With the threat of administration looming, a new report claims that the largest UK gaming retailer is looking for a buyer.
It’s no secret that GAME has fallen on hard times. After miserable sales figures during this past holiday season, the company’s share price plummeted, as did its relationship with some of the industry’s top game suppliers (most notably, Capcom, Nintendo, and EA). Without the ability to stock some of the gaming community’s most desirable titles (read: Mass Effect 3), and with potential dissolution looming ominously close, it seems that GAME has run out of every option but one. The Sunday Times has reported that GAME has hired on financial advisory group Rothschild to find a potential buyer, and broker a deal to sell the company.
If the report is accurate, the next obvious question is: Who would be interested in purchasing GAME now? Many seem to think GameStop. Though the retailer has historically shared a tumultuous relationship with the UK market (closing down its physical stores in England and Northern Ireland in favor of a website), the prospect of controlling a similar market dominance to what it enjoys in North America may be appealing enough for the execs to make the leap.
Currently, however, all mention of GameStop’s interest, or lack thereof, is hearsay, as the company has declined to comment on the prospect. But if GameStop was to bite, it would probably be for approximately £15 million ($19.7 million), the business’s currently estimated market value. I bet you wish you could sell a used GAME to GameStop for so much.
Terrible, terrible jokes aside, GAME is currently a job-provider to thousands, and the sale of its holdings could be key to saving those people from unemployment. So for them, and for those just hoping to still have a game-centric retailer around in the UK, let’s hope a solution is found one way or another, and soon.
Source: The Sunday Times via MCV
