With GAME and Gamestation now in administration, with half of the chain's stores closed and the rest looking precariously perched on the edge of the precipice (bar a knight in shining armour coming to save them), and sometimes game retailer HMV remaining in financial trouble themselves, the gaming industry must look at itself to see what could have and can be done to preserve the high-street video gaming world. With the future seeing only Grainger Games as an ongoing "big name" in chain video game retailing (those guys deserve to survive as long as possible, incidentally), the high-street game buying experience is bound to massively change in the coming weeks and months, and the danger of that experience disappearing completely is a very real one at this stage. If a company as big as GAME can go under, none of the smaller retailers who continue to trade can have any doubts that they could well be next, and there must be a lot of lessons learned in the wake of that sad fate for the former biggest video game retailer in the UK. And if the larger non-specialist retailers think there won't be some fall-out for their own concerns, they are probably sadly mistaken. Some of the suggestions below are directed at games publishers, and some at surviving retailers (including any phoenix that rises from the GAME ashes and somehow continues that brand - even under another name). All will no doubt bring some reaction from readers and game buyers.
1. Scrap or At Least Rethink Trade-Ins
While the next generation of consoles might see this objective come in anyway, the culture of trade-ins played a major part in GAME's demise, no matter how much they pushed to win the trade-in pounds from gamers who were spoilt for choice as to where to take their second-hand games. With supermarkets like ASDA, and non-specialists like HMV opening their doors to trade-ins, and the ridiculous possibility of getting between £25 and £30 back as standard on a £40-ish title was no way to a sustainable success period for retailers. Scrapping trade-ins in high-street stores would go some way to re-establishing that sustainability, with retailers not forced to give back a large chunk of their profits for trade-ins that would then ultimately undermine the primary sales market, establishing an in-store competitor for their own products. How they ever thought that was a good idea is beyond me. Yes, gamers would likely be upset by the lack of opportunity to get their money back on games they were sick of or had competed, but it would also fundamentally change the way game developers make games. Without the immediate escape of trade-in, developers would be forced to develop better online and multiplayer modes, extending the longevity of titles and bring their A game, making for higher quality games and far less disposable ones.
2. Drop All RRPs
No games are worthy £40 to £45, especially in a recession, and yet RRPs are usually set up towards £50. Admittedly, few games are ever released at that RRP, but most flagship titles come in at the £40 mark, regardless of how good they end up being. How exactly that is justified when games are typically made on a relatively small budget (certainly in contrast with Hollywood films which cost considerably less to enjoy twice) is beyond me. Yes, there must be a valuation that reflects the work that goes into games, but there must also be logic, and a fairer assessment of exactly what a game is actually worth. If anyone can explain that £40 figure to me, I'm more than willing to listen.
3. Introduce Supermarket Specific Credit Terms
When supermarkets are willing to make a loss on key titles in the hope that they can claw back that loss on basket value (of groceries and other perishables with much greater mark-up value), there can be no real competition in video game retailing. The influence of such offers on new release books was one of the killer blows to Borders, and there was certainly an effect on GAME and Gamestation from Asda undercutting them on key titles in-store. Negotiating specific terms for supermarkets, or any retailer who is openly willing to make a loss, or a minimal profit which pushes up the buy-in price would theoretically stop that sort of anti-market behaviour and lead to a healthier overall condition.
4. Make Special Editions Prestigious & Attainable
Game retailers and publishers can certainly take a leaf out of the vinyl record book, as well as DVDs and Blu-ray special editions. Vinyls, CDs and DVDs are now classed as outdated mediums, and blu-rays will no doubt head that way in the near future, and yet they all still sell. Some of that is down to the fierce loyalty of fans of each medium, but it is also helped by the development of prestigious special editions, which show off the primary content and add secondary content that would not be available to other mediums. That could in particular stem some of the tide turning physical sales into digital ones (where those special features wouldn't all be possible) and extend the shelf-life of physical releases. Part of that would also be dropping the price on those special editions, and making them a lot easier to buy in high-street stores, and not just directly from the publishers.
5. Encourage The Indies
Look at comic book stores for inspiration: though Forbidden Planet exists as the nation's strongest chain retailer, there isn't really a behemoth chain devoted to comic book retail, meaning a healthy independent scene. There is no reason that the same can't be achieved for the video games market, as long as publishers are willing to lend their assistance to those indies stores, and provided the government make the expected developments to the retail universe to make it easier for shops to survive (which consultant Mary Portas will surely try and strong-arm into fruition) that change could lead to a better high-street marketplace all round.
6. Bring In Concessions
A massively controversial choice, considering it comes from an ex-Borders management employee who saw from the inside the toxic effect that ill-judged concessions and "new lines" had on the company, BUT if done correctly, concessions can be a no-brainer. Neither GAME nor Gamestation ever dealt particularly well in peripherals and accessories, and the lack of gamer T-shirts, which account for big money (and crucially, a high cost/return ratio at competitive price-points) for websites like Insert Coin who do them so well. Opening floor-space to concessions like Insert Coin Tees would bring in rent, as well as a cut of profits, while also giving other companies who don't have the profile for their own stores nationwide presence on the high-street. So what do you think? Will anything save the specialist high-street video game retailers of this country? Let us know below.