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We try to defend specialist stores like GameStop as much as possible here at Push Square because we believe it’s important for the industry to have a major high street presence, but sometimes you’ve got to call a spade a spade, and UK outlet GAME’s new Elite loyalty card absolutely sucks. Like, it beggars belief it’s so bad.

So here’s the pitch: you pay £36 a year for the elite-tier membership. That seems pricey on the surface, but we all pay a similar sum for PlayStation Plus here, so surely it can justify itself? Well, this is the problem: the only real perk is that it increases the percentage of rewards points you’ll earn per purchase.

So, on the standard (and free, we must stress) loyalty card, you get two per cent back per purchase. But if you stump up for the Elite loyalty card, you’ll get 10 per cent on games and accessories, four per cent on consoles, phones, and tablets, and two per cent on trade-ins. There’s also the promise of some members only discounts and a “birthday gift”.

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But unless that present is something of serious worth, this rewards scheme really sucks. Let’s break it down: you’d need to buy a whopping ten games at £40 to get one for free. And even then, you’d be paying £36 for the privilege, so essentially, you’d have to buy even more games to see any real benefit from it.

To be fair, GAME does say that if after 12 months you haven’t earned enough points to make up for the fee you paid for the Elite loyalty card in the first place, it’ll give you the difference back in rewards points. But do you know what’s better than bloody GAME virtual bucks? Actual money that you could have in your wallet by skipping this entirely.

We’re trying not to be too harsh here; we truly believe that GAME has a place on the high street. But for a retailer that – let’s face it – already has a bad reputation among consumers, who the heck thought this was a good idea? All this does is paint the company in a negative light – and it honestly comes off as desperate.