- Wednesday, 25 November 2009
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Intel can't compete with charcoal - Bob Colwell, former Intel chief architect
Game merger gets green light
HIGH STREET RETAILER, GAME has been given the go-ahead to snap up former indie competitor Gamestation.
The company announced plans to buy out the smaler chain earlier this year, and the Office of Fair Trading announced it was going to take a look at the case to decide if it would create a monopoly.
However, the Office has announced today that there will be no issues with the merger and we have no doubt that Game execs will be rubbing their fingers with glee.
So why no problems? Despite the fact that Game will now dominate high street games retailing, the nub of the matter is that this is, itself, now a shrinking market - given the massive online competition from Amazon and Play, not to mention the increase in direct-download games services.
In these days of internet-everything, a monopoly on the high street isn't the same as an industry monopoly. ยต
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I liked Gamestation, it always seemed more grubby and 'enthusiast' than Game, with lots of nice old retro kit for sale. Game has more of a homogenous, chainstore feel, and doesn't seem to offer that much more than the games section of a large HMV or Virgin Megastore.

It's hard to view the takeover as anything other than bad for competition, even though online sales are much more important than they once were.
I used to work for GS in York and Harrogate, they were awesome to work for but then they had the independance taken off them when they were bought by blockbuster video back in 2004.

They also became rubbish to work for,
re: "shame"

I think gamestation and game will serve two markets, with gamestation focusing on second hand, so hopefully it won't change much.

I guess game has plenty of competition - major titles are sold in supermarkets, a wider selection are sold in PCWorld and more specialist titles are sold online quite often so I can't really say it will have a mjor inpact on sales and prices personally.
I used to work for Game before the old Electronic Boutique (UK) took it over. Gamestation reminded me that Game, not the SELL SELL SELL attitude of the EB GAME. Enthusiastic sales people who recommended games and told people not to buy rubbish seems to be a thing of the past. Good luck, wonder how many more grannies they will fool.