GAME Australia Now Also In Administration 57
Fluffeh writes "Yesterday the Australian Division of GAME saw an email from their Marketing Manager confirming that the 95-store chain has gone into voluntary administration. PriceWaterhouseCoopers partner Kate Warwick said, 'Initially we will continue to trade all stores, operating these on as close to a "business as usual" mode as possible whilst we get a clearer understanding of the current state of the business and actively pursue options to secure its future.' It also seems that GAME is having a bit of a fire sale, with many titles, including quite a few new releases, now in a $5-$74 bargain bin. Ms. Warwick also noted that the company's customers hold various claims against the company under loyalty cards, gift cards and vouchers. She said, 'We are working on schemes aimed at giving customers some return on these claims if they are used to make additional purchases.'"
This follows similar news from the UK in March.
mail order (Score:4, Interesting)
Its interesting watching the journalist / news release re publishers solely focus on competition from download services and totally ignore mail order.
Download took away all the "I want it on release day" and "I want it now".
Mail order took away all the "I want it cheap" and "I've got metered/slow internet access" and "I want something unusual"
That leaves retail stores with... gift sales? Apparently the book industry has given up on retail except for gift sales, and that works for them, but video games are too fast moving of a target.
Re:Bargin Bin? (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.steamprices.com/au/app/10180/call-of-duty [steamprices.com]
Call of Duty
Release: 11th November 2009 - Genre: Action
AUD $ 89.99
USD $ 19.99 $ 19.99 (-77.79%)
GBP £ 19.99 $ 32.14 (-64.28%)
EUR € 24.99 $ 32.14 (-64.28%)
Yeah, no distributor rip-off there...