre-owned over new then supporting GAME-style businesses hurts more than it helps, they have no need to support them even if some new idiot company has stepped up and taken on their debts.

They HAVE to change, the sales of ME3 have shown that the loss of GAME on the high st isn't the end of the world, especially if the supermarkets continue their new plans.
edit: just realised, of course its wrong of me to make out like 3000 jobs don't matter. But, shit, never doubt how much GAME have taken from the publishers with their pre-owned push.

[checkeredknight]

dear oh dear, does that mean you worked for some weeks for free?

We're paid two weeks in lieu. So basically, I was paid last Friday for the time I had worked up until the 13th of March. I should be paid next Friday for the two weeks from the 13th of March to the 25th of March. From then on, the administrators should pay us for my final few days (the 26th of March up until the 30th.) I was worried that we wouldn't get this pay, however our regional manager assured us we would.

[Psychotext]

Ohhhhhhh shit... http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/forme...mission/093715 Utter scumbags.

Complete wankers.

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

I know that this a Duh! question but If I buy a used 360 from gamestation, They wont be able to offer any warranty/guarantee will they?

[LordAlu]

So, GAME was bought today by OpCapita:

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/offic...tration/093722

Retailer GAME has announced its exit from administration following a successful bid by Comet owners OpCapita. Private investment firm OpCapita has secured a sale of GAME's UK assets to Baker Acquisitions Limited. Under the terms of the deal Baker has bought the UK arm of GAME Group out of administration and will provide it with the required capital to resume trading on a normalised basis. There are no plans for future store closures. Baker, which is based in London, was founded in November 2011. More importantly, the agreement safeguard the remaining 333 UK stores and secures the jobs of nearly 3,200 GAME employees. All of these staff are now employed by Baker. Crucially, this will also mean Baker is not responsible for those who lost their jobs with The GAME Group – bad news for those currently trying to fight for their unpaid notice and redundancy pay. It's also bad news for investors. With the UK assets now owned by Baker, GAME Group remains suspended on the stock exchange. Investors' only hope now is that enough money can be raised from the sale of the international business for them to recoup their investment. “We are pleased to have reached agreement with the Administrator,” OpCapita managing partner Henry Jackson stated. “We strongly believe there is a place on the high street for a video gaming specialist and GAME is the leading brand in a £2.8bn market in the UK. “We have assembled a strong team of experienced industry operators to implement the programme of operational change that is needed. There is a huge amount to do but we look forward to the challenge of restoring GAME’s fortunes in partnership with its employees and suppliers.” PwC administrator Mike Jervis added: "We are delighted to be able to secure this business sale and provide some much needed stability for customers, suppliers and employees alike in these uncertain times. The support of these stakeholders has been crucial over the last week and I would like to thank them for their support throughout this difficult period. "This means that the GAME brand will not be another one of the retail names disappearing from the high street in the current difficult climate." GAME Group's non-UK operations remain up for sale.

I'm glad for many of my friends who still have to work in the company. I may no longer have a job but at least they can rest a little easier for a while.

[checkeredknight]

Crucially, this will also mean Baker is not responsible for those who lost their jobs with The GAME Group – bad news for those currently trying to fight for their unpaid notice and redundancy pay.

Sooo... will we still be paid next Friday? This simply means it's bad news for those who expect compensation for lack of notice / redundancy money, right? While it's shit that getting those things now look very unlikely, it's more important to me that we get paid for the last 3 weeks work. :X

[JonathanEx]

Does anyone know much about OpCapita's approach with Comet? Obviously there was the large job cuts recently but they've only had them for a short time and when sticking your own direction in that's probably necessary, but can anyone put any perspective on whether they're actually moving well in to the digital arena?

Oh and obviously I updated my silly site. Hopefully for the last time.

[Carbonox_Ratchet]

Going out of administration is good for those who won't lose their jobs but it will be quite a long time until it will be good for the general public (where being a good choice for purchasing games is concerned), if at all.

What do people want changed apart from the obvious pricing?

[LordAlu]

Sooo... will we still be paid next Friday? This simply means it's bad news for those who expect compensation for lack of notice / redundancy money, right? While it's shit that getting those things now look very unlikely, it's more important to me that we get paid for the last 3 weeks work. :X

I'd say you'd still be paid, yeah. As for those that expect compensation (read: me) we claim it off the government anyway so it shouldn't affect that either.

