The future's bright for GAME

Game may well be out of the worst of their recent problems, after OpCapita came in and rescued the company from collapse, but their future still remains uncertain. Game have significantly scaled back their high-street presence as the company looks ahead to the future.

Phil Gaskell, a Director at Ripstone Ltd, a publisher who specialises in digital distribution, says he always questioned Game's decision to have stores in such close proximity of each other.“The problem that Game had is that they acquired Gamestation, they almost sort of doubled their presence on the high street. And any high street you ever went to, you always had a Game and a Gamestation. You knew they were owned by the same company so you left thinking, why do you need two?”

The acquisition of Gamestation in 2007, and the level of debt that the merger incorporated, was a major factor in Game's woes. Whilst Game has seen the closure of nearly 300 stores, the Gamestation's have seen minimal closure's.“Interestingly the closed a lot of the Game’s closed, and not the Gamestation's, which I think is the stronger brand.” Said Phil.

Phil believes Game will still play a prominent role in video-game retail, but thinks the company needs to rethink its strategy. “I think there’ll be a strong future for Game, but I think they need to find a way to make their store’s destination points for people to discover games. They need to change, they need to embrace digital.”

Phil offers an interesting idea that could offer an insight into the future of vide-game retail. “Perhaps Game could have a very fast (broadband) pipe going into their store where I could get my download. I might pay 25p or a pound to get it there and then. I put my memory card in the pod, I browse the games, then ten minutes later it’s their and I’m on my way.”