GAME and Gamestation Won't Be Stocking Mass Effect 3 [Updated]

187
Richard Walker

[Update]

GAME Group has followed up its decision to not stock Mass Effect 3 and all post-SSX EA titles with an explanation, claiming that it's all down to a "supply issue".

"We currently have a supply issue with regards to Mass Effect 3, which means that GAME and Gamestation will not be able to fulfil orders for Mass Effect 3 at this time. We want to give customers as much notice about this as possible and provide them with a range of options ahead of launch," GAME Group told Eurogamer.

"We appreciate that this is disappointing for our customers, and we apologise sincerely for the inconvenience that this will cause. We value the loyalty of our customers very highly and as a gesture of goodwill we are providing the following:

  • Customers who have pre-ordered in store, will have the opportunity to add £5 worth of Reward points to their card if they visit us from today through to 16th March 2012.
  • Customers who have placed a deposit for the title will receive refund as well as the £5 worth of Reward points between 1st and 16th March 2012.
  • Customers who have pre-ordered online, will be provided with an online voucher to the value of £5 to be spent on any purchase on our sites.

Staff from GAME had stated that refunds would be issued as in-store credit and not cash, which is not true at all it transpires. Refunds will be given in full and in cash.

[Original Story]

GAME Group will apparently cease stocking EA titles after the UK launch of SSX this Friday, March 2nd, which also includes Mass Effect 3, arguably one of the year's biggest releases. Pre-orders of any EA games including Mass Effect 3 will be refunded fully with £5 worth of rewards points, so you can put some money towards buying yourself any other non-EA game.

The move will apply to all GAME and Gamestation stores, and means that games like Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, FIFA Street and any other EA game following SSX will not be available to purchase from any GAME Group outlets. Eurogamer discovered the news earlier this morning, via a memo issued by GAME today.

"For customers who have pre-ordered the N7 Collector's Edition please re-order your copies through these retailers" states the Mass Effect 3 launch update website. The retailers in question are Zavvi, Amazon, Play and ShopTo, where you can still pre-order the N7 Collector's Edition.

"For further information regarding the Mass Effect 3 Standard Edition with the N7 Warfare Gear in-game weapons pack, please check this page later today," the update continues. "If you have placed a deposit for a pre-order or are uncertain that your existing pre-order will be guaranteed, please contact your local retailer."

"Your local retailer is doing everything possible to make this process as smooth as possible to ensure you get your copy on launch day."

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Comments
187
  • Just...lol
  • Woah! Any word on why?
  • Changed mine to shopto. Game only have themselves to blame really. Stupid high prices for so many years.
  • And what if you don't want any other games they have in stock, they just get to keep your money? I'm sure this is going to piss off/screw over a large amount of people.
  • Did they sleep with them once then never call? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!
  • Thats stupid, not everyone buys their games online, not everyone can afford to buy on release date!
  • GAME have gone down hill. The one I went in had 7 games that weren't new out..and they were crap. Games like Dark Souls and Fable are never there..
  • Intriguing, apparently they aren't stocking on the basis of bad credit terms. Bit vague...
  • (Also, bummer for those people on eBay looking to get almost £200 for their GAME pre-ordered N7 edition!!!)
  • While I feel for staff who will suffer, I am glad this is happening. GAME are always more expensive than anywhere else and their greed has cost them. Why would anyone pay £44.99 for a new game when it's £39.99 5 minutes down the road? I use shopto as they are a stellar company. GAME are rip off merchants with a greedy marketing strategy and they deserve to fail for it. Best of luck to their staff who suffer at the hands of their over pricing bosses,
  • What is the official reason for this?? Is it something to do with the £5 extra r.r.p they are forcing on retailers?
  • Yea I got a new car this month, so a bit tight on cash. Decided to trade my ps3 into game and got money put onto a card, so I would have the collectors edtion paid for. Just be told I can't get it refunded!! Can only use for store credit!! Aghhh!! I will never buy another thing from this store!!! Fuck you Game!!
  • Damn this sucks. Hopefully people can get their hands on their now lost N7 edition.
  • Pre-orders of any EA games including Mass Effect 3 will be refunded as in-store credit, rather than cash, so you can buy yourself any other non-EA game. Id like to see them enforce that under the sales of goods act 1979. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 provides four main protections for buyers: 1. The seller must have the right to sell the goods ( S.12) 2. Goods sold by description must correspond to the description (S.13) 3. Goods must be of satisfactory quality (s.14) 4. Goods sold by sample, the goods must correspond to the sample in quality (s.15) In a nut shell for anyone with burning fingers ready to email the CEO of GAME group.
  • GAME have really gone down hill i used to be an employee there and everything was so backwards, hand on heart i can say i brought the A-Z listing of games into stores as before they used to try and stack them action, rpg, sports, adventure etc etc and i said well you cant do that with all games some have mixed genre so where they going etc, anyways onto the games, they tried to rehash the stores and make them into a mod current store so all they would stock is the latest consoles and peripherals... yeah great but you also killed the pre own market for yourselves they were a very selfish store and for employees they didnt get the best treatment it was always about the managmemnt and upwards but this made them kill all the great ideas they had, price matching, guaranteed price beating on pre owned games, the games loyalty system all got ditched and now as one poster said when you go in game its very hard to find a lot of older games but also some newer games aswell and the prices dont do any favours a 39.99 game will be 42.99 or more all the way upto 49.99 stores like gamestation are always gonna win they have really good deals on pre owned games, even blockbuster are really cheap in comparrison.... i think the whole game industry is in a mess at the minute, look at online passes yeh good for anti piracy (tho you can still buy the content online) absolute garbage for pre owned market anyways rant over once again game make a retarded error
  • Looks like I'll be cashing in the reward points I've got with game and I won't be using them again... Shame, they used to be good for pre-ordering with.
  • This is an outrage, affects all EA games for March, pre-ordered elsewhere, hopefully quick enough. Refuse to shop at Game again. This was also caused by payments to EA by Game not happening.
  • The deposit refunds will be cash and £5 of reward points will be given as compensation Did you even read the memo?
