GAME in trouble?
- Thread starter Razaak
- Start date
Kasatka
Active Member
Another innovative site is http://www.greenmangaming.co.uk/about/ wherein you get a digital price comparison site that gives you codes to go redeem on whatever platform is cheapest BUT also feature the ability to trade in your games for store credit.
Imagine how much you could generate if you could trade in all those old Steam titles you never play anymore!
Imagine how much you could generate if you could trade in all those old Steam titles you never play anymore!
Windzarko
Well-Known Member
One thing just occurred to me with the whole licenses/rental thing in relation to online distributors like Steam and Origin; I don't know how true this holds for non-Steam platforms, but I do remember Valve themselves giving pretty detailed instructions on how to sort-of "share" certain games you may have on Steam with other people in a local network capacity.
Basically, they obviously don't allow one person's copy of the game to be played online by multiple people at once, but for local co-op or LAN matches and the like, you can download the game, run Steam in offline mode, and play against other copies of your own game locally. Obviously some non-Valve games that can detect the same serial key in all the copies might moan, but the other titles won't, and all of Valve's ones were made to work this way.
Kinda flies in the face of the license/rental thing... just as this post kinda flies in the face of the actual topic of the thread, but hey, it seemed relevant when I started typing
Basically, they obviously don't allow one person's copy of the game to be played online by multiple people at once, but for local co-op or LAN matches and the like, you can download the game, run Steam in offline mode, and play against other copies of your own game locally. Obviously some non-Valve games that can detect the same serial key in all the copies might moan, but the other titles won't, and all of Valve's ones were made to work this way.
Kinda flies in the face of the license/rental thing... just as this post kinda flies in the face of the actual topic of the thread, but hey, it seemed relevant when I started typing
Spicypixel
New Member
Steam dedicated servers detect multiple steam IDs and throw a fit.
Huung
Well-Known Member
We always used to in the 6th form 'study centre' at school. One PC set up with a dedicated server, the rest used for gaming funtimes.
Hey,
I quite enjoy Metaboli. Their game selection is large and ever growing and they have some AAA titles on there. (Not everything, but enough.)
Subscription price is similar to the price of a MMOG sub, like WoW or TOR.
I also own (I think) one (yes, one) direct2drive game. Their level of service is quite good. I reformatted some machines, the other day, and lost the game license. I emailed them, and within a day, they reset my installation count so I was able to reinstall the game on all my machines.
I still prefer Steam to both Metaboli and D2D, though... Go figure...
Cheers,
J.
I quite enjoy Metaboli. Their game selection is large and ever growing and they have some AAA titles on there. (Not everything, but enough.)
Subscription price is similar to the price of a MMOG sub, like WoW or TOR.
I also own (I think) one (yes, one) direct2drive game. Their level of service is quite good. I reformatted some machines, the other day, and lost the game license. I emailed them, and within a day, they reset my installation count so I was able to reinstall the game on all my machines.
I still prefer Steam to both Metaboli and D2D, though... Go figure...
Cheers,
J.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/11/report-uk-retailer-game-is-for-sale/
will be interesting to see what happens now i guess...
will be interesting to see what happens now i guess...
Panda with issues...
Well-Known Member
thatbloke
Junior Administrator
Apparently HMV aren't far behind GAME either, which is a shame as I actually like HMV, but were BOTH to disappear from the high street then there would be no dedicated stores for buying music/games from in Chichester (where i live) at all... Certainly an opportunity for an independant seller or two to spring up were they to disappear...
Panda with issues...
Well-Known Member
Having seen the prices and selection in HMV recently, I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed.
Xylak
New Member
GAME have admitted that suppliers aren't supplying them : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17336697
Although this probably means they aren't supplying them on credit but the company appears to be skint.
Personally, I find a it a bit of a shame that the high street will lose one of the few bricks-and-mortar chains that sell a broad range of games and peripherals. It will be left to supermarkets to stock this stuff but they're only interested in the top sellers and the minor titles won't get a look-in.
Doubly interesting considering the size of the gaming industry and the amount of money that flows through it.
Although this probably means they aren't supplying them on credit but the company appears to be skint.
Personally, I find a it a bit of a shame that the high street will lose one of the few bricks-and-mortar chains that sell a broad range of games and peripherals. It will be left to supermarkets to stock this stuff but they're only interested in the top sellers and the minor titles won't get a look-in.
Doubly interesting considering the size of the gaming industry and the amount of money that flows through it.
Panda with issues...
Well-Known Member
Considering that an Economist article a few months ago noted that the Gaming industry is the only media industry currently showing positive growth, it is indeed interesting to see the prime brick and mortar store in a large economy go under. Smacks of mismanagement and poor adaptability really.
Edit: THis has now reached the most read story of the day on the BBC website or whatever.
Ki!ler-Mk1
Active Member
I just don't understand how a business can have no spare money considering how many years they have been around. What did they do with all their profits.
Panda with issues...
Well-Known Member
Either ploughed them back into the business, or paid dividends to shareholders.
Their outgoing expenses will include stuff like shop rent, electricity, water, gas, staff pay (all general overheads), plus whatever it costs them to buy their stock wholesale. I'm not in business, but I can't imagine that a retail chain like Game sits on much of a nest egg. It sounds like they weren't even running at a profit for a while, suggesting they had significant loans to service too.
VibroAxe
Junior Administrator
After the afore mentioned article games shares has now fallen to around 1.5p/share (today's lowest: 0.5p /share) which values the company at around £6million. This from a company which in 2008 was worth just over £1 billion.
An interesting point we discussed at work today: how many game stores do you have in your local town (include gamestations this is game group plc we are talking about here)
Ones I know of:
Stevenage:3
Southampton:5? (in the city centre alone)
Maidstone: 3
And we wonder why there's problems...
An interesting point we discussed at work today: how many game stores do you have in your local town (include gamestations this is game group plc we are talking about here)
Ones I know of:
Stevenage:3
Southampton:5? (in the city centre alone)
Maidstone: 3
And we wonder why there's problems...
Spicypixel
New Member
Everyone overlooks how bad they were as a concept.
>buy all rivals to prevent people buying from them
>don't close down the stores so pay over the odds for rent per square mile of coverage
>build entire empire on second hand games sales and then winge when publishers tell you off
>buy all rivals to prevent people buying from them
>don't close down the stores so pay over the odds for rent per square mile of coverage
>build entire empire on second hand games sales and then winge when publishers tell you off