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STAFF AT GAME stores are to lose their jobs after the company shut shops in the UK and Ireland.
Tomorrow, managers of the 13 Game stores in the Republic of Ireland will meet with representatives from the company to discuss of the closure of the business.
James Daly, District Development Manager and manager of the Mahon Point store in Cork, told TheJournal.ie that the stores had been told of the closure by phone this morning. “We haven’t been told an awful lot,” he said. “As a group we are meeting tomorrow and then we’re going to meet company representatives at lunchtime.”
We’ve been pretty much told collectively that we’ve been made redundant and we are not going to get any notice period. And we were told if we work for the remainder of the week clearing the store they will pay us for that and our contracts will cease on Friday or Saturday.
Daly said that as the UK-based company is still trading in the UK, Irish staff believe they should be given an adequate notice period, any holiday entitlements due, and redundancy pay.
The staff have not been given any paperwork and have been told they will be paid for the past month’s work, but will then have to apply for any entitlements due, said Daly.
“We’re not there to cause trouble,” he said. “We are there to get what we believe we are entitled to.”
We wanted to make it clear tonight that we were not just going to go quietly, we need to fight for what we believe is our right.
It is being reported that staff at the Monaghan store have begun a sit-in.
Daly said the Irish staff are “united as a group” and have been in contact with Vita Cortex workers, who have been very supportive.
An administrator has been appointed to the company, leading to the closure of all of its stores in the Republic of Ireland, a number of stores in Northern Ireland and around half of its 600 stores in the UK.
Five stores will remain open in Northern Ireland: Donegal Arcade and Abbey Centre in Belfast, Richmond Centre in Derry, and stores in Newtonards and Craigavon Rushmere centre.
In total in Ireland and the UK there will be 2,089 job losses. Of this, 121 will be in the Republic of Ireland and 110 will be in Northern Ireland.
PwC confirmed that the joint administrators “are liaising with a number of parties who have expressed an interest in purchasing part or all of the business and assets of the group”.
However, having reviewed the ongoing operational requirements of the business and with the continued difficulties on the high street, unfortunately it has been necessary to close 277 stores throughout the UK and Ireland as of today. Unfortunately, this will inevitably lead to a number of job losses and 2,089 store employees will be made redundant this week.
The administrators say they are “working closely with employees affected by this decision to ensure they receive the support they need during this difficult time to assist with their claims for redundancy and other compensatory payments”.
Mike Jervis, joint administrator and partner at PwC said:
Our priority is to continue trading the business as normal while we continue to pursue a sale. The recent job losses are regrettable but will place the company in a stronger position while we explore opportunities to conclude a sale. My team and I will be doing all we can to help the affected employees at this difficult time.
The remaining 333 stores employing 2,829 people will stay open as normal while the administrators continue their efforts to find a purchaser for the business.
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Just when you think it’s bottoming out – more jobs go. Terrible for all those families. Here’s hoping something positive happens in this country and very soon
Whats bottoming out? property? you got to be kidding me right! loads more years of drops in the still over priced market to go. which is great news for the country.
Keep fighting for legitimate rights. Set up your own Twitter/Facebook accounts asap and galvanize your support. As a fellow retail worker who had to struggle for his rights too,Im right with you.
I’m not talking about property – I’m talking about job losses. I was hopeful that we might be close to the end of job losses and that we can begin the recovery process. I only sympathise with the families involved.
Bottoming? Huh? This has nothing to do with the recession. This has to do with traditional gaming retailers failing to adapt to the modern channels of distribution for games. Digital Distribution & Microtransactions are the way forward. Cutting out retailers like GAME who do nothing but increase the price for the consumer.
Ian
Greed ! In other words ?
Forget about the job losses and families,
What about my Game card and Game credits
Sad to see however its a dead industry walking right now.
John! Cop on! As long as the Governments of this country continue to take money from people’s pockets, to pay for wealthy gangsters debts, more and more jobs will be lost! Basic economics and all that!!
Yeah! And it’s the government’s fault I can’t drive my steam powered horseless carriage to work anymore.