[checkeredknight]

What do people want changed apart from the obvious pricing?

As an ex-member of staff, here are some suggestions I would give for improving GAME...

- Less focus on killer questions and KPI's (Give the teams freedom of what questions they ask to what customers rather bombarding everyone with six questions each every time they want to buy something. Stuff like the "Mexican wave" emails with the Vita pre-orders were pathetic.) - Give staff what they earn (Working for free for 30 / 40 minutes at the end of every full day should not happen. If the managers are paid for this, so should the shop floor staff.) - Every store doesn't have to look the same (Plano-grams are boring. Let managers mix their shops up a little and make POS interesting for the customers.) - Cheaper new prices, more incentives to buy (Store prices will never be as cheap as online, but £42.99 for a new copy of Fifa is ridiculous. Hand out more freebies (such as shirts, posters etc.), have more in-store events (such as launch day tournaments and midnight openings) and keep up trade-in offers (such as "get x new game for £10 when you trade in x" etc.) - Do something different (My ex-store had a second floor full of wasted space. This could have easily been transformed into a demo and pre-order room. Scatter some demo pods about the place, have a desk to take pre-orders and play games / interact with the customers. I know a lot of the customers who visited our store would've loved something like this.) - Good customer service (While I believe a lot of stores do this already, good customer service is the key to any retail business. It's something that should be maintained by every member of staff.)

I'd say you'd still be paid, yeah. As for those that expect compensation (read: me) we claim it off the government anyway so it shouldn't affect that either.

Cheers. Hopefully you'll get something from them, a lot of the (assistant) managers definitely deserve it.

[Resistance100]

Going out of administration is good for those who won't lose their jobs but it will be quite a long time until it will be good for the general public, if at all. What do people want changed apart from the obvious pricing?

Price is one thing but i found that the problem with the stores is that there is no reason ever to go to one for anything but midnight launches.

I'd like to see

-Proper demo booths set up.
-An expanded used game section with retro games/consoles reappearing
-Expand on the gaming merchandice sold. Better range of strategy guides, soundtracks.

I'd also prefer if games are sorted by genre rather than title. That way if you want to try a different shooter for example you have them all in eyeshot making it much easier to browse them. I'm sure this will also help staff when recomending games.

Pre-order sections are also fine but they need to be backed by knowable staff with information to hand about the upcoming games.

I'm not sure if GAME/Gamestation do this but for the pub chain i work for we produce magazines every couple of months which customers can read showing off news/events/products which prove very useful. I'd like GAME to produce something simalar.

In an ideal world i would prefer to buy my games from a brick and mortor store than online but there are changes which can happen which will help draw me back.

[Starwolf_UK]

Somebody made a thread (why do people make new threads then not post a link in the old one, it kills discussion for subscribers...)

As for what I'd like to change. Since CeX have been near to me its great. Before I shop I pop onto their website and see if they have what I want in stock at a price I want. No time wasted searching disorganised shelves for a morsel approaching a bargain while trying to ninja under the radar of a helpful store assistant. If GAME could get something like that working (with correct prices too, none of this "instore prices may be different, just tell me the instore price and if it is instore) though I'd imagine it would be half-baked and not work properly which brings me onto another thing.

The website. What a terrible redesign. I think its too soon to re-redesign it though...

[axisofweevils]

Ha ha. That's my local game (there's another around the corner that survived but I always used this one)

Mine too. I found the video while I was googling to see if my local GAME stores were affected.

[Katzii]

I am pretty sure that Super Pokemon Rumble was already discounted to £19.99 before Game started to go under. So yeah, it's a great deal.

It was when I went and bought my copy (I made the wise decision to use my £85 of giftcards/points as soon as I heard the news that there were issues), and then probably a week or two before they went under, it was actually £14.99.

[LordAlu]

- Less focus on killer questions and KPI's (Give the teams freedom of what questions they ask to what customers rather bombarding everyone with six questions each every time they want to buy something. Stuff like the "Mexican wave" emails with the Vita pre-orders were pathetic.)