  • @15 'stores like gamestation are always gonna win they have really good deals' And you say you worked for GAME? the same game that own gamestation ? Did you skip corp induction?
  • Your headline also makes it sound as if the will be stocking ME3 until the end of March.
  • That's gonna kill their sales figures. Mass Effect 3, Fifa Street and other EA titles bring in the big bucks. I'm not suggesting that other developers don't shift their games, but poor move on GAME's part.
  • Man I went to Gamestation this morning and pre-ordered this. No one said anything about them not stocking it.
  • @22 What time did you go? Game only released the internal memo at about 10.30am.
  • Well, the last thing I bought from Gamestation got "lost" in the post. I also noted that the item I bought shot up in price after I got it... and yeh, they are giving a full refund PLUS a £5 gift voucher.
  • I dont like to advertise but it seems as if some of there N7 collectors edition stock has gone over to shopto.net, up for preorder for £65. Thank me later :)
  • This is crap i got Mass Effect and FIFA Street pre ordered.
  • @15 i also used to be a member of staff at GAME about 10 years ago and it used to be very customer service orinated. things like price matching and the 10 day exchange policy ensured customers would return and buy there in future. since these policies went there is no incentive to shop there anymore other than the tiny 2 and a half % u get back if you have a reward card. i now just buy my games wherever has them cheapest. i can see GAME heading down the same route as a lot of other retail stores, shame really.
  • @15 I agree with you 100% The chart has pre-owned copies of games in some slots or even just random crappy games to make the shelves look less empty. Also, there's not even that many pre-owned games so they cant say they're allocating themselves to that market. I went to 3 GAMES and a HMV in search of either Dark Souls, Dead Space or Darksiders..All older games I know..but popular.. couldnt find them ANYWHERE!
  • Wow, so I suppose this is the end of Game? ME3 arguably the biggest game of the year, so just wow. My local Blockbuster will be well happy!
  • WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!!?!!!!!
  • Soon to be another retailer that bites the dust, or goes online only. Pity as they USED to be pretty good, but over the last year or 2 they have really declined. Just hope I can get a preorder on launch day from another retailer. (Chose Zavvi from previous good experiences, just hope I get it on launch day).
  • Thank you game for cancelling my order you just saved me a fiver. And you just lost a customer you had since the PS1 days. How is shopto its the first time ive used them?
  • @Fang Foom - I bought a new Limited/Collectors edition of Dark Souls from Currys/PCWorld about a month ago for £28, don't know if this will help.
  • @31 That's another problem sadly. GAMES website is terrible aswell..everythings out of stock :(
  • Just re-ordered from shopto...and you don't even get a proper refund, i have to buy from them again? Cheeky bastards!
  • Strange how its EA again. they always seem to be in the news one way or another...
  • what lovers tiff or some bollocks?
  • I just rang my local game and the guy said it was only MAss effect 3 this effects and not all EA games. but dont hold me to that 100%.
  • GAME are making out it's because EA ask for too much interest to loan them the games to sell, truth is EA are only asking for more from GAME because they can't pay their bills. If you have store credit spend it quick, i don't see them still been in business in a month.
  • Wow i had Mass Effect 3 N7 Edition pre-ordered months ago nd now theyre just going to tell me that its not avaliable now nd i wont get it on release. fuck u Game, nd to make my day even worse is that ive gone on Amazon nd its not there for re-ordering :@ WTF is going on here
  • I'm not surprised game has been going down hill for ages. They waste too much money getting exclusives and now they can't even pay for a blockbuster.
  • 2 main problems why GAME not stocking Mass Effect 3, other EA titles after SSX, The Last Story, Ubisoft's PSVita titles and Tekken 3DS because GAME own Gamestation then it become problem money cos too expensive to have own other comapny so this possible 1st reason now 2nd reason is more numbers of gamers and people who buy games off from other online websites and retail stores rather then GAME.co.uk and GAME stores is because again price is expensive in GAME. I can see why GAME become downhill. I alway wish GAME will have price smiliar to other company online stores likeshopto, amazon and others not high price. GAME bosses and Governments is bullshits moment who want HIGH PRICE, HIGH MONEY AND RICH but then losing money hahahahaha!!! GAME must listens to gamers and should have good price (not high) and good deals then gamers and people will back to GAME again. GAME must organise properly!!! Their website is shitty since new look and thing messy up which why I stop using their website last summer and moved to shopto as shopto is better then GAME. :):) "GOOD LUCK TO ALL PEOPLE WHO WORK FOR GAME" god bless them. I not god bless to GAME bosses because they have stupid own Gamestation and make games high price from preorder, used and new copies. Cannot wait Mass Effect 3's beautiful universe arrives next week. :D
  • So now I have to order my ME3 CE from somewhere else? To top it off, I can't get a proper refund? We'll fucking see about that. I knew GAME had gone down the shitter but this is beyond a joke.
  • Its not that Game dont want to pay their suppliers, theyre having a bad time due to current economic climate and have to agree payment terms with each publisher, it looks as if Game and EA couldnt come to acceptable terms. So far this year Game have lost 46 jobs from their head office in Basingstoke, closing website gameplay.co.uk and will be closing 35 stores they have also not stocked Tekken for 3DS, The last story and Mario Party 9 for Wii and all of ubisofts launch titles for vita were absent from launch too. If they do go under which I really hope they dont it will have a massive impact on the Games industry in the UK it will mean no specialist retailer on the UK high street, the market would shrink, fewer games released, meaning less publishing staff, means less spend on media to advertise games means magazines and wesbites could become financially pressured. So if they do go under and I hope they dont it wont just effect the staff at game but a lot of other companies linked to them.
  • @32 From my experiences you can't fault them. I have orderd four new releases from them and got everyone a day early so i dont expect any different from this. Funnily enough they also have a GAME style reward system were you earn money off future purchases. Yet again sorry to advertise but come on, its the N7 edition were on about here ;)
  • Looks like I will be going to get my deposit back, and buying of shopto.net
  • @40 thats because there is limited stock. Its been sold out for a while, but some retails have new stock which is obviously Game's old allowance that they are now passing on. GameStop Uk looks like they have sold out of the 360 version, try Play/ShopTo if amazon have sold out.
