Majority of GAME head office staff reportedly laid off since August

gamesindustry.biz:

UK retailer GAME has reportedly lost the majority of its head office staff in recent months, leading to further problems for the struggling games specialist.

That's according to a new report by GamesIndustry.biz sister site Eurogamer, which spoke to multiple managers, shop floor staff, and sources close to head office, who claim parent Frasers Group has dramatically downsized the game retailer's leadership.

One source estimated 78% of head office staff have been let go since GAME was fully integrated with Frasers Group on August 1, 2024, while another claims that there are now around 20 staff in that department, having previously had at least 100.

A current employee added that all area managers have been made redundant, meaning all store managers need to speak directly to a diminished head office team.

GAME was taken over by Sports Direct in June 2019, with that retailer renaming itself to Frasers Group later that year. Since then, many of its stores – including dozens this year – have either shut down and replaced with concessions within branches of Sports Direct.

In 2024 alone, it's been reported that GAME is dropping its long-running pre-owned business, ending the sale of physical currency cards, and is no longer taking in-store pre-orders for new releases.

Throughout the past few months, the retailer is said to have struggled to fulfill online pre–orders for key releases and has been shipping copies late, with affected titles including Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and the Silent Hill 2 remake.

Eurogamer's sources claim that Frasers Group's ordering and logistics managers, unfamiliar with the games industry and its release slate, have failed to order enough stock to ensure stores have copies available at launch, saying that "the majority of game releases are not arriving on time."

"Anything that hasn't been EA Sports FC or Call of Duty has been late arriving, or not arrived at all," one staff member said. "And if we do get it, maybe we get a handful of copies. I've