This is an absolute must. Constant performance management work was detrimental to morale and was essentially an exercise in paperwork that the company could use to fire people based on poor performance. Both my manager and myself felt that, whilst it needed to be done (and was checked by our RM on every visit) we would not actually use it and would make our own calls and judgements on our own staff, not by an arbitrary list that requires you to ask questions all the time.

- Give staff what they earn (Working for free for 30 / 40 minutes at the end of every full day should not happen. If the managers are paid for this, so should the shop floor staff.)

Every store should do this anyway - if our store closed at 5:30PM all of our staff in were paid till 6:00PM, and we would not stay longer - any jobs not finished were simply started the next day. Unfortunately it is too late now, but if any store does this (and if any current employees read this and their store does this) they should make a complaint to their RM or HR.

- Every store doesn't have to look the same (Plano-grams are boring. Let managers mix their shops up a little and make POS interesting for the customers.)

A great idea. Hopefully this can get implemented at some point, as some space is paid for by publishers to advertise their products. I would much prefer a little creativity in allowing management to do their own displays.

- Cheaper new prices, more incentives to buy (Store prices will never be as cheap as online, but £42.99 for a new copy of Fifa is ridiculous. Hand out more freebies (such as shirts, posters etc.), have more in-store events (such as launch day tournaments and midnight openings) and keep up trade-in offers (such as "get x new game for £10 when you trade in x" etc.)

With the majority of new games at £39.99 and already £10 less than the RRP we should be paying, they definitely need to come up with more events and other products to sell. Old Gamestation did it best with gaming T-Shirts and posters which GAME did its best to remove from sale :(

- Do something different (My ex-store had a second floor full of wasted space. This could have easily been transformed into a demo and pre-order rom. Scatter some demo pods about the place, have a desk to take pre-orders and play games / interact with the customers. I know a lot of the customers who visited our store would've loved something like this.)

I really wish this could be done. The old store in the Leeds Headrow centre was massive, and even had an area with five 360 demo pods in. I'd love to see demo systems in store, maybe in their own area or possibly remove a browser or two and put some demo pods in showing the latest games. Even better if they could tie it in to orders.

- Good customer service (While I believe a lot of stores do this already, good customer service is the key to any retail business. It's something that should be maintained by every member of staff.)

Whilst subjective (one man's idea of good customer service is another man's idea of bad customer service), this goes well with your first point. Sure, approaching people is a good idea, but only if that person looks in need of help, and it's so very easy to spot when they might be confused or in need of assistance. I'd like to see people just being chatty and enjoying their work, which again Gamestation did a lot better than GAME tended to.

-An expanded used game section with retro games/consoles reappearing.

These sell like hot cakes. We had one guy bring in over 50 Saturn games in the first week of November. They were all gone in just two days. Likewise, a week or two before we shut one guy traded in 10 or so Dreamcast games, and they were gone the next day. Retro stuff still sells, and sells well.

-Expand on the gaming merchandice sold. Better range of strategy guides, soundtracks.

I don't know the cost of soundtracks but it would be fantastic to have somewhere to actually buy them, and would be a great item to sell with the title being bought. Strategy guides don't sell well in the age of the internet unfortunately, and only go for games that might actually require them (i.e. Skyrim, Kingdoms of Amalur). The number of Duke Nukem guides that just got written off was unbelievable!

I'd also prefer if games are sorted by genre rather than title. That way if you want to try a different shooter for example you have them all in eyeshot making it much easier to browse them. I'm sure this will also help staff when recomending games.

GAME actually used to do this about 6+ years ago, and it worked okay. The problem was the games themselves were often mis-labelled genre wise. I remember once going through a display list of things to show on a shelf and seeing Tomb Raider listed as a "Strategy" game. If games were kept in alphabetical order whilst still being sorted by genre then this would be a good improvement.

I'm not sure if GAME/Gamestation do this but for the pub chain i work for we produce magazines every couple of months which customers can read showing off news/events/products which prove very useful. I'd like GAME to produce something simalar.

They kinda did something like this, in that every easter, summer and at Christmas they'd do a little magazine with product deals and upcoming games. It is something they should continue with.

Personally there are a few more things I'd also like to see change over the coming months.

