@pandafresh:

My old local video shop was called KumVision. Make of that what you will.

oskarkeo

@eoaa: The only way that this is going to send anything but positive ripples through the community is, ironically enough, if GAME happen to offer the undiscovered developers sweet enough publishing deals to tip the boat for the big boys. If that happens, and larger developers start to fight for better deals with their publishers, then yes, I could see this biting GAME in the ass. But other than that, I can't see this move as anything but great for everyone-- although to be honest, it's a case of too little, too late. With everybody and their brothers opening up new direct means of play or distribution-- Steam, Greenhouse, GameTap, Instant Action, WiiWare, XNA-- a brick-and-mortar solution for indies is a great idea that's just long past its time, unfortunately.

wild homes is weathering cephalopod trouble!

@Mister Adequate: I know! They shipped some of the stock to 'specialist' branches, but the rest was thrown. One day I walk in and there's nothing pre-PS2 era. It was shameful, yet barely anyone said anything about it.

Krondonian

i just think its funny the stores are called GAME, just GAME. reminds me of a rental place near my house that was just called VIDEO. GAME what?

pandafresh

@Krondonian: Wait, they did WHAT!

Mister Adequate

I've never heard of GAME before, so I don't know why everybody is so against this. Personally, I think it's a great idea.

Jorw

@Pombar: Did you hear about Gamestation destroying/throwing out their old retro stock? I found that totally unacceptable- they didn't even give it to charity. Since then I don't frequent the stores so often.

If you want the best prices, my City just got a CeX (laugh at the pronunciation...) which offers lower prices for used games, and you don't have to buy in bundles.

Krondonian

@eoaa: That just won't happen. GAME and Gamestation used to be the two biggest game-specific retailers in the UK. GAME proceeded to buy Gamestation.

Unless developers only sell in small chains, supermarkets or media stores such as HMV, Virgin...they've no choice but to stick with GAME.

Besides, it'll only be a small scale thing...maybe a little aisle each store, or at the counter.

Krondonian

I feel like drinking a Coors Light!!!!

Beatboxtaun

@Antiterra: I assume the games they'll publish will be the parent-pleasing kind; easy to pick up stuff that looks nice on a shelf, that they can sell as gifts or tempt kids into wanting. Digital Distribution is miles off having a stake in that market.

I was in the above pictured GAME store this morning. I used to prefer going to Gamestation, its major competitor, but since they bought it out, I go where the prices lead me. Even so, Gamestation still retains its excellent customer service and nice atmosphere, but Gamestation's stock has been getting worse recently. I had to go to GAME for Lost Odyssey, Crisis Core, FFTA2, The World Ends With You, Etrian Odyssey...

Pombar

This is the latest cash in since the dot com bubble. Just look at all the poo the Wii has. I should make a game with pac-man with a gun dropping the F bomb and it'll sell like crazy!!!

Beatboxtaun

I don't get it. Publishers have nothing to do with the quality of games. It's in the developer's hands to build the game, while the publisher is in charge of marketing it.

I think it's a brave endeavor to give smaller independent developers a chance to have their work made commercially available alongside the bigger-name publishers.

Giving the little guy a chance is always good.

Ignatius

@Bob6k: I think you're not fully understanding the situation. The premise isn't that they want to muscle out smaller developers, but that they want to tap into market even more through vertical integration, i.e. be their own supplier. They do this through giving opportunities for smaller developers to publish games through them that may otherwise never see the light of day.

This is a good idea in principle, but it's definitely going to ring shockwaves through the industry... GAME might be digging a grave for itself in terms of its relationships with other publishing houses, especially if they manage to dig up some previously unknown small-time developers.

eoaa

Wait, how is this such a bad idea? Would you people rather no games come out, or a game be given a chance with financial support from a retailer? The only downside is where the game will be sold, but again the other option is not seeing the game at all.

LittleBigPlaneteer

That's kind of a neat idea. I can't imagine who'd sign up, but choice is good if they want to front a few resources for the little guys.

