UK retailer GAME to cease video game trade-ins, staff say

"As part of the integration of GAME, we will be phasing out the trade-in, pre-owned and Game Elite offerings in the UK over the coming months," a spokesperson for the chain's owner Frasers Group told BBC News"

[ocelot07]

Seems like a blizzar move here. It's the second hand market they thrived upon.

If I'm not mistaken game are owned by the same company who own GameStop in the US?

[BeHunted]

"Seems like a blizzar move here"

How? Game charges £5 delivery fee. Overpriced.

GameStop doesn’t own Game. Mike Ashley does, who owns Sports Direct, House of Fraser, etc...

[ocelot07]

Yup I was wrong about ownership.

Yes they charge £5 delivery that is terrible. GAME is a awful company. But it is a blizzar move as just a few years ago they where crying over that the pre owned market was their bread and butter. Trade in prices have always been crap at game. But realistically got most cities in the UK. If you wanted a new game on release. Game was the only store that you could go to to trade games in towards brand new games.

[-Foxtrot]

Whaaaa

Gamestation is gone

Grainger Games is gone

CEX is shit

Jesus. The only reason we use GAME is because there’s nobody else and they get away with this shit.

[ocelot07]

I I'm fine with cex. It's the best place to trade and buy second hand games. Game has been rubbish for years imo.

Surprised they will be getting rid of Game Elite as well. I have £32 game points. Think it's time I got and spend that and get something I have been meaning to buy.

[BeHunted]

Game owned GameStation. I didn't 'see a point owning 2 Game Stores with different names that sell the same stuff.

[-Foxtrot]

They owned them but they didn't originally.

It was only when they were bought and after GAME went into administration they started to close GameStation shops down or replace them with GAME ones

Basically getting rid of their competitor

[Agent75]

But GAMESTATION was a lot better.

[ModsDoBetter]

Games Centre was a great wee independent retailer in the UK too, sadly gone years ago.

I pay £3/month for Elite as I usually buy 2-3 PS5 games a month so getting 10% back as credit on a £6-£70 game adds up. Strange move they're stopping Elite now...

[Gheritt_White]

WDYM - CeX is THE ONE.

[-Foxtrot]

Their trade in offers are f****** atrocious even when games are in good condition and still almost new releases

[Agent75]

CEX is a joke for prices now. They list games as mint condition, which is against the Trades Description Act. Mint condition mean that an item has never been handled/used. They'd be hard pushed to advertise games as being in good condition. Handled by so many people, scratched disc and food on the manuals. That's CEX is a nutshell.

[-Foxtrot]

I remember taking some film steelbooks to CEX when I needed money once, they had never been opened but when I took them they made me take the plastic off them, open them up and only gave me shitty trade offers that matched "Used" conditions. Why? Because they had been opened...

[purple101]

eBay does well on second hand games, always works for me, always get more than I would have done trade in .

which if effectively a double con, as with a trade in you are normally offered a fair market price, on the reasoning, you are in-affect promising to buy the future product form the same retailer.

[ZycoFox]

Yeah eBay will give you a better return especially if you get those fee promotions every 2 weeks, some just like the no hassle risk with CEX. No chance I'd trade in a rare/expensive game to CEX like my copies of Shantae & the pirate's curse for switch there tho, they'd probably give you like 1/4th of it's value.

[ModsDoBetter]

CEX is the one for me.
eBay have terrible seller protection and after being burned twice over games that I've sold, I just stopped using it. If I want to sell a game, I just take it to CEX who offer a decent price compared to GAME.

[andy85]

olMyerslo can I ask how you were burned? Because I use ebay frequently but I make sure to have the item tracked and signed for. Only issue I had was a guy trying to claim PayPal saying he didn't receive a controller, but I had the tracking number so they ruled in my favour

[ocelot07]

You should give Vinted ago. Zero fees for the seller.

[Agent75]

FeeBay as also called.

[andy85]

Were people even doing this these days? They offer awful amounts. The best way is to ebay or gumtree. Day ones games are generally getting 90% of my money back after I'm done with them

[ocelot07]

Probably kids/teens still doing it. I have not personally traded anything into game since I traded in a psp and games on the release day for the vita. Even then I got them to price match cex on trade in credit. They even stopped doing that a few years ago.

[Kosic]

A high street store can not compete with online. Game prices are £59.99 for a new release. Go with many of the online stores and those games are £44.99-49.99 for day one.

The fact game charge you £5 more to collect in-store compared to their own online shop is a joke. The excuse was on the lines "it's our stocking fee."

I stopped using game around 5 or more years back. I'd pop in looking for a real bargain, but rarely find anything.

I'm not surprised they're going out of business, they could not get with the times and they definitely could not compete with online when greed was the forefront.

[CRASHBASHUK]

as toys take over the store and they sell less video games
i think that sounds right

[mcstorm]

Do people still use game here in the UK?

Last time I used a game shop was back in 2013i think. I just get digital now and order my consoles online. I get people like to have a game in their hands but how many people now do this?

Unfortunately places like game won't be around for to long unless they can work out something where they have better pricing than anywhere else that sells games and consoles.

Gone are the days where we had game, gamestartion ect.

[Barlos]

I haven't shopped at GAME in years.

[gold_drake]

i havent been to such a store in yeeeears.
i get my older games on ebay anyways.

[Father__Merrin]

Used to be a good shop back in the day but later on the trade in prices were absolutely shocking. I suppose it was good for new console deals etc but new titles were always £48.99 whilst online like Amazon or any other Inc supermarkets was £39.99

Even pre owned titles were a ripoff. But early on ps360wii era it was good alongside it's sister shop Gamestation

[jznrpg]

I only sell games on eBay. Best place for it imo

[Agent75]

Staggers me how they've stayed in business for so long. I remember in the early 1990s, maybe around 1992 when it was Mega Drive and Super Nintendo, they'd match any price, but Argos and Toys R Us always undercut them. But that all changed with the Saturn and PlayStation as all retailers got too expensive. But GAME always had these scheme for dumb gamers who'd pay for a points card and game would always cost more. In a nutshell, you had to be pretty dumb to shop there. Play.com was the best and also Simply Games and Shopto, but that got too expensive. Have to constantly shop around now for the best prices.