• More leeway in offers - There is a very rigid discount structure which punishes unauthorised discounting of a lot of items (the company even had a system in place that would automatically flag this at HO, who would in turn demand an explanation from the store). I'd like to see it more like the old days of GAME where you could find out the profit margin of each item and devise your own packages which could appeal more to different age groups or the local populace. So long as the package made a profit, that would be fine.
• Greater online presence in store - Literally the week before we closed they introduced a system to allow a customer to purchase stuff from the website through us. Not only did this mean they could potentially get a cheaper price, but they could also use their gift card to pay for an online item. This should really be the start. Stores should be allowed to add events to a database which is shown online, with customers able to get updates on their local store. Gonna hold a UEFA 2012 tournament? Put the details on the database. Anyone with a membership (subscription?) to the local store gets the update, either via e-mail or text. Make USE of the internet!
• More community events - I'm not sure about other stores, but we would try and get involved in everything would could, hold competitions, help out with local competitions and events, and our nearby stores. The week before we closed we even got letters from kids in our local primary school telling us how great we were and not to close (the GAME in town didn't get any ner ner!!). Stores need to get involved in their town, as it's great advertising not just for the company but great for the staff to get to know the people in their town who shop with them.

Wow, that was a much longer post than I thought it would be when I started! :P

[ashley678]

i traded in some games i brought from game just before they went into administration (bulletstorm £1.98 for example )

i thought it would be interesting to take them games back to game for a trade in now i finished them and low and behold i got £55 store credit back.

so for 5 games i paid around £15 for i got £55 store credit back lol

[checkeredknight]

Every store should do this anyway - if our store closed at 5:30PM all of our staff in were paid till 6:00PM, and we would not stay longer - any jobs not finished were simply started the next day. Unfortunately it is too late now, but if any store does this (and if any current employees read this and their store does this) they should make a complaint to their RM or HR.

Strange; this always happened in our store. :( I'm not sure if you saw the recent Cynical Brit video (and his take on GAME), but he mentions it happened to him during his time with the company. I thought it might have just been my store at first, but apparently the after hours work is happening at a few places. I remember once we were down on the till by about £20 and we had to stay until around 6:30PM ringing people and trying to get it sorted (unpaid, of course.)

Sure, approaching people is a good idea, but only if that person looks in need of help, and it's so very easy to spot when they might be confused or in need of assistance. I'd like to see people just being chatty and enjoying their work, which again Gamestation did a lot better than GAME tended to.

Totally agree with this. It's painfully easy to tell when a customer needs help. Funnily enough, my store was quite renowned for bad customer service up until last year. The old manager was fired and a new manager (my old boss) was brought in to try and turn the store around. By Christmas time, our GameStation store was beating GAME's takings for the first time in years. It's unfortunate we're now closed and all of the staff that helped turn everything around are now unemployed. I have no idea why they closed us since we have been beating GAME for a little while now. :(

-An expanded used game section with retro games/consoles reappearing.

According to my boss, retro stuff never really sold in our store. TBH, I think that's because most of the stuff they were selling was either crap (old sports titles, a million copies of Chu Chu Rocket) or too expensive (I remember Shining Force being around £50 and Gunstar Heroes £69.99.) Retro stock was a good idea, though (at least in my store) it was another fine example of GAME's poor execution. Personally, I think the trading in / selling of retro games shouldn't be something that's set on the system. Staff with a little knowledge of retro titles can easily give an estimate how much stuff is worth. Plus, there's always the option of checking the Internet to see how much a title is selling for at the moment.

I'm not sure if GAME/Gamestation do this but for the pub chain i work for we produce magazines every couple of months which customers can read showing off news/events/products which prove very useful. I'd like GAME to produce something similar.

Yeah, this is a good idea. Aside from what LordAlu has suggested with adding events to the website (which would be a great idea), another thing I think a lot of stores should make of is social networking. We had just started using Twitter to promote deals and events for our store. I've seen quite a few Facebook pages for GameStation stores and think they'd be quite popular too. There's a lot of potential for stuff like this. It's up to the staff to set these up and use it... but obviously that's not going to happen with rubbish hours / fear of losing your job.

