Those of you in North America have our permission to close your ears while we regale tales about the torrid state of UK retail. Chatting at a conference this morning, GAME Retail has revealed that its GameStation brand is to be phased out. The company – which recently went through a major reshuffle – previously operated GAME and GameStation as separate entities. The latter of which was pitched towards hardcore gamers, promoting more knowledgeable staff and an edgier store layout. Now all GameStation stores will be rebranded GAME.
The move follows comments from CEO Martyn Gibbs, who recently revealed that the company is researching what gamers “want from a specialist”. Great prices, intelligent discussion and an inviting atmosphere seems like a good start to us.
GameStation started life in York way back in 1993, and had grown to 63 outlets by 2002. It was eventually sold to Blockbuster, who rolled out stores across the UK, before being snapped up by GAME in 2007.
Do you have any PlayStation-related memories at your local GameStation store?
[source mcvuk.com]
Comments 13
It really makes no difference, they were run in the same way, carried identical stock and used the same pricing policies. The only real difference in staff is that Gamestation staff would generally be more inclined to sell you something you'll enjoy- as opposed to the Game staff just wanting to sell you something.
every midnight launch i went to was at my local gamestation great fun
(birmingham-erdington branch) i always found my local Game was very hostile as if they hated you.
Most Game staff are just there for a job.
At least you can tell the GS guys were in to games!
@KALofKRYPTON exactly they were always fun to just talk to and even got a few freebies like they had extra stock of crysis 2 download codes so they just gave them away that was awesome
@TOMBOY25 Is that the now defunct Birmingham branch near to New Street station? I used to love that shop.
nah this one is still running its in erdington (if you know where that is)
@TOMBOY25 I'm 'fraid I've only ever been to Erdington once, so I'm not familiar with the GameStation store there. What were some of your favourite midnight launches?
gears 3(free keyring) borderlands 1(free ms points back when i had a 360) mw3 was pretty fun a guy was dressed as ghost lol
I assure you, the GAME And gamstation staff have, since the merger, been hired according to the same selection criteria. The difference between the stores are simply the people - they are not more game Savy in GAME than gamestation - it's personal experience that will dictate this.
I take it GAME/Gamestation is the european version of GameStop/EBGames in North America?
No. GAME and gamestation are part of GAME Retail limited - uk company only.
I think a better example would have been GAME/Gamestation is the european version of Gamestop/Software etc. SInce the relationship was similar in North America and just like how Gamestation is being phased out, Software etc was phased out and renamed.
Nobody in the US remembers Software etc., I think they had about 3 stores waaay back when. Electronics Boutique changed it's name to EB Games when they realized guys didn't want to shop in a store called "boutique". Then Gamestop bought them. My Chrome browser link still goes to EB Games so I can always remember how GS eliminated them. The search field still works though.
http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/default.asp
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