High Streets will be very boring places in a few years time. The choice of “walk in” shops will become very limited. Xtravision, to be fair, are trying very hard to adjust with the times. I can’t say the same for GAME though, rip off prices and especially poor selections for PC games.
@Mike Scott
No its not ‘basic economics and all that’ The economy dosent function with ‘basic economics’ – there is no such thing. surely you realise this?
You cant blame the government every time jobs are lost, as was pointed out, Game closing its stores is because of increasing competition from the online market, not because of something the government has done.
You have displayed a clear lack of understanding of how the economy works by associating two completely different and unrelated aspects of economics with each other.
As long as our government continue to roll over and play puppy,( remember that photo of Kenny and Sarkozy!) ,then no one in this country will be treated fairly.
Well done Susie, in one sentence you’ve demonstrated why the left alienate the vast majority of people in this country.
Keep up the good work.
Oh dear ,
The truth hurts ? Where are the unions supporting these staff members ? Why is it Cliff that ”these ” companies ,believe they can maltreat their staff in such a cheap and underhand manner ? You tell us , be cause all I have seen from you is caustic comments and NO Support for these workers . What has happened to loyalty and support in this country ?
Maybe if they wait a few years they will get a job from all the Chinese and Asian companies that Kenny is schmoozing with lately.
A bit of compassion for the people all 121 of them who are losing their jobs here , might not go astray. I hope things work out for them and that they get their legal and lawful entitlements.
Susie, i think you’ll find that this article has been heavily edited since my comments were posted. The original one related only to the closure of the company and not how the workers were being treated.
That being said, my point still stands- you can’t throw the same anti-government rubbish at every economic decision that arises over the next few years. Game is closing because it didn’t adapt to current market trends not because of anything Enda Kenny has or hasn’t done, your outburst only serves to highlight the willingness of the left to attack issues it clearly doesn’t understand.
Cliff
Look , You seem to be a reasonable guy and I am also a reasonable person . I reckon we both want what is best firstly for these guys and girls in Game, and secondly for our country as a whole , particularly in these economic times . I apologise if my comments come across as being harsh , but to be honest I too am trying to come to terms with the realisation that we as a nation are in crisis , and I gave these people my vote … It is like every thing else in life when we are looking for reassurance and security ,we look to our leaders .(home , school, work, country) Then, I discover those leaders are not there or they are speaking badly about us or as we know they have done ,told us lies .
I have also discovered through reading and talking to others ,that I am not alone in my feelings . Maybe Cliff we just have to agree to disagree.?
This is the problem though- your initial comment had no relation to the topic. If you go and attack the government over everything that happens in the country you end up watering down any validity your argument might have.
Poor negotiation skills and trying to tax us out of the recession- blame the government.
Game closing due to being run by imbeciles- blame the people running the company.
Focus your discontent and you might actually achieve something with it!
Cliff
I am focusing on my discontent in a very positive and up beat manner, and I am achieving more than you could know !
As I said we will have to agree to disagree , I hope you have a nice day :)
You two should hook up. :)
Niall M
Aw Shucks! now I am gone all shy :) :)
:p
Sad to see them go and it doesn’t bode well for xtravision, hmv and GameStop, always preferred Game to GameStop! Probably administrator looked at the Irish operation and the high retail rents and said close them! Again another broken promise by the government not to address upward only retail leases!
GameStop are perfectly healthy and very profitable. All their suppliers pulling the plug on them was the final nail in their coffin. The man on the moon could have seen Game collapsing this year so I don’t know why the staff are acting surprised.
Fair enough did not understand bottoming out part. Yeah surprised as the gaming industry is not really riddled with piracy as its a lot harder to do than movies. I thought GAME was doing very well.
Nope, Game has always been a nightmare to deal with and was generally avoided by many gamers. This was expected as for the past year or so their shops have been dead inside. Still it’s a shame for those who are losing their jobs.
What has piracy got to do with it? Game closed due to competition from online stores and the availability of downloadable content, not to mention they alienated a lot of customers with rip off trade in prices.
