We know that the physical video game market is in decline, as evidenced by the transformation carried out by Micromania in France in recent years and since the brand transformed into Micromania Zing in 2017. And it is a player major in the sector which could make a radical decision concerning games in disc format.
Article update (June 25, 2024):
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A spokesperson for the GAME brand indicated in the columns ofEurogamer that the various reports indicating that the brand would stop the sale of physical games were false.
This information is categorically false. GAME continues to support the physical games market, offering a wide range of physical games, hardware, software, accessories and digital gift cards, in-store and online.
A spokesperson for Frasers Group, GAME's parent company, later clarified that there had been no change to the store's policy regarding the sale of physical games and consoles.
We must therefore not take into account the various rumors that we have been hearing for a while now about the brand, which is good news for players and the preservation of the media.
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The end of boxed games at GAME?
GAME is a major player in the UK video game market, or at least it was before it suffered some difficulties in recent years. Bought by Frasers Group for £52 million in 2019, the company has experienced numerous closures and announced in January 2024 the gradual end to the resumption of second-hand games.
With more than 300 stores, and an image of a retail dinosaur, GAME has also just announced that it will end its reward points system in July 2024. And the cuts do not seem to be over yet since the sources of Gfinityesports indicate that the company will simply stop selling disc games in stores.
Sources close to the store have told Gfinity that gaming hardware and software will now only be available for pre-order. This means that new releases – such as Indiana Jones and The Great Circle or DOOM: The Dark Ages – will have to be purchased before their release.
To obtain a physical game in a GAME store, you must therefore purchase it online and have it delivered to the store or to your home, subject to additional delivery costs. According to the same sources, it is not certain that the launches of consoles such as the next Nintendo Switch 2 or the PS5 Pro will still take place in stores.
How long can Micromania last?
Anonymous GAME sources Gfinity spoke with expressed disappointment over the drop in video game sales. With toy stock now making up the majority of the store's content, sources expressed frustration at the destruction of the chain's identity. In addition to massive layoffs, trust in the brand was running pretty low.
To avoid closing, Micromania took the subject seriously in 2019, but for how long? If the Micromania shelves are already half full of pop culture objects and related products, the brand continues today to sell games in box format. Since the square meters are not expandable, and are often expensive in the areas where the French brand is established, the video game gradually gives way to various and varied objects, sometimes having little or no connection. everything, with video games.
In June 2024, Microsoft announced three new Xbox consoles, all variants of existing machines, but above all a white Xbox Series X that is 100% dematerialized, and therefore incapable of playing games in physical format. In January 2024, we learned that physical gaming is declining much more at Xbox than at PlayStation and Nintendo and everyone is now wondering if Microsoft's next console will be able to run games on discs.