GAME Files for administration

GAME Group has officially filed for administration, the firm has confirmed.

Following its decision to delist itself from the London stock exchange this morning, the company said in a new statement:

"Further to this morning's announcement of the suspension of trading in shares of GAME Group plc, the board has concluded that its discussions with all stakeholders and other parties have not made sufficient progress in the time available to offer a realistic prospect for a solvent solution for the business," the company said.

"The board has therefore today filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator. In the short term the Board's intention is that the business will continue to trade and discussions with lenders and third parties will continue under the protection of the interim moratorium."

The specialist retailer has been the subject of many doomsday reports over the past few weeks, and on Monday it was claimed the firm would collapse this week unless it was able to raise £180 million to pay its creditors.

Both US giant Walmart and Comet owner OpCapita had reportedly tabled offers for the company, though lenders were said to be sceptical that the latter had the means to rescue the firm.

In recent weeks GAME has lost the support of Nintendo, EA, Sega, Capcom, Tecmo Koei, Microsoft and Activision, meaning it hasn't been able to offer recent releases such as Mass Effect 3, Street Fighter X Tekken and FIFA Street.

An MCV report this morning suggested GAME Group could resurrect itself post-administration as a new company. The potential plan would likely see GAME ditch its Gamestation and international operations, excluding Spain, in a move that could safeguard a large proportion of the chain's UK workforce.

no surprise there really!!

The decision to go into administration is not a surprise - they seem to be beyond trading their way out of their current predicament but the decision to drop Gamestation surprises me - if there are a Game and GS in close location, I am more likely to go to GS first and I wouldnt be surprised if a lot of gamers would feel the same way.

I imagine Gamestation will exist in one form or another. When they say "ditch" I assume they mean sell on, it would make sense!

I reckon they ditch mate - one of the things they need to do quickly is reduce the number of stores they are renting to cut costs and in places where they have a Game and GS in close proximity I think they will just close down the GS one and move the stock over to Game.

Used to use GAME all the time for pre-orders but since they started ripping people off with there trade in prices I have started to use shopto for preorders and Gamestation and CEX for trade in

Thats that then, reading all the reports over the past week its no suprise at all