The UK’s last remaining video game retailer will no longer be selling pre-orders in-store, as leaked emails reveal the latest cutbacks to the business.
The future of GAME is looking increasingly grim, as leaked information reveals that the retail chain will no longer be taking in-store pre-orders for new games, after this month.
The death of physical game sales has forced enormous change on GAME’s business, to the point where it’s already given up on selling second-hand games and is now more focused on merchandise and board games.
What is the future of GAME shops?
Leaked staff memos now reveal that, from August 1, stores will no longer be taking pre-orders. Not only that but GAME will refund any existing pre-orders, for anything coming out after January 31, 2025.
Online pre-orders will continue as usual, but a few weeks ago it was suggested that GAME would stop all physical game sales, except for pre-orders.
GAME denied the rumours but now that pre-orders are stopping it really does seem like the final step before giving up selling games entirely, except through their website.
Apart from the general decline in demand for physical games, it’s believed the changes are an attempt to streamline GAME concession stores within other Frasers Group chains, such as Sports Direct.
Standalone GAME stores are now becoming rare, and it’s easy to imagine that they will be phased out entirely in the near future.
GAME has not yet commented on the leaked memos obtained by Eurogamer, but a contributing reason for the decision is apparently to do with the tills used in stores.
Every shop has to use a custom till to enable pre-orders and Fraser Group wants the same tills in all of their stores. This is apparently why trade-ins and the GAME rewards scheme was dropped, as well as support for Xbox All Access and the ‘endless aisle’ option to order games to be delivered to a local shop.
As a purely web-base business, GAME isn’t going anywhere but in terms of a physical, bricks and mortar retail chain it seems like its days are numbered.
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