Electronic Arts not fazed by Mass Effect 3 stock problems

VIDEO GAMES PUBLISHER Electronic Arts (EA) does not appear to be too bothered that high street retailer Game will not be stocking its Mass Effect 3 title.

"We currently have a supply issue with regards to Mass Effect 3, which means that Game and Gamestation will not be able to fulfill orders for Mass Effect 3 at this time," said a statement from Game released at the end of last month.

"We want to give customers as much notice about this as possible and provide them with a range of options ahead of launch."

EA has no supplier problems at its end, it said, and is happy to send its players along to other stores where Mass Effect 3 will be in stock.

"It's unfortunate that Game is having challenges with its suppliers, however consumers have many alternatives both in-store and online," said the firm in a brief statement that suggests that if there are any problems, they are at Game's end.

"Our first priority is to inform our consumers of the many other retailers carrying our games. We don't anticipate any delay in getting our titles to market."

Game has a tag cloud on its home page for its most searched for games. Perhaps unfortunately for it, the title that is in the largest text is Mass Effect 3, one of the EA titles that it will not be selling.

Buying the game might not be as easy as EA thinks. Underneath its statement it has provided a link to a list of suppliers that are selling it.

Embarrassingly perhaps, most of these are sold out, meaning that the list isn't that handy after all. µ