UK Video Game Retailer GAME to Close Remaining Standalone Stores - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 02 February 2026 / 2,457 Views
UK video game retailer GAME is closing the last of its standalone stores following the retailer entering administration, according to The Game Business.
GAME is owned by Frasers Group and the plan is to keep retailer's website running and to operate as concessions within Sports Direct and House of Fraser stores