GAME Furloughs Staff On Full Pay Until End Of April, But Can't Say If They'll Have Jobs To Come Back To

This is sad news. Hopefully they have jobs to come back to after this. Good luck to anyone affected.

I thought you couldn't be put onto furlough unless the company guarantees you had a job at the end of it?

Stay strong for everyone and anyone with job issues at the moment take care everyone x x x

@FragRed I think thats just for the government aid. But even then you cant guarantee anything.
Hopefully they pull through as it will be a shame for their staff many of whom are active members of the gaming community.

Is the U.K. providing any sort of support for a business like this? The U.S. is providing partially/fully forgivable loans only covering essentials ( i.e. payroll) for an 8 week period to small businesses ( less than 500 employees) which I will be taking advantage ( 2 employees) of so my business doesn't go under.

@Cyberbotv2 I believe they have offered grants and put a freeze on business rates paid on premises. At least I think so, at lot has happened in such a short time it's hard to remember now.

Mike Ashley is a monumental idiot though. And that's the family friendly way of putting it.

@elpardo1984 Right that’s where I got confused. Still this completely sucks that so many could likely have no jobs by the time the pandemic ends, in the case of Game even sooner, but unfortunately this is going to be far too normal.

@Baker1000 I just looked up this fellow Ashley, and he's filthy rich. As a billionaire, I guess he doesn't have enough money to directly aid what he owns. What a disgrace.

@sandman89 It's "up to" and don't be a jerk.

That’s actually not a bad deal. It’s basically a months severance and the possibility of a job waiting for you. If it were me I would definitely start looking for a job during that month because it’s unlikely they will be open at the end of the month. These are tough times indeed.

I have just gone onto furlough for 2 months. Better than nothing but really tough times.

Having had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting Mike Ashley when I worked for Sports Direct his overall attitude towards his employees is poor anyway and it took a while for his practices to be exposed by the media. Despite that he continues to buy up more and more retailers and put his poor ethics in place. I wouldn't be surprised if he purposely uses it as an opportunity to cut costs and man power in all game stores while expecting them to make more money in future.

I don't expect GAME, or an specialist games retailer, to survive this

Sad news, though the writing's been on the wall for retail game shops for a while now. I imagine most GameStop stores won't reopen after this either.

Completely unrelated, but I gotta say, I have heard the word "unprecedented" more these past three weeks than I probably have in my entire life. Ugh...

@SwitchVogel - It curious even, cause we championed their downfall for a while (I do think they'll be back at 20-50% capacity), this downright ruins most potential locals to cannibalize the abandoned business.

@Paraka I expect there will always be local game stores, but I don't think the market is there to sustain specialized major retailers like this anymore. Their primary purpose is to sell games, and nowadays games can be bought online in a much cheaper and easier fashion, even physical. I view it more as a matter of the 'need' that these stores are supposed to fulfill is both rapidly shrinking and better satisfied by through other channels. Thus, we see the relevance of these companies declining.

You’re welcome with the picture

@SwitchVogel I think we could hit a threshold fairly soon where games disappear from retail all together. At some point, if so many people are buying via download, stores including big box retailers will say, "It's not worth it." And then manufacturers will (probably happily) declare that there's no longer enough demand to continue making physical games. And as the manufacturers drop out, that kills the last of the retail holdouts. Maybe a niche market of collectors editions will still exist, but you'd probably have to order it direct from the publisher.

@Dringo I don't either. I sort of suspect they know it too and that had to do with Gamestop/EB Games refusal to close their doors initially.
We were heading toward them fading out anyway, albeit at much slower pace, but I'm thinking this will accelerate things quite a bit.

@Cotillion Both we’re transitioning themselves to a new business model. GAME much further along in that regard. You can’t download a controller. There is a role for physical stores. The slow rise of digital was a real threat, and esports and Belong was their answer to counter it.

But transitions take time and careful management and can be impossible to get right. With Sports Direct money, they were saved twice and given the chance to develop this.

But now... now their chance might be gone

@Cyberbotv2 Yeah, he owns a lot of high street chains and even a football club. The football fans have been calling for him to sell up for a long long time because he doesn't spend the money required to be a successful team. He's fairly widely disliked tbh.

This is sad news, I feel bad for the staff and for everyone involved. At least they are still getting paid unlike staff of a well known pub chain. Lets hope Game find a way of surviving....