  • hmmm.. game is closing like 100 shops and counting.. this wont exactly help them... I dont think this company is gonna be around in a couple of months.
  • um, I don't think I quite get this, does this apply to the online store as well?Because I Preordered my N7-Edition of ME 3 at gamestation.co.uk and I didn't get any message from them and my order is still listed as well.
  • #35 Hey shopto alway refund your money and put into account then you can use it for buy other games or even re-order game. If you don't like refund into account then you must phone to shopto and tell them you don't want refund into account there then you can ask them please i like refund into my bank so they will do like they do it to me. So shopto is sexy and best online store!!
  • Im smelling a dead fish just over week before realease this happens and apprently there is a supply problem.
  • @40 It's spelt "and" you chav :P
  • Huh. I pre-order ME3 off of GAME last year. Now it's pretty sad to realise I won't be getting it from them. Oh well, ShopTo here I come.
  • I've been with ShopTo since it was first made, never gone back
  • This is something a business should anticipate as early as possible (not a week before the release date). I feel bad for all the people that are getting screwed over. I'm pretty sure they have lost a lot of business from this day foreword.
  • "For further information regarding the Mass Effect 3 Standard Edition with the N7 Warfare Gear in-game weapons pack, please check this page later today." Wtf, what about my N7 edition that was coming with that? I hope I still get it, I'm buying the more expensive version of your game, least you can do is still have the preorder pack for me rather than just giving it to folk buying the standard copy. Really irritating when that happens with games and somehow only the standard gets a bonus whilst the CE doesn't; even more irritating is when I would have been getting it but supposedly Game have made this move.
  • By the way, where can I cancel my pre-order on the GAME website?
  • Maybe its because GAME know they r going under and cant give EA the amount of money for the games and cant give EA a contract for another year,or vise versa, something like that.....its all about profit and loss. Have never liked GAME have ALWAYS found games cheaper both New and old somewhere else. If GAME own GAMESTATION why not just run 1 store GAMESTATION and get rid of GAME, makes no sense. The staff were also very unfriendly, no customer service, retail is changing and they need to change with the times, you need to create a reason why ppl want to shop and return to the store, this is totally lost on GAME....even if they try now it will b to little to late!!
  • @32 I'll happily advertise shopto.net, whether its frowned upon or not, you can't go wrong, I order the majority of my games from there and the pre orders have always turned up 1 to 2 days before release, a good example was I ordered my Crystal Edition of FFXIII-2 from there and had it 2 days before release. I only ordered the N7 edition from GAME seeing as they werethe only ones stocking it. Either way you cannot go wrong with shopto.net :)
  • I pre-Ordered the N7 Edition from Gamestation online, am I safe? Or will I have to go somewhere else?
  • It isn't a "supply issue" in that they can't get hold of copies like they would probably have their customers and readers of news outlets believe. For the exact same reason Ubisoft aren't providing them with PSVita titles, EA have been providing Game with stock on credit, and Game have not been able to pay them back, so now publishers are refusing to send them stock unless it's paid for up front.
  • Oh GAME what hast thou dunst?
  • Hang on... so both GAME AND gamestation arnt stocking EA games anymore? what!? the fuck happened :|
  • @61 Gamestation online is all part of the Game group and therefore will not be getting the game. you will need to go elsewhere.
  • @63 its the same company.
  • I have always went to GAME. Sometimes you might pay £5 extra on games, but got to know a few staff members some who our actually on my friends list. One of them actually txt me the news this morning to me. But that's why I liked GAME always good customer service and would always try to get the the best deal that they could. But this is the last straw, I know it's not the employee's fault. But def done now. I'm stuck with a £77 gift card and only really game I want is the Mass Effect 3 collectors edtion, so if they can't help me out, then I'll will be going elsewhere.
  • I see this as a bit of stand off between GAME and EA. Who will blink first? EA's sales will be hit by pretty much the main game retailer in the UK not selling their stock and GAME will suffer because anyone who didn't compare prices before, certainly will be now. i.e. If someone uses Amazon instead of Game for the first time and notices its £5 cheaper then they probably won't go back to GAME if and when this is resolved. I can only see the end of GAME group and several job losses occurring from this.
  • @2 game are going under ... And dragging gamestation with them .. Even though they own both people are still pre-ordering more with gamestation still trading in more at gamestation .. Game will eventually disappear as just an online retailer as gamestation seems like the only strong retailer .. Ahh well good job I'm not in a rush for it ! Besides there's always hmv or somewhere twice as cheap as game or gamestation online
  • @67 No way is this a "stand off" it's well known GAME aren't paying their bills for games and EA are the first to point blank refuse to lend them anymore on credit, more will follow soon and GAME will be done. Think how much money they've lost from this? A company on the verge of bankruptcy isn't going to have a "stand off" over the biggest seller of the year.
  • So, when's the closing down sale? :P
  • Also update on this, apparently this now goes for Nintendo too?
  • @19 Lol,and he made up putting the games A-Z,yeah ok then Mr Genius.Hahaha!
  • @67 I doubt EA will feel that much sting to their profits. At this point, most people who shop at Game are probably doing so because of loyalty, not because they are unaware that there are other retailers. Conversely, Game are suffering because they have refused to adapt to the changes in retailing methods, and the more competitive prices afforded by the internet and supermarkets. They have mistakenly and naively/ignorantly (delete as appropriate) believed that loyalty alone would keep them afloat, and that aggressive throttling and control of the high street competition would in some ways help them. They are simply now reaping what they have sown; their own undoing.
  • @68, HMV are insanely over priced, always have been for games. Somewhere else though remains to be seen. Unless CEX start stocking new games.
  • in the words of the great nelson monts in bhis voice.... HA HA
  • @67 several job loses? try several hundred. GAME is in real trouble if its getting refused games on credit. Everyone knows HMV has been struggling but they managed to keep decent terms with EA.
  • @71 Game havent stocked a number of Nintendo titles this year, Tekken for 3DS, The last story and Mario Party 9 for the Wii
  • Stopped using game/gamestation long ago for anything except pre-owns, such expensive shops, used to use amazon for my pre-orders but since i found shopto a 5-6 months ago i've not looked back, nothing beats getting the game the day before the release date and at the same time for usually the cheapest price on the net.
