GAME to close all standalone stores in the UK after it enters administration

UK retailer GAME is set to close its remaining standalone stores, as the company’s managing director departs after nearly nine years.

GAME’s presence on the high street has gradually eroded over the past decade, to the point where shops are now a rare sight, but soon any standalone stores will be a relic of the past.

Last week, the company filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, marking the second time GAME has fallen into administration since 2012.

According to The Game Business, Frasers Group, the owner of GAME, has now decided to close the chain’s last three remaining standalone stores. It’s believed these last few stores are in Dudley, Lancaster, and Sutton.

While this is the end of GAME as its own individual retailer on the high street, the brand will live on elsewhere. The GAME website will continue to operate as usual, along with the 200+ concession stores within Frasers Group’ other brands, namely Sports Direct and House Of Fraser.

GAME’s managing director, Nick Arran, is also leaving the company after nearly nine years. In 2023, Arran said how he wanted the company to pivot to a ‘general entertainment approach across gaming, toys, board games, and tech’.

Despite the expanded focus on toys, Arran denied it was turning its back on the business of selling games, but said there’s a ‘need to be realistic’. ‘Gaming is our core business and we will be the last man standing selling physical video games,’ he added.

The Frasers Group acquired GAME in 2019, and since then, the retailer has gradually slimmed down its operations. The company no longer sells pre-owned games or offers rewards points, and most of its staff have been moved to zero hour contracts.

In 2020, Frasers Group announced plans to shut 40 stores across the UK, including shops in Mansfield, Leicester, and Glasgow Fort.

The biggest UK games retailer on the high street today is CeX, which has around 390 stores throughout the UK, and over 600 worldwide.

Last year, CeX, which specialises in second-hand games, expanded its operations to delivery app Just Eat.

Apart from that, the only retail chains in the UK which still regularly sell video games are Argos and Currys, although supermarkets such as Asda can still stock them, depending on the size of the store.

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