[Moss]

This thread reminds me of the time I had to work the midnight launch of the original DS. We were to be paid overtime - 1.5 hours of pay for the single hour that the store had to be open. Of course, we had to get there two hours early to set up - and that was unpaid.

Utter dickheads.

[Vormund]

Price is one thing but i found that the problem with the stores is that there is no reason ever to go to one for anything but midnight launches. I'd like to see -Proper demo booths set up. -An expanded used game section with retro games/consoles reappearing -Expand on the gaming merchandice sold. Better range of strategy guides, soundtracks.

This is pretty much what the Australian game chain GameTraders does.

http://www.gametraders.com.au/

And it seems to be working out quite well for them.

[123rl]

Posted yet?

http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/02/game...stration-exit/

Gibbs is an experienced hand in the industry and was first bought into GAME when the company purchased Gamestation, where he had been Managing Director. He was a major component of GAME from 2007 on and eventually left the company in mid 2011. He’s also known for heading up the game arms of HMV and WH Smiths. “I am delighted to be leading GAME back to success. Our immediate priority is to help the GAME and Gamestation teams, so they can give our customers a great Easter in our stores and websites,” Gibbs said in a statement, via MCV. The first major task for Gibbs will likely be getting stock into stores for Easter – as many stores are approaching empty after several weeks of no deliveries and an impressive ‘Spring Clean’ sale which saw preowned stock heavily reduced. It was also confirmed yesterday that David Hamid, a veteran of Dixons, MFI, Halfords and Nationwide would take the role of GAME’s Executive Chairman. The deal signed yesterday will save the remaining 333 GAME stores and 3100 jobs.

I like Martyn. I met him a few times when he would do store visits with the Gamestation senior management. He's one of the few who 'got' Gamestation

[checkeredknight]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I could do with a bit of advice here (preferably from any (ex) GAME/GS employees that are hanging around.)

So everyone should have received some form of letter today from PWC. The letter should have arrived in a large white envelope. It should be easy to tell which letter it is, since it'll be the one addressed to somebody completely fucking random. If it wasn't for my dad being confused (and coincidently having the same first name as the incorrect recipient on the letter) I probably would never have opened it. Funnily enough, I'm not the only one. It seems most of the people I have worked with have also received letters today with random names on them.

Anyway, call me an idiot... but the letter has me confused. From what I can make out, it basically says we're owed money (which we are, from the last week of gutting / cleaning our store) and we're supposed to receive said money within eight weeks. However, Mike Jarvis (from whom this letter "faithfully" comes from) writes;

As administrator I am required to prepare my proposals for distribution to all known creditors, including former employees, providing the information required by Rule 2.33 of the Insolvency Rules 1986 as soon as reasonably practical and, in any event within eight weeks of the date of my appointment. These proposals will be accompanied by a notice convening a meeting of creditors or, depending upon the circumstances, an explanation as to why no such meeting is required. You will receive notification of any creditors' meeting, together with a copy of my proposals in due course. I regret that I cannot enter into general correspondence with creditors regarding the Company's affairs in the meantime. It is too early to give any indication of the prospects of return for the Company's creditors.

Basically, what the fuck does this mean? I was told by the PWC guy closing down our store that we should receive our payment from them within two weeks or so... and this was a week ago now. Any (ex) GAME / GS GAF have any clue what is happening?

[robrymond]

I think the owed money will be paid in due course. The letter is just legally informing you that you are a creditor and owed money but I believe the plan is to pay the final week by the end of this week or the end of the month.

I wouldn't worry too much yet...unless that money never arrives. As for the random names, that is a big fuck up, apparently it was a spreadsheet error, imagine that's how they came to there conclusion on closing stores, god help them!

[checkeredknight]

I think the owed money will be paid in due course. The letter is just legally informing you that you are a creditor and owed money but I believe the plan is to pay the final week by the end of this week or the end of the month. I wouldn't worry too much yet...unless that money never arrives. As for the random names, that is a big fuck up, apparently it was a spreadsheet error, imagine that's how they came to there conclusion on closing stores, god help them!

GAF saves the day again. Thanks a lot for the information. The letter scared me, to be honest. The PWC guy at our store (although being quite rude to begin with) seemed very confident we'd get the money within a few weeks. I was worried this letter today was PWC trying to cover their arses just in case we might not get paid.