  • I recently stopped working for Gamestation after seeing it just being destroyed by Game for a few years now. Slowly they pushed out the gamers and replaced them with staff who just try to sell stuff but have no passion for games at all. Agree with earlier posts they don't care for their staff and treat them really poorly yet expect the world from them. Same goes with customers their idea of good customer service is jumping at every customer on shop floor and 'harassing' them basically. Problem is they rarely had the information or knowledge to actually help the customer out and just tried to sell them tat. I've been looking forward to this game for ages and had my N7 edition pre ordered for months, plus this was meant to be the last purchase I was to ever do with Game/Gamestation, luckily I've got my pre order with Shopto.net now. Hopefully I get it! The sooner this company goes bust and is wiped off this earth, the better.
  • @74. For certain titles they get new copies in. I know they did for Black Ops cause I saw the employee opening the box and putting one on the shelf. they just passed a new one to who ever bought it. But they only had around 10 copies
  • Mo-ther fuckers! I had £17 reward points built up from AC Revelations Collectors Edition, and GoW 3 Epic Edition. Now i'm going to have to buy from them again to spend my points!
  • So... I should go pre-order from soemwhere else? Damn, Gamestation are usually pretty damn good for getting a new release to you, by the latest, release day. So now I'm somewhat limited to Amazon, Play, ShopTo and the like.
  • I agree with #80. I wall ways got my stuff form game till i found shopto.net now i save on my games and most of the time its here on time so no messing around driving into the town
  • So, i've got the CE pre ordered with game & i've just checked and i've had no messages form them re cancled orders. If this is true then they've lost me as a customer forever. Just hope i can still get the CE from somewhere else, amazon.co.uk says it's unavailable :-(
  • It is true, and at this rate, they will lose all customers forever. You know, because of bankruptcy.
  • Anybody who wants the collectors edition try zavvi.com. Its currently £64.99.
  • now if every store would quit selling EA games, it would be a much better gaming world
  • I believe they've known about this for a while now, I attempted to book a copy of the Collectors edition a few weeks ago and was told no GAME store was taking any more pre-orders. (Irish GAME stores) This was over a month before launch, hard to believe they would run out over a month before launch.
  • Someone should buy ME3 and go into Game the next day and sell it to them. But basically, the whole online pass thing was to make money on second hand sales because companies like game where hogging all the money, so this is payback?
  • i lost my pre order such a shame, i have already use dmy £5 on a cheap game i hope game Recovers to be honest they may have higher prices but at least you get your product, stores like zavvi play.com and amazon often lose or delay your games delivery. An to all the ppl mouthing off "I'm glad it happening, they deserve it" no they don't more people will become unemployed and all these lower prices sites will now increase there prices because they no longer have to undercut game.
  • @88 there is a finite number of Collectors Editions, which is why people are selling them on eBay for double the retail price as everyone sold out. Some places have it stock now because they are taking Game's planned shipment.
  • My order just got cancelled. FFS
  • I think billionaire people who alway want money all times so why not go to GAME bosses and help them to make business better. Will be good to save people who losing jobs from GAME in closer future :)
  • Game have updated their ME webpage with an FAQ http://www.game.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HubArticleView?hubId=93018&articleId=137297&catalogId=10201&langId=44&storeId=10151
  • Yes true that GAME not stocking any Nintendo titles, every Ubisoft's PSVita titles this year so now every EA titles removed from GAME after last ever EA title's SSX in GAME. Who will be next Sony, Mircosoft, Activision, 2K Games or other publishers. I guess will be more publisher upcoming week that remove from GAME.
  • Spend those instore credits fast, folks. IF EA is refusing credit, and GAME aren't giving refunds, then I'd suggest there's some serious cash flow problems underneath. Spend it now or you may well never see it again.
  • Is stuff like this why gamestation was so empty last time i was in there.
  • @90 What are you talking about? They don't price as such to undercut Game. Online retailers have been consistently undercutting the High Street retailers for years now because there are less overheads, not because they consider Game as any form of competition. If that were the case, they'd be merely price-matching or beating them by a few pence, not in figures sometimes upwards of £10. Yes, it's sad that a lot of people could lose their jobs if this situation worsens, but as a company, Game only have themselves to blame, and online retailers will not be changing their pricing because of it.
  • @ 19 im quite aware of who owns what . as i also worked for currys under DSGI which also own pc world and dixons, but that still didnt stop the stores having different products exclusives and deals, so dont even get me started on that as it has nothing to do with anything there are only 2 main street traders now, station and game, and yes game own station but still station is always busier, always cheaper always has teh best deals on, but now ya see HMV and the likes coming into the equation, go into a HMV and look at their pre order chart, everyone of em pretty much has an exclusive pre order item, and some of them are the best items you can find, also they rarely dont stock a game
  • And now my day off work just got depressing :(
  • and here i am wondering how i will pay for ME3 now since i've been finishing games and trading them in at Game ready to buy my pre-ordered ME3. now i have to find nearly £40 from somewhere just because Game and EA can't get on!!!! How is that helpful for any customer who wants to buy brand new??
  • Man this sucks to all you guys living in the UK. Hopefully you will still be able to get the game elsewhere.
  • If anyone's interested Amazon UK have seemingly gained some extra collector's editions because of this. £64.95.
  • Is this a way of boycotting the online pass or something? anywayz changed my order to play.com
  • @105 No, it's because Publishers have been giving Game stock on credit that they can't afford to pay for due to "financial troubles" (or to the cynical, greed). Ubisoft did the same for the Launch of the PSVita. @102 HMV still do pre-owned games so you could go there, or failing that you can sell on Amazon, eBay and Play.com
  • I work for Game/Gamestation.. This is not good. I'm worried for my job the way this is going. Time to update the cv I think :/
  • was told this earlier by my cousin who works for EA so changed my pre-order of the collectors edition over to play.com.....GAME better not fuck up my pre-order for the witcher 2 dark edition or there will be blood!! lol
  • I work for game and there seems to be an awful lot of hate towards the company, has anyone maybe considered that it might be EA who are causing this? Their in the news constantly for being arseholes, the time they forced Microsoft to stop making sports games just so they would jump on the LIVE bandwagon... The online passes which are damaging not only GAMEs pre-owned sales but every other second hand stores profits (which are already struggling). Lets not blame GAME before we know exactly why they won't supply it, they wouldn't haven't taken this decision lightly, there must be major reasons.
