Game – The Fall of a Giant

[Update 2: Official response from Game “We currently have a supply issue with regards to Mass Effect 3, which means that GAME and gamestation [sic] will not be able to fulfil orders for Mass Effect 3 at this time. We want to give customers as much notice about this as possible and provide them with a range of options ahead of launch.

We appreciate that this is disappointing for our customers, and we apologise sincerely for the inconvenience that this will cause. We value the loyalty of our customers very highly and as a gesture of goodwill we are providing the following:

– Customers who have pre-ordered in store, will have the opportunity to add £5 worth of Reward points to their card if they visit us from today through to 16 March 2012.

– Customers who have placed a deposit for the title will receive a refund as well as the £5 worth of Reward points between 1 and 16 March 2012.

– Customers who have pre-ordered online, will be provided with an online voucher to the value of £5 to be spent on any purchase on our sites.”

[update 1 It has just been announced that Gamestation have pulled there preorders now, meaning that they are also not stocking any EA title after friday. Shares for both company’s have also just plummeted to 8.93% off Game Group PLC’s stock value, There has also been a leaked memo which you can see at the bottom of the page this memo shows the exact words from EA to game. ]

Original Story

Like many of you, we woke up this morning to find that Game has recently told everyone that they will not be stocking Mass Effect 3 or any other EA title after SSX which is due for release friday. Like me you may now be asking yourself, What happens to my £5 which they made me pay so that I was “guaranteed” a copy?

You can try phoning there help center where you are greeted with a message saying that “if you are calling regarding a Mass Effect Preorder then go to our website for more info”. If like me you didn’t want to do that but wanted to stay on the phone to get the information straight from the horse’s mouth. You will then be told that they are unable to take your call at the moment please try the website. We then thought we would take their advice and head to the website and what were we greeted with? A huge banner saying ” Pre order your Mass Effect today” So not only is the Voice Recording on the phone line a liar but the website has also not been updated.So several minutes on and im none the wiser. After digging deeper and speaking to EA we have found out this is happening because EA and Game cannot agree on a deal which matches the deal they have with other publishers. We were then told that Game will not be stocking any EA games from march and EA has not got ay idea on what will be happening to my £5 preorder deposit. After several google searches later I then found that I will be getting my £5 plus another £5 added to my card in points. Which means I am now £5 missing towards my Mass Effect 3 preorder as well as I have this £5 floating around for use in a company that seems to be falling apart.

This then raises the question what happens about Gamestation. The last we heard they are owned by the same company, so doesn’t that mean Gamestation will not be selling Mass Effect 3 which means that even more people are left without there preorder and their money floating in a shop which is apparently becoming useless. We remember the days that Game was the only reliable shop around, one that you would choose over everything else. But now it seems that it is fighting for life and grasping at straws to keep afloat.

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