Also, what I find hilariously ironic is that the administrators where throwing a strop wanting everything scanned, boxed and labelled perfectly ready for delivery to other stores. The shop needed to be gutted and everything spotless, no excuses. Then they send out a tonne of letters to the wrong addresses. Fucking idiots.

[LordAlu]

GAF saves the day again. Thanks a lot for the information. The letter scared me, to be honest. The PWC guy at our store (although being quite rude to begin with) seemed very confident we'd get the money within a few weeks. I was worried this letter today was PWC trying to cover their arses just in case we might not get paid. Also, what I find hilariously ironic is that the administrators where throwing a strop wanting everything scanned, boxed and labelled perfectly ready for delivery to other stores. The shop needed to be gutted and everything spotless, no excuses. Then they send out a tonne of letters to the wrong addresses. Fucking idiots.

This properly confused my old Senior Sales guy yesterday, he got a letter addressed to me but with half his old address and half his new address on it! It pretty much informed him of the legal stuff about his final payment but he was also told it would get paid in as usual anyway so he just ignored it.
I'm glad to see that most of my staff have now found new jobs. Only myself and my manager have yet to get a new job and that's primarily because we both decided to take a break and get some family time!

[Audioboxer]

i traded in some games i brought from game just before they went into administration (bulletstorm £1.98 for example ) i thought it would be interesting to take them games back to game for a trade in now i finished them and low and behold i got £55 store credit back. so for 5 games i paid around £15 for i got £55 store credit back lol

What were the 5 titles? Wondering if anything I have is worth offloading back haha.

[checkeredknight]

I'm glad to see that most of my staff have now found new jobs. Only myself and my manager have yet to get a new job and that's primarily because we both decided to take a break and get some family time!

Very good to hear! Unfortunately, I don't think anyone who worked at my store have found a new job yet. This town is quite well known for having one of the highest unemployment rates in Britain, and it really shows. Most people visiting the job center here get their payments and go straight to the pub. There's often gangs of "chavs" standing outside it with cans of carling at ten in the morning. I'm moving away to live with some friends myself on Sunday... hopefully I'll have better look finding a job in the Bolton / Manchester area.

[Audioboxer]

Can anyone who works with Game tell me when new stock is expected? Staff told me to wait a few weeks today. Have £90 on a trade in card for trading in 7 titles combined with the trade in bonuses (if I had known 8 titles would have netted me another £10 I would of brought another along!!!).

Looking to pickup Silent Hill Downpour.

Also the girl at the desk told me trade in cards can now be used online, can't see anything on the Game site that suggests that?

Thanks

[Kelthink]

Can anyone who works with Game tell me when new stock is expected? Staff told me to wait a few weeks today. Have £90 on a trade in card for trading in 7 titles combined with the trade in bonuses (if I had known 8 titles would have netted me another £10 I would of brought another along!!!). Looking to pickup Silent Hill Downpour. Also the girl at the desk told me trade in cards can now be used online, can't see anything on the Game site that suggests that? Thanks

I'm sure I read that those with credit can only use it on pre-owned stuff. Might want to enquire at a local store.

[Audioboxer]

I'm sure I read that those with credit can only use it on pre-owned stuff. Might want to enquire at a local store.

At the store I was in I could use it on anything. They were saying now that they've been bought over they should be getting in normal stock of new titles within the next few weeks.

[Moobabe]

Can any ex/current Game or Gamestation employees send me a PM please.

[Misfits]

i traded in some games i brought from game just before they went into administration (bulletstorm £1.98 for example ) i thought it would be interesting to take them games back to game for a trade in now i finished them and low and behold i got £55 store credit back. so for 5 games i paid around £15 for i got £55 store credit back lol

I did this today and got 169.00. Alot of the games were bought for 1.98. They gave 6.00 for child of Eden, I bought it for 1.98

they are offering insane value for mass effects. 15.00 for 1, 17.00 for 2 and 35.00 for 3

[Azure Phoenix]

Can anyone who works with Game tell me when new stock is expected? Staff told me to wait a few weeks today. Have £90 on a trade in card for trading in 7 titles combined with the trade in bonuses (if I had known 8 titles would have netted me another £10 I would of brought another along!!!).

