The recent financial woes for UK based video game retailer GAME have reached a new low. Administrator PriceWaterhouseCoopers has announced that it will shutter 16 stores immediately, and proceed with the closing of 31 others in the coming weeks.
“Despite exploring available opportunities for continued trading,” said Kate Warwick, administrator at PwC, “the ongoing trading performance and absence of viable offers for the purchase of the business has resulted in these closures.”
The news comes months after Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Capcom, stopped supplying the company with their latest products. The company went into administration on March 26 of this year.
GAME Australia recently made headlines after they were unable to provide copies of Diablo 3 to customers who pre-ordered the game and would not refund the price of the game. Blizzard eventually interfered with the situation.
Games and accessories are now on sale at huge markdowns of nearly 60%, both in the store and online.
Last month over 60 stores were closed and 241 employees were laid off.
“This is a difficult time for employees and closing the stores was not a decision we made easily,” Warwick said. “PwC has been in touch with the Federal Government Department that deals with General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS) and will assist the employees with their applications.”
Video games have been notoriously expensive in Australia for several years now. Perhaps the rise of an online market has allowed consumers to import their games for cheaper than can be found at a retail store and in turn drove GAME to bankruptcy.
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