Disastrous Console Generations Blamed For Game Retailer's Demise
An Iconic UK Game Retailer Is Collapsing, And They Blame The Lack Of New Consoles
Physical media has been dying a slow death for some time. This has left video game retailers struggling, often resorting to selling more merch than games, as many of us purchase new titles without leaving our homes.
It’s no surprise, then, that Game - a game retailer in Europe, which was especially prominent in the UK - is always in financial trouble. Over the past few years, its stores have disappeared from the high street, reduced to small sections of Sports Direct - and even that hasn’t been enough to save it.
Game Is On The Way Out As The Industry Goes All-In On Digital Only
As reported by The Herald, Game has collapsed into administration, with debts of £14 million. This comes after years of trying to make the struggling company profitable once more, a battle it has been waging since the 2010s.
While the obvious issue is cited as a reason for the store’s struggles - the rise in digital game purchases - there’s another factor that some of us may not have considered: the long console generation.
“There have been no major console releases since 2020, and large manufacturers have cited global chip shortages as a reason for further delays,” administrators said, putting the blame on the long wait for the PS6 and Project Helix.
It’s easy to see why administrators feel this way. While retailers might not make a lot of money from console sales themselves, they get people in the store, and therefore, interested in buying other products. Whether that’s console and game bundles, console accessories, or merchandise, there’s a lot Game could have shoved in our faces if we were going in-store (or online) to buy a new console through them.
With that said, we did just get the launch of the Switch 2. Perhaps that alone wasn’t enough to turn its fortunes around, although I can think of no better audience to try and sell other products to, considering all the Nintendo merch I see in-store whenever I’m there.
Even when the next console generation is truly with us, it seemed unlikely that it would help Game out that much. We already know that Sony is dropping physical games as of 2028, so we can expect the PS6 to be digital-only. So, even if Game gets people to buy PS6s through them, it can’t sell any physical games alongside it. It does seem that Sony will sell digital download codes in boxes, which Game could sell, but I don’t think many of us will see the point in that.