Don’t believe what IRMA are trying to sell you – retail stores are dying due to online competition, not piracy.
HMV will be the next to go.
HMV were usually cheaper on new releases and Gamestop are pretty good from my own experience. I don’t have the patience to be waiting on my game from a web site.
Should be a good sale coming up in there so!
Always asked Santa to get help from game. Staff were always helpful and very friendly. They gave great advice and had great product knowledge for us ludite parents. They deserve all monies due. Hate when companies try and short change honest staff.
Agreed, top staff with a passion for their product.
This seems to be more around the increasing argument over game retailers like Game etc having a huge market in second hand games, & in-store policies of pushing ‘new & used’ versions of games over brand new games at the sales tills because these second hand games mean zero payment to the game companies & 100% pure profit to the retailer, & in Game’s stores, there are huge second hand & ‘newsed’ game sections in their floorspace. And, the majority of their profits have come from this enterprise.
All of this has led companies like Microsoft to consider that for their next gen console to make boxed games ‘lock’ to the gamer’s console, so they cannot be resold to try stamp out this industry. It is also why there is an even heavier push to have people buy electronic downloads of games with ‘cool extras’ to get people to not buy boxes, & to try reduce the second-hand games market, with the hope of eliminating it.
Unlike movie studios, who get several bites of the cherry to make back the costs of a movie (box office, then DVD & BluRay & channels like Film or Sky Movies, & then onto regular TV channels), game developers unless there is a subscription model, are completely dependent on boxsales & have now included DLC’s to help increase non-sub games.
This is about alot more than ‘game not moving with the times’. Game were one of the biggest sellers of second hand games in their respective markets, & given the increased costs to game development due to platform licensing etc, & the increased requirement for games to ‘feel more epic than the last’, with a recession going on, the fight for gamer’s spending is extremely intense, & when someone is going in to buy the latest game at a store, & they’re offered the same game, except used & only a few weeks old at a lower price, most of the time that second hand copy will be bought saving the person maybe €5 to €10, with a lost sale to the game developer.
Its only 121 jobs lost, sure that’s not much.
It would be a lot to you if you lost your job.
@ neuromancer
You obviously missed the sarcasm in @thats it’s post.
Might not be too much sympathy for a sit-in by the workers? Especially if ye looked in to see them all playing games 24/7!
You do know the store would probably be cleared out before a sit in happened. That’s what happened at La Senza I thought.
Theres not going to be a shop left in Mahon Point since most of them are closing :/
I cannot believe they are closing, shop in liffey valley is always busy. In fact the busiest shop per square foot in the place, and people spend serious amounts of money in there. and it has absolutley nothing to do with online shopping or piracy, thats a load of old cobblers…
Very true, I think they are just getting out now as it is anticipated that as more and more people shop online for this sort of thing these shops will eventually not be viable to run. Quitting while there ahead pretty much.
The one in Liffey Valley is doing ok because of the huge catchment area for it. If there was only one store in the city then maybe it would do too. But overpricing is killing them. And online sales and piracy.
It was a good shop in Monaghan and will be missed!
These places are always going to struggle now that everyone and their dog knows there are better deals to be hard on amazon, play.com,e bay etc
I am sad, I always got a better service in GAME then gamestop.
Feel sad for the staff, this has been on the cards for a long time and the company board is to blame as the Spain, czech rep. & australian store where making Hugh loses and every other country was in profit those 3countrys stores should have been closed or sold off years ago, it was massively overpriced it seemed to take forever for year old games to be reduced and I can’t understand how people think the games market is caving in when it’s making more money than Hollywood year on year, there is room for this store but it needs to stick to a strict business model and challenge publishers on price, a company like EA can afford to not make the full profit on a game like FIFA, it’s time for PWC to put a structure into this brand and get it up and running again and get these jobs back, of there is no GAME then GameStop will have way too much power in the market
That’s the end of me spending my time browsing all the games in liffey valley when the other half is clothes shopping.
Real shame, I always found the staff very friendly and helpful.
What am I going to do with my Game voucher now too….
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