Game Group has been saved by private investment firm OpCapita in a move that will safeguard more than 3, 000 jobs and ensure that the Game and Gamestation brands continue to exist on the high street.
Game's administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) closed 277 stores last week, resulting in 2, 104 job losses, but the sale of the group to OpCapita will ensure the remaining 333 UK stores continue to trade as normal.
Nearly 3, 200 staff will keep their jobs as a result, with a small number of staff who were served redundancy notices last week set to regain their jobs at the retailer's head office.
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OpCapita, which has picked up Game Group for £1, specialises in turning around troubled retailers, following on from its recent £2 acquisition of electronics specialist Comet.
Henry Jackson, managing partner at the private equity firm, said: "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."
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Game has struggled to modernise its business in the face of increasing competition from internet retailers such as Amazon, as well as from the UK's major supermarkets.
The retailer fell out publicly with suppliers at the start of the year after being unable to honour deals. As a result, stores were unable to stock Electronic Arts game
Tesco is ramping up its aggressive moves into the gaming market and last week ran a press campaign positioning itself as the "home of gaming", with claims that the supermarket has the largest number of gaming stores in the UK, alongside more than 10, 000 games available online.This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challged and removed. Find sources: "Gamestation" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2007 ) (Learn how and wh to remove this template message)
Anyone Miss Gamestation?
Gamestation was a chain of retail shops in the United Kingdom selling used and new video games, and was the second largest specialist video game retailer in the United Kingdom until it was acquired by Game in May 2007,
A group which owns many differt gaming stores throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. In March 2012, the Game Group wt into administration and a number of Gamestation stores, including the company's flagship store in Birmingham New Street were closed.
Game and Gamestation were purchased from the administrators by OpCapita. On 14 September 2012, it was announced that the Gamestation brand will disappear with all stores being rebranded as Game.
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Gamestation was founded in 1993 in York, and by 2002, it had 64 stores across the United Kingdom. In October 2002, Gamestation was sold during the peak sales period of PlayStation 2, to American video rtal giant Blockbuster who invested heavily in an aggressive store roll out program. This, coupled with competitive pricing subsidised by the buoyant video rtal market of the time, elevated the chain to second highest market share in the games industry; behind Game.
That the company was either rife to a take over or teetering on the edge of administration, however Gamestation was in fact still making healthy profits, Blockbuster wt through a process of consolidation and sold any outlets not branded 'Blockbuster' in an effort to conctrate on its core business.
Blockbuster Inc. announced on 2 May 2007 that it had sold Gamestation Ltd. to British based Game Group Plc for about £75 million ($150 million).
Gamestation, 43 Camden High Street, London
217 Gamestation stores were sold in the deal. Gamestation's smaller "concession" stores, that operated inside of some Blockbuster stores, were not involved in the Game takeover and were instead owned by Blockbuster exclusively.
These stores were re-branded as 'Blockbuster Games' stores and no longer operated under the Gamestation idtity. The Gamestation brand was run in parallel with the part company's Game brand.
Online operations were operated through Gamestation.co.uk, originally managed by Game Group's acquisition Gameplay GB ltd in 2004. Pricing structures were similar to the groups other websites, but maintains the Gamestation idtity. As of May 2012, the websites for both Game and Gamestation are run by Game Retail Ltd.
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On 29 February 2012, it was announced that both Game and Gamestation would no longer stock new titles from Electronic Arts. This is due to the major games distributor refusing to give the company reduced rates and/or rebates.
On 8 March 2012, it was reported that both Game and Gamestation were heavily discounting stock in an attempt to minimise any debts ahead of administration,
And it was duly confirmed on 26 March 2012, that Game Group had tered administration with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ian Shepard stepped down as CEO. As of November 2011, Gamestation had operated 232 stores throughout the United Kingdom,
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On 31 March 2012, OpCapita officially made a deal to purchase the Group, taking on the 334 remaining stores and securing over 3, 000 jobs.
Until they bought Gamestation, Game were considered to be Gamestation's primary competitor. Gamestation's main method of attracting customers was to put on more special offers than its competitor as well as focusing on pre-owned games and large discounts on older titles.
The chain mainly focused on the sixth and sevth geration of consoles: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintdo DS and PlayStation Portable, as well as Microsoft Windows and previous gerations of consoles (such as PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance). They also sold, and accepted as part exchange, games and consoles from older gerations, such as the Master System, Mega Drive, Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, NES, Super NES, Nintdo 64, and PlayStation. Game accessories for the older consoles were also available.
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Gamestation advertised their Christmas promotions with the 'Fat Chris' character, which is a parody of Father Christmas (advertised as "What's half of Father Christmas?" – "Fat Chris!"). He was used for Christmas 2006 and 2007, and also reappeared in the 2008 Christmas advertising campaign. "Fat Chris" was portrayed by stand-up comedian Justin Moorhouse. In 2009, however, it was dropped with the shop promotions "starring" the branch manager of the particular store, to courage the customers to talk to the staff and give the stores a more personal feel.
In 2010, Gamestation relaunched its Christmas campaign with a similar theme, "Talk to the Gamers". A campaign used to again courage customers to come and talk to the staff in an attempt to be more personal. This promotion starred the "Faces of Gamestation." Four staff members from the Gamestation brand were chos and used in both standard advertising and Christmas themed displays.
Mainly used in store and in newspapers. The original four staff members were Fat Steve (Liverpool Lord Street), Robyn (Merry Hill), Amber (Bracknell) and Kevin (Reading). The response from this was quite popular so the idea was used again throughout 2011 with a differt cast of staff. The campaign for Christmas in 2011 was themed "Welcome Home Gamers" with television adverts focused on people portraying family members, frids or the "Gamer" themselves coming in from the cold and finding what they needed in store.
Gamestation, Croydon, London Cr0
On April Fools' Day 2010, Gamestation temporarily added a clause to its online sales contract claiming that "By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul." Besides the humorous referce to a deal with the devil, the prank was meant to illustrate the problems with fine print in clickwrap licse agreemts that allow companies to hide unfavourable conditions from their consumers.
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