  • @108 I would check The Witchers 2 forum if I was you. I don't see Game surviving this as a lot of people are going to cancelling orders if they think there is a good chance that Game won't be able to for fill them. The question has been asked though and hopefully we will get an answer. Its no surprise that Game is failing though, their high street business is haemorrhaging money at the moment and rates of all those stores have been climbing hard the last few years. Now that their bank have cut of funding so they can't pay for stock I can't see them making it to the end of the year without going online only and even then their reputation has taken a huge hit here...
  • We DO know why it's happening. It's pretty much being widely documented by gaming press and from statements from publishers themselves, despite Game's press releases to the contrary. It's sweet that you are so willing to defend your employer, but do you really think they'd do the same for you? I guarantee you that you are a number to them, nothing more. And as for the online passes thing, are you serious? It's because of retailers like Game making ridiculous amounts of money on pre-owned games and refusing to pass so much as a meagre portion back to publishers that they were created in the first place. Yes, EA are causing this, but then if you weren't getting paid for your products, wouldn't you do the same? Game's stubborn refusal to mould to the market, competition and fair expectations of the publishers and customers is what got them in this situation in the first place.
  • HMV ordered so i get my t-shirt
  • talked to regional manager in the Game store near me and he told me first off EA set price of games and want to start charging £50 and Game don't want to do this. I guess they already know how expensive games are (not like that's an excuse). secondly he says Game and EA had this problem a few years ago but it didn't go this far but says deal should be done in a month so in April they should have EA games back in.
  • Face it, the is NO way GAME are surviving this. No one is going to pre-order a game from them and many who have will cancel fast. I need to spend my trade credit i had saved for Mass Effect 3 and i'm pissed about that but i know if i don't spend them this week i won;t see my money again. GAME website is now down too, removing all EA titles i would guess ...... or worse.
  • This is why I hate GAME having exclusive rights to special editions.
  • WOW, checking the London Stock Exchange confirms my fears about GAME, share prices have gone from 60p a share to 5p a share in the last 10 months!
  • I not a FIFA fan but seeing FIFA is a big seller, are they going to selling that aswell as the new FIFA street???
  • EA started this online pass bullshit for online games, and yeah they maybe making a small amount of money out of it... Truth be told they probably told Gmae they want a cut of all the EA trade in's and GAME have more than likely told them where to stick it hence the reason for no new EA titles being stocked by GAME. GAME and EA are as bad as each other in this argument, its a case of fuck the gamer, we just want your cash.. And once again, how long before all the other companies follow suit.. Activision, Rockstar, 2K Games.... I smell the end of Game is on the horizon.. Next CEX will will more than likely be banned from taking EA trade in's as well.
  • Guess I'd better spend the gift card I had my ME3 money saved on, as I won't be able to get it refunded. Nothing I'm overly bothered about buying though, so I'll doubtless end up with a couple of cheapies.
  • Just spoke with my manager at Game and the fault lays with EA I'm afraid, for all you Game haters out there. They're simply asking for too much money for allowing us to stock their titles, and we're just not willing to go that high. I've no doubt both sides will reach an agreement at some point, but relations with both companies has never been exactly smooth, shall we say. With acts like online passes and now simmering crap like this, EA is just pure greed.
  • It is a shame that it's come to this. Having been employed by both stores (GAME and Gamestation) and studying a games design course (which looks into the industry itself) I personally think (thats me stating that it's my opnion) that it's not 100% the company at fault. You look at Tesco and Asda/Walmart. They sell new AAA games for cheaper than the high street stores. They can also afford to do so because they make a fuck ton of money off of the multitude of other goods they sell. DRM's also can be seen as another threat to the high street stores as well as online stores which dont have to take into consideration the payment of rota'd staff, rent for the property (thats why the game/gamestation websites may appear cheaper than their high street counterparts at times). EA will be probably want to cover their backs for the risk of losing money. The bottom line is that the economy is humped and with it high street stores such as game and gamestation may not get a say in the matter of what gets stocked and what doeesnt. However that said it should be made public to their consumers that they can reap back any money that was paid for pre orders.
  • Just re-ordered though Amazon. If I don't get this next Friday someone is gonna fucking die.
  • @120 wake up, they're asking for more money because GAME has an awful credit rating due do late and non payment of other shipments. EA is offering GAME the chance to get out of this and willing to take the risk in loaning GAME the stock but at a higher % rate, standard and fair practice. I don't like EA and i don't hate GAME, this is common sense to anyone.
  • @123 wake up? haha, mate I'm by no means sayin Game is without blame, I fuckin hate the company and I've worked for them for 3 years, but it's more than a little intriguing as to why EA is the only company so far to do this.
  • What is wrong with people, trying to defend GAME like they owe them something? This isn't EA's doing. GAME has no money - that's common knowledge. Now they're at the point where they can't afford to actually buy games, which has resulted in this. It sucks for all of us who had N7s on preorder (especially with Zavvi, ShopTo and Play all selling out of the 360 version already) but it's one of those things. If a company has no money, this is gonna happen. It's a slippery slope to get back from here for them. I'm just glad I got my N7 preorder in on ShopTo at noon.
  • hahahaa about time game went bust, they have been a joke for years their prices are extortionate, gamestation used to have a great 2 for 40 deal but not any more its crap now R.I.P(Rot In Pieces) game
  • @122 gonna kill someone because a game doesnt turn up on time ? grow up its not real its cyberworld
  • @124 Ubisoft did it with PSVita titles. They are by no means the first, and wont be the last.
