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BREAKING NEWS: GAME to be rescued by Investment Firm

Yes, they still have room to close more stores. Utterly crazy that some places had several stores, especially when they were within minutes of each other.

Utterly crazy. I don't know much about GAME since I live in the US, but this seriously reminds me of Gamestop. In my city, there are six Gamestops. Two of them are across the street from one another. Three of them are literally next to each other.
 

Omikaru

Member
CONFIRMED: 333 Shops Sold To OpCapita

The administrators of Game Group have announced that the 333 of its UK shops that are still open have been sold to OpCapita.

The agreement will safeguard the jobs of nearly 3,200 Game Group employees.

A small number from head office who were previously made redundant may also be re-employed.

OpCapita is a private investment firm specialising in retail. It has set up a company called Baker Acquisitions to buy the shops.

Last Monday the video game retailer went into administration, with 277 stores closing down immediately.

Administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) also announced at the time that 2,104 staff would be made redundant.

The financial terms of the transaction have not been announced, but it has been reported that OpCapita will not have had to pay much for the business up front, although it will have taken on a considerable amount of the retailer's debt.

BBC business editor Robert Peston revealed on Saturday that the deal had been approved by six banks, led by the Royal Bank of Scotland, who are owed £85m between them.

"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," said Henry Jackson, managing partner at OpCapita.

"We have assembled a strong team of experienced industry operators to implement the programme of operational change that is needed."
 
Good, yeah good, I was expecting worse when the shops started shutting down. I hope the prices don't radically go up or they do anything annoying like cutting down on less selling products such as retro goods in Gamestation because of intervening. I wonder.
 

Akyan

Member
Good news.

Definitely good news. I didn't think it would be as earth shattering as some if there wasn't a specialist games retailer...but I definitely think it's better to have one. It'll be interesting to see what, if any (given the stores they've already dumped), changes the new management make.
 

Blair

Banned
Well I'm talking about my country if it makes a difference. And I never said students deservec to be fired, just that it won't impact the job market. GAME sucks and deserves its fate, not their employees, but they'll be fine, where I live at least.


Try saying that (even though its wrong) in your first post, otherwise people are going to assume you're a cunt and disregard your posts from now on, which most will do anyway because you have no idea whats going on outside your bedroom.
 

RaffAO

Member
They had been closing the competing shops very gradually since the Gamestation buyout, having them almost next door to eachother wasn't quite the blanket policy one might assume from reports. Oxford and Cheltenham for example were thinned out before all this.

Vile shops, but their Gameplay.co.uk subsiduary which closed a while ago was pretty good at one point.
 

Keikoku

Banned

Youth unemployment figures doesn't include students... I don't know for your country but here in France, student is a status. Same reason why they can't pretend to the unemployment financial aid. Here in France, I'm pretty sure most GAME/Micormania employees are students. Being a student with a job myself I have no problem saying that I wouldn't have any difficulty to find another shitty, non flexible, low-income job if I was fired.

On the other hand, GAME has always been a terrible company, with no respect at all for the consumer. I'm glad they're dying. Deal with it.
 

Katzii

Member
GAME has always been a terrible company, with no respect at all for the consumer.

I've actually had nothing but good service from GAME. The people in my local store have always been friendly, and even dealing with higher up people when I had issues with my online account, they've only ever been professional, and even compensated me well for the problems I've had. My only qualms with the company would be the prices. If they could even approach matching their online prices in-store, I wouldn't have an issue in using my high-street shop.

I would like to see the online site resume the way it was. I can only think of one occasion where I didn't get a game delivered the day before release, and that occasion had the game get to me ON the day of release, so all good, really.
 

SMT

this show is not Breaking Bad why is it not Breaking Bad? it should be Breaking Bad dammit Breaking Bad
So a Christmas miracle happening on April Fools, what a GAME changer.
At least I'm glad the GAME employees get to keep their jobs. :)
 
What's gonna make EA, Capcom, MS and Nintendo come back?
The fact the group will have credit (or a way to source some) to actually purchase their stock with.

But if they don't they are basically CeX without the diversity of stolen mobile phones, broken hard drives and other electronics.
 

Xun

Member
Is it likely the Gamestation brand will be retained at all?

It would be a shame to see it go.
 

Raide

Member
Does this mean my voucher is valid again? :)

Early days but over the coming weeks, I am sure they will bring that stuff back. Gift Cards need to be back ASAP, just to prevent any further fallout.

Went to visit my local GAME today where some of my friends work. Really glad to see it being still alive and that they still have jobs. Stock was horrific on all but a few titles, so hopefully that stock starts coming in before the Easter and Half-term rush starts.
 
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