Stock has been coming in with increasing magnitude, however it's mostly still 360 accessories and hardware with a small amount of chart and back catalogue titles to keep us going. It's definitely going to be a few weeks before we start seeing stock flowing in properly again. Nobody knows exactly what is coming in until the boxes are opened though.

And yeah, if anyone has some games to get rid of at the moment I'd seriously at least go and get a quote. Trade in prices are still pretty close to the actual selling price, plus you've got that bonus £10 per 3 games. I mean stuff like Super Scribblenauts ends up at trading in for about £13 including the bonus £3.

[DefectiveReject]

Mine too. I found the video while I was googling to see if my local GAME stores were affected.

Where abouts do you live?

[123rl]

Can any ex/current Game or Gamestation employees send me a PM please.

I left two years ago. Anything can help you with?

[Misfits]

Stock has been coming in with increasing magnitude, however it's mostly still 360 accessories and hardware with a small amount of chart and back catalogue titles to keep us going. It's definitely going to be a few weeks before we start seeing stock flowing in properly again. Nobody knows exactly what is coming in until the boxes are opened though. And yeah, if anyone has some games to get rid of at the moment I'd seriously at least go and get a quote. Trade in prices are still pretty close to the actual selling price, plus you've got that bonus £10 per 3 games. I mean stuff like Super Scribblenauts ends up at trading in for about £13 including the bonus £3.

they didn't tell me about that offer yesterday? :(


can i go back and get the credit which they didn't give?

[JoeTheBlow]

Still weeks before they get new stock in?
Whats that, 3 months without new games to sell? The masses will have gotten used to buying from Tesco or somewhere by then. I still don't know how they can survive, without going down the CEX route even more than they have done.
Which will just piss the publishers off again, and restart the war.

[Misfits]

Still weeks before they get new stock in? Whats that, 3 months without new games to sell? The masses will have gotten used to buying from Tesco or somewhere by then. I still don't know how they can survive, without going down the CEX route even more than they have done. Which will just piss the publishers off again, and restart the war.

i don't think so, the rush in the store yesterday was crazy. people still go to game and next week they will be getting witcher 2 dark edition, that's what the guy who i traded the games into said.

[Azure Phoenix]

they didn't tell me about that offer yesterday? :( *snip* can i go back and get the credit which they didn't give?

They have given you the extra credit, because of the way the tills work the bonus £10 had to be worked out by offering £3.40 across three games (technically given you £10.20 extra). For example Mass Effect trades in for £10, but if you bring two other games with it the promo price on the till can be selected which brings that to £13.40.

[Misfits]

They have given you the extra credit, because of the way the tills work the bonus £10 had to be worked out by offering £3.40 across three games (technically given you £10.20 extra). For example Mass Effect trades in for £10, but if you bring two other games with it the promo price on the till can be selected which brings that to £13.40.

thanks. very pleased about that then. :D

[Azure Phoenix]

Also just a quick note, I would remove the images as someone could end up spending your points on the website if you leave that loyalty card number there.

[Misfits]

Also just a quick note, I would remove the images as someone could end up spending your points on the website if you leave that loyalty card number there.

removed. thanks, it didn't even cross my mind that might happen.

[Turnstyle]

So are GAME offering the £10 extra on trade ins as well as Gamestation?

I have some PS3 games with me today, was going to trade them in at CEX, but might go to GAME instead in that case.

Are they just offering credit? I'm after Assassins Creed Revelations for the 360...be a bummer if they didn't have it.

Can you check their trade-in prices before hand, or do you have to go to the store?

[Misfits]

So are GAME offering the £10 extra on trade ins as well as Gamestation? I have some PS3 games with me today, was going to trade them in at CEX, but might go to GAME instead in that case. Are they just offering credit? I'm after Assassins Creed Revelations for the 360...be a bummer if they didn't have it. Can you check their trade-in prices before hand, or do you have to go to the store?

yep, i traded my games into game.

only credit, the cash alternative i was offered was just below 70.00 with the credit being 169.40. you can't, but ask them to ring up the games and price check them on the cex website.

they should have it, the one i was in yesterday had a few copies as well as a collector's edition for 19.99.