  • Well, this has certainly damaged GAME's reputation. I won't be ordering with them for a while, at least. At least Amazon seem to be taking GAME's stock of the Collectors' Edition. They are accepting more pre-orders. I just pre-ordered with them (my first time with Amazon), and anyone who's been involved with this fiasco should order with them too (although, I do have to ask: which delivery option should I choose to guarantee release day delivery?). It's £5 cheaper too. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B007ETERN6/ref=ox_ya_os_product
  • You know, I wouldn't be suprised if publishers actually starting bypassing market street stores and online shops altogether soon, and just sold direct from their websites, pocketing every slice of potential profit for themselves. With today's digital distribution market, it's entirely feasable.
  • The only person they hurt with this is themselves, or should I say their cash flow.
  • The Mayas had seen it all !!
  • Sad to see GAME and Gamestation go but at least in the north of England we still have Grainger Games. They've always been cheaper than the Game stores anyway so... I missed out on the N7 edition the first time round too but managed to snag one from Amazon now so I'm happy.
  • I don't know how they would have done it but they should have set up some sort of method of keeping thier N7 Edition preorders. I'm only saying this because people (like me) went out earlier to pre order the N7 Edition and now a week before release they announce they can't stock it. I was lucky enough to get a pre order on Amazon but I feel sorry for those people who didn't get to re pre order thier copy. They are missing out because Game isn't stocking them.
  • Another nail in the coffin.
  • Blockbuster have always had the best deals. I bought MW2 for £9.99 about a year ago when it was still £30+ everywhere else and also Gears 3 the other week for £9.99. Blockbuster blow GAME outta the water for prices, shame the movie trend is in decline for them.
  • Oh and it makes no fucking sense to have 2 GAME stores within 30 seconds of each other. Welcome to my town, we have a CEX 5 seconds from 1 GAME store, 40 seconds from the second, and then 30 seconds from Gamestation and 20 seconds from HMV. Makes no sense! GAME hire ignorant staff as well, I applied there, I'm good with my customer service and now they can go to hell for all I care. Not to mention they'll bring Gamestation down with them, at least they have the staff. Well, half the staff, GAME have stolen two of my Gamestation's key members of staff, probably cause they're going to shit. I went to buy a NEW copy of RAGE in the January sales for £12.99 or whatever the offer was, and they gave me an UNSEALED copy with minimal scratches on it, I asked if I could have a sealed copy and they looked at me blankly, hell they hardly paid any attention to me at all, I was the only guy in the store so It's not like it's hard to deliver decent customer service. I walked away, had another look and figured it wasn't acceptable, went into the other store [who by the way also didn't have any sealed 'new' copies, and asked if I could have it swapped, had it swapped for a copy in better condition. I don't know how you can get away with selling something as 'New' when the seal is broken and the discs have marks. It's a joke.
  • GAME can go fuck themselves for this.
  • Unfortunately this situation comes down to the current GAME corporate strategy, which was a gamble at best. This coupled with a slow christmas for the company has really not helped them at all. Regional Management were taking "amount of preorders taken per day" as a unit of measurement on how new releases would sell on launch day and ENCOURAGING staff to find creative ways to "boost" these figures when the customers wouldn't place them legitimately, as to look like the regional managers were boosting sales. This resulted in the company ordering in hundreds (if not thousands) of higher priced editions that end up only selling in the sale for a fraction of standard edition price. They were recently backed up financialy by their partner group (RBS BACKED) as their credit is now far from shining, and when you in arrears people don't want to extend a line of credit, hence no new releases. If they don't make it to WII U and VITA doesn't sell through then sadly its going to be all over...
  • Wasn't there an article about this a week or so ago? Can't remember where I saw it, but from what I understood a retailer has some form of insurance in place allowing them to order stock of a game and then pay for what they sell and return any unsold stock without any penalty or charges. Game lost this insurance, but were able to get it back again, JUST. I can only assume that EA are not willing to take the risk that they will lose it again and have said they will not supply Game in this way. Sucks for those who are going to lose out on their pre-order though. I imagine there are a lot of unhappy people who are now going to have to take their ebay postings down again aswell.
  • @137, do you live in Preston...?
  • Having read all your comments, i cant help but agree with some of you. Although some were moronic and i do generally have to question your common sense i feel it is necessary to make a point regarding some of your comments. @137. No way would i stand for ignorance in any store so i cannot and will not condone that type of service that you received. When you hear about that kind of service it generally does bring down your company and you can't make an excuse. Regarding your non manufacture sealed product, scratches on a disc are inexcusable however we as a company have to display 2 live copies of a product and your item would have been sealed with a 28 day returns guarantee label for returning purposes. If it wasn't then once again it is poor customer service. The reason behind it is we as a company have so many parents who buy games for kids and partners for partners, then have the idiotic and moronic ignorance to open a game that you already have. If an item is unopened and sealed by the above 28 day or manufacturing label there is not an issue regarding your refund as long as you have a proof of purchase. @27 as a previous employee you of all people must know this simple fact, with the 10 day returns policy from a business point of view, where is the sense of letting a customer buy a game for instance like all the easy quick games we all know and love ( avatar, king kong, tmnt, cars, lost e.t.c ) completing it in 5 minutes then walking off with £40!!!! It may as well be a rental service and us charging £5. You of all people must know that 95% of the time the retailer is blamed rather than the company that manufactures the pile of shit. As a customer as well as a worker for the company i am always favouring the customer but common sense has to come into play. The recent final fantasy is a prime example, 30-40 hours no multiplayer where is value for money in that instance. However have none of you seen in all shop windows the fun for a fiver campaign. It states that purchasing any new release title and completing in 2 weeks gives you a guaranteed £35 back towards your next title. I am not going to suck the sack of my employer because in some instances i do think we get screwed over. Regarding the general EA issue i cannot stress how dissapointed as a gamer that i myself will not be able to purchase ME3 from my own store but you have to look at the big picture here. Back in 2008 a mediocre game called ARMY OF TWO was released which received no promo in store, was laggy tbc
  • Well im kinda pissed can't get mass effect 3 CE for xbox anywhere now, thanks EA and game.