Another used game chain though? I really wish we could get some NEW game franchises. Too often I go into an EB and browse for 15 minutes, then leave with a used copy of the game I wanted because they don't have any new stock left of their three copies, and no one else in town even has a copy at all...

fuchikoma

I'm curious to see how traditional retailers like GAME will respond to the shift towards digital distribution (besides demanding bigger margins on hardware from console makers...).

None of them have online platforms, and a substantial portion of their revenue depends on store trades-ins, which are bound to decrease as games dematerialise. I think it will easily take another generation before we go all digital, so high-street retailers have time to adjust, but I'd love to listen in on their super-secret internal meetings on the subject.

Exploring other avenues for profit, no matter how tentatively, makes sense.

Antiterra

kick ass new barbie game!

cluster1990

Standby for quality.

TheToiletDuck

LOL, if Gamestop did this they'll sell their games in little Compact Disc sleeves with just a sharpie marker stating the games' names.

Al2x

@EnigmaNemesis: If GameStop published a game, I'd want it to be a choose your own adventure-ish interactive DVD game where you got to decide what Geoff Keighley does next in those interminable "game journalism" shows of his they broadcast incessantly in-store. I'm going to press circle to make him interrupt the guest! YES!

wild homes is weathering cephalopod trouble!

@cable83, @Krondonian: I read it as developers (damn skimming), but generally small publishers publish games for small devs. So my previous comment is still kinda relevant.

Krondonian

I'm completely okay with this, I think it sounds great. GAME are a huge, monopolizing company, yes. But if they stay true to their promise, small indie devs get a chance to have their game being offered to thousands of customers.

How is that bad?

Krondonian

@Bob6k: Not developers, publishers. It's not too different from what the big publishing houses are already doing to small publishers. If GAME can offer better terms to developers than small publishers on games the big publishers don't want, the only people really getting screwed are small publishers. Which sucks, but hey, that's capitalism.

cable83

Sorry for the double post, i just noticed i put a full stop after a question mark, i was gonna let it go, but after the guy above me's post i thought i'd better play it safe. Never know when the language police will call

Bob6k

Great, they've already muscled smaller games retailers out of the uk market, why not the small games developers?. It'll give them one more corpse to make their throne of commercial dominance out of

Bob6k

e·lu·ci·date (-ls-dt)
v. e·lu·ci·dat·ed, e·lu·ci·dat·ing, e·lu·ci·dates

v.tr.
To make clear or plain, especially by explanation; clarify.

v.intr.
To give an explanation that serves to clarify.

cable83

Oh boy ... please dont let Gamestop do this.

EnigmaNemesis

This is a worse idea than Mortal Kombat.

PirateThom

I avoid GAME as much as I possibly can. They're a terrible shop everything is overpriced and the staff don't seem to know anything about the products.

Klopfer123

O_O

I just realised something.

If they already get 100% return on their used game sales and on a partial % from selling new games... Does this mean that if they sell their own self published games used... They complete the circle?

It's kinda like drinking your own pee, but you happen to pee delicious gatorade with nutrients and enjoy it instead of for survival.

art_zombie

@oskarkeo: I don't follow...GAME must pay the developers for the products, they can't just stick it in the bargain bin. If they're publishing a game, they want to get the most they can for it. If anything as these games represent an investment on the part of the retailer, they'll want to promote them as much as possible.

Sorry if that doesn't answer what you were saying...but I'm not sure what you were meaning.

Krondonian

They should make big game hunting games.

That way you can be all "Check out the big game game from game."

justhesh

@pandafresh: My local takeaway is called Takeway.

Friend: 'Where are we going to order a pizza from then?'
Me:'Takeway.'
Friend: 'Duh, which one?'
Me.'...'

I also know a guy called Naim, which he pronounces Name. That led to similar situations when asked what his name was.

Krondonian

I wonder how long it will take to see these games in the GAME Bargin Bin selling used for 90%@Krondonian:

I wonder how long it will take to see that counter become the Bargin Bin selling used stock for 90% price, with no cash to go to the developer and a sweet dime in the pocket of a shrewd retail ceo.

oskarkeo

Well, publishers are getting into doing their own distribution, via digital distribution. So I guess you could say turnabout is fair play.