  • Not sure if this has been posted but http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/video-game-news/9113300/Game-falls-out-with-EA.html kinds explains it better
  • as hell and only offered five levels, and EA wanted £50 per title. No way was that going to happen, hence the £49.99 price when the game was released. Now no way am i going to say Mass Effect 3 is anywhere near that bad but in the current gaming market £50 for any title is too much as customers are not buying current games. Soul Calibur 5, The Darkness 2 to name but a few have not sold anywhere near as well as projected hence why no stock as we cannot shift them. YES BEFORE YOU ALL SAY WELL YOUR PRICES ARE TOO HIGH, i tear my own hair out for the fact that we do not price match and it costs us thousands guys and girls. Sometimes i laugh at our prices and often question how we even make a sale. Game guarantees your copy in store on day of release when you pre order and you have 48 hours to pick it up. All you idiots who try to buy skyrim 2 days after it comes out and then wonder why we are sold out xmas need to wake up and realise that we never make reccomendations on games however when we know a game is going to sell out ie skyrim, mw3, saints row the third we ask you to pre order so you don't miss out. Its not fun for us when you blame us for the fact that you were too stupid to buy your copy when it came out rather than xmas eve. I do apolagise but sometimes the facts have to be said. In closing for the person who traded their ps3 in onto a gift card and now says screw game because it has not got your game, we cannot predict the future and we do not make you trade your items in. In a perfect world you could have sold your ps3 and kept your money for the title and bought elsewhere, im sure if you could have done that you would and i personally apolagise for your experience but this is something you cannot plan for. Have you considered selling your gift card to someone ie a friend who would give you the value of the card and shops with us on a regular basis so you do not miss out. I believe in customer service, i am as passionate about my games and customers as i am in all aspects of my life and i can personally tell you that at least one game worker values each and every one of you as you are the reason i have a job and can buy these great games, apart from me3 obviously. To those who keep the faith with us i thank you for your continued service and hope to see some of you in store. At no point were these comments an official word from GAME GROUP, they are an employees comments and no disrespect was meant to any single person, persons or manufacturer. Thank You
  • @143 You're 'not going to suck the sack of your employer', and yet here you are, coming off like a spokesperson for them. They must be paying you an awful lot to be this emotionally and personally invested in company policy. Besides, what has Army of Two got to do with GAME's financial issues? That's the issue here, not what games you do or don't like that EA just happened to have made. How is AoT part of any "big picture"? Having to sell it was hardly the turning point in GAME's fortunes. Mediocre or not, it also sold very well., which is a point almost as irrelevant as bringing the game up in the first place. And saying a Final Fantasy game with 30-40 hours gameplay doesn't represent good money because it doesn't have multiplayer? At least I think that is what you were saying. Your writing is a barely coherent, frequently irrelevant stream of conciousness. Sorry, you are seriously lacking credibility. Good day.
  • Don't get why people are laughing or viewing this as a good thing. It's bad for competition, and another blow to the High Street if yet another established store goes under. If they do shut their stores, not only will several people be out of work, but for me personally, it will leave only HMV and the Supermarkets as the only places that sell (new) games, and that's bad news if I ever want to get a niche game. Anyone gloating at this because they might charge a few pounds extra than online shops, you are the cancer that is killing gaming.
  • @120 What a reliable source you are. You work for a supervisor at the very game store in the focus of this controversy. You don't think your boss received word from upper management? What do you think upper management is doing right now? Damage control, spinning off their mismanaged company as a hapless victim of harsh credit conditions. I am not even from UK and I can tell this is purely GAME's fault. Everyone else is jumping ship. Has nothing to do with EA.
  • @120 It's a little to do with EA. I mean, alright, it's not EA's fault GAME is in financial crisis, of course. But, EA are the ones who decided to give GAME - a demonstratably unstable company, even a year ago - exclusivity on the CE. That exclusivity is what's causing the problem, everyone was forced to buy from GAME, and they couldn't hold up their end. I doubt half as many would've bothered preordering it from them if their favourite store (Amazon, Play, ShopTo.net, etc) had had the CE from the off.
  • Haha, oops. I meant @149, my bad.
  • I was talking to a GAME deputy manager and he said that it's only ME3 they won't be stocking due to EA asking for £5 more per game that they sell to the company. He said that they will still stock other EA games. I don't know exactly what's happening here...
  • Certainly an interesting day in my store. Not an ideal scenario and I feel extremely sorry for all the people who will potentially miss out on the N7 Collectors Edition. I didn't pre order it personally as I planned on waiting a while, but I know their pain having missed out on The Last Story the week before for similar reasons. The next 7-10days will certainly be a testing time in store for all GAME Group staff, especially those like me managing a store on the "frontline" :(
  • Please tell me that Amazon.co.uk will still stock Mass Effect 3: Collector's Edition for Xbox 360?. i'm not seeing any on the website right now and starting to worry that i will not be able to secure nd re-order my copy
  • I do feel for some of the decent Game staff as I have a few mates who work in different ones, and they genuinely have a passion for games. The staff in the Game stores across the country are going to get some serious & undeserved grief over the next week. I'm off to Gamestation tomorrow to cancel my pre-order. Apparently it's all EA Titles, so Fifa Street won't hit their shelves either when that's released in 2 weeks.
  • @154 I managed to pre-order the N7 edition from Amazon, but it's since been taken down. I think it's sold out pretty much everywhere now.
  • Great, I was searching other sites for months looking for the Collectors Edition, and once it was announced that only Game & Gamestation were stocking them, I placed my order there over a month ago. And now they're cancelling orders and I find out that all the other sites I looked at now stock the Collectors Edition, but they're out of stock on every damn site. Fucking great.
  • @142 I'm from Preston!
  • @156 Wow basically ive preordered it for nothing, £70 down the drain :( Thank you Game and EA you have really screwed us over now and have pissed off alot of people, no more EA games for me in the future.
  • Had ME3 N7 collectors edition ordered for months & now totally sold out everywhere, might have to import from the states, will use my voucher & points & then wont spend a penny at game again
  • @159 Not really. GAME won't have taken that money out it'll still be in your bank, plus they are giving £5 credit to everyone who had pre-ordered. Also it's not EA's fault (never thought I would say that), GAME aren't paying them what they owe and so EA will no longer supply them with there products, any business would do the same, Nintendo are also pulling all Hardware and Software from them as well. GAME is a sinking ship and the smart people are getting off now before they get taken down with them.
  • I work in game and am as disappointed as all you guys! I feel let down by my own company as a employee and a customer! Just remember that we are most probably going to be out of a job because of this so no matter more how pissed off you are at GAME itself try and understand that the staff will be feeling pretty upset that their company (paying them pretty much minimum wage) has put the staff aswell as the customers in a real horrible situation! Good luck to everyone working in GAME and GAMESTATION in the next few weeks and months cus i fear it ain't going to much fun for us and good luck to everyone who is trying to get all your pre orders!
  • Who cares.
  • @160 im in exactly the same boat here we should really have had first pick of the new preorders, its totally unfair that people who have had it ordered and were waiting for it are now the ones without a chance while others are picking it up now a week before release because they happened to be online earlier when ours were cancelled or worse buying up copies to sell on later I too will not be buying at game again, ill throw my voucher away on some cheap second hand game then will be done with the store forever. also@162 dont take any notice if anyone blames the staff, i know some will but they wont mean it we all know its the companies fault not the shop workers
  • Well I've been going to Gamestation since 2005. They are, by far, the best High Street games retailer. They have an abundance of stock from new to old games, you can even get old consoles like the N64 or Sega Dreamcast with some games too. However, GAME (the parent company) is far worse. They hardly have any stock of games (both new or old). There customer service is poor, the store is small. I've always scratched my head and thought "why is Gamestation better than Game, even though its not the parent company"? We may never know now because as in all likelihood both may cease to exist soon. I'm not backing them up or anything but what I can truly say is that if they disappear then it will hit the videogames market hard because though Blockbusters and HMV will rub their hands with joy, not all customers like going to them. If I remember correctly, the Gamestation store I went first went to in Perry Barr, Birmingham was actually situated "inside" a Blockbuster store. The Blockbuster store was probably bought out by Gamestation. So Gamestation has faired well in Birmingham because I've been to many midnight launches for games like: Battlefield 3, Gran Turismo 5 etc and ppl were queuing up in their droves.
  • you could have at least stated in the article that this only effects EU game stores. GAME isn't just in the one place. GAME Australia is still stocking mass effect 3 and i'm sure there will be others too. http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/03/game-australia-still-intends-to-stock-mass-effect-3-in-local-stores/
  • had the collectors edition ordered and used £25 of points on it too....will not be shopping there again!
  • changed mine just in time from Blockbusters however now ppl won't get pre-order codes which sucks.
  • Quick note regarding deposit refunds: Refunds are done using the same payment method you used. Therefore, no one who put their deposit down with store credit or on their credit/debit card will get a cash refund. Anyway, day off to play games before heading in for the weekend :)
  • The guy who asked if EA were honouring the N7 armour pack for N7 Edition preorders never got an answer I could find.. any word on that? GAME indicated we'd get the N7 armour pack regardless of whether we'd preordered the standard or limited editions but the EA update site still makes no reference to this, which is a bit weak.
  • hmv.co.uk still have the collectors edition available i ordered it from there
  • @171 My dad was unsure at first that its not the right one but hmv.co.uk will have only got it on thier website. finally got a copy preordered, thanks for this news :)
  • http://www.blockbuster.co.uk/product/buy-online/xbox-360/game/277564/mass-effect-3-n7-collectors-edition.htm CURRENTLY IN STOCK AT BLOCKBUSTER!!
  • Thanks to everyone who posted HMV still have it in stock, just managed to preorder mine, and I've heard they're quite good for pre-order deliveries (: IN STOCK AT HMV http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=51;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=595683
  • People reporting today that orders of In Stock games such as Dead Island are being cancelled too. It really does look like GAME are falling further down the hole. News reports today show that from a high of £3 per share in 2008 shares for GAME are now selling at 4 pence. As the company is so ripe for a takeover you have to wonder why someone like EBGames or Gamestop haven't tried and the only conclusion you can draw from that is they have a massive debt. I hope they survive this but at the moment GAME is going to get better terms borrowing money from Wonga.
  • WHY....WHY.......WHY.............WHY..............WHY
  • apparently game owe ea games £8.9 million. also sainsbury's have it avalable aswell
  • Lol, gonna get ME3 & SSX from Sainsburys :D really cheap there £35!
  • I am never using GAME again, because of them I now can't order the collectors editions.
  • wow only hmv left as far as i can tell for collecters edition so now i have to choose between standard edition with n7 warfare from play or collecters without n7 warefare from hmv :( damn you for making the decision so late
  • and wow hmv is not letting me log on
  • GAME have been losing the plot for years, they put those crappy stickers to seal the case of used games, i mean seriously it's fuckin used not brand new.. the pricing sucks and the attitude of the staff is dire... i know gamestation is owned by GAME but at least there staff seem interested in games
  • It basically boils down to the fact that GAME can't do their legendary buy it full price have it 5 days then trade it in scheme for £35 part exchange,only to drop it to something ridiculous like £5 part exchange(A little bit like the deus ex revolution scenerio) This is because of EA and their online pass and GAME throwing their toys out of their pram in a bitch fit.
  • If this is the case why did the GAME employee at Eastleigh tell me that they are at war with Electronic Arts?
  • I know the ending of mass effect 3 ending + stuff SPOILER: EDI is now in your gang Shepard can become a reaper PPl in your gang is: Ash/ , Garrus, EDI, Liara,(forgot the rest) if Anderson dies you die with 4,000 ready points at 5,000 if he dies you still live. Prothien VI is still working his with Illusive Man No more heavy weps you only get them in the field. Banshees are Asari Argat-yakshi (what samara's daughters are) -sorry bad spelling
  • As someone who used to work for Game I saw this coming frankly since at Xmas in our store we sold out of WWE 12 Saints row 3 AC:R and pretty much everything else we phoned head office for a delivery and what do they tell us it'll be 4 to 6 weeks for the next delivery and then we get it with 2 copys of Skyrim 1 WWE 12 4 Saints and 9 AC:Rs but we got like 500 COD:MW which we had like 3000 left from before it came out >.
  • Mass Effect 3 Collectors Edition in stock at HMV £69.99
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