But I'm not convinced that any of the skills involved in managing a retail chain translate to publishing. It's a pretty drastic shift.

MrLahey

@LittleBigPlaneteer: I agree. More games is usually better. If they are bad games, then don't buy them, but maybe out of every 100 shovelware titles a company might push out, one gem will be dug from the dirt. Same thing I think about most major labels. I don't listen to most of the artists on a single label, but maybe one will get on their that I like and that was their only shot for me to ever hear them.

Bad analogy? Probably, but still.

nick.soapdish

@Klopfer123:

True, i buy most stuff at my local independant, mostly because he will sell me the new titles on a thursday afternoon, that said the staff in my local game are excellent and have always treated me well.

"publishers are already none too pleased that they get absolutely zero percent of the revenues from game trade-ins at retail."

Surely publishers realise that a lot of people trade old games to get new ones, if they start taking a cut then places like Game may stop doing trade-ins and all those new titles will sell 10-20% less because people will have to be a little more selective.

senote

@PirateThom: except mortal kombat was actually fun

KaliKOtt

@Jorw: GAME is the largest gaming retailer in Europe (I believe), and is currently second biggest in Australia.

Don't see how this could be that bad, I'm sure the other publishers wouldn't be HAPPY about it, but then again as they said it's no huge threat so they probably won't care too much, especially since GAME is such a big company I doubt they'd want to sever any ties.
They have already done this for sometime with their GAMEWare accessory lines, which are your standard quality accessories but at a lower price.
Which is the other good thing; by publishing their own titles, they should be fairly cheaper (in theory), so we win in the end.

Y2Jason

Game is the shittiest gamestore there is, at least here in sweden. They overprice EVERYTHING with like $10. Especially big titles, which cost's like hell at Game.

andh

Well, they certainly have the goddamn money. Price gouging FTL.

jettokisora

Cue shitty flash games wrapped up in a pretty box and sold for £25 to people who don't know better. There's a reason some games can't get published. The only way they'll avoid conflict with publishers is if they only publish the dregs no other company would touch...

bonaparte

I can see this as being retail's way of challenging services like Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare and PSN.

I don't expect full priced novelty games that can't get a publisher (because that's risky even for GAME). I expect things like Penny Arcade Adventures (not necessarily this one, but that type of game) getting releases through this service.

So long as they don't strong-arm the developers into making them exclusive to GAME stores (i.e., allowing them to still be distributed via XBLA, PSN, WiiWare and other web download services in general - though not their brick-and-mortar competitors like HMV and such) then we should be good and, personally speaking, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

akwinters

@andh: GAME is probably best here in Ireland, at least compared to the competition... GameStop, HMV, and Smyths Toys (think of Toys R' Us)

@bonaparte: The "shitty flash games wrapped up in a pretty box" argument has been used against every attempt to get indie games to go mainstream. Although there's a lot of crap on XBL\Steam\PSN, there's some great gems on each of them (Audiosurf and PAIN come to mind). I'd expect GAME might be pretty careful about what devs to choose.

Eranmane

They are probably the most expensive games retailer on the high street. They also sell cheap flimsy peripherals. I can only imagine how bad there own games would be, If it's only publishing then thats fair enough.

theTOMSTA666

@Klopfer123: Actually i think their service is pretty good... especially if you buy online, much better than others - really good for preorders. But these days i only buy games online as their so much more expensive, in store

scuba2steve

@EnigmaNemesis: If GameStop made a game, people would buy it, it would be terrible, and then they would take it back to GameStop to get 1/5 of the money they payed for it. In store credit (wtf is cash?). It's a vicious cycle.

Solertia

Of course current publishers are gonna grumble about how unfair this is blah, blah. GAME is smart to try this because of their position in the market. Not only does having a retailer publish a game put less fingers in the money pie (distribution and marketing are now one function), it will also give another outlet for those devs that can't get in the door at a large "no risk" publisher. Also, you get more foot traffic in your store with an "only available at GAME" item (if it's good of course), not to mention an advantage for brick and mortar vs. digital distribution. As long as they don't publish a line of all-crap-games I think this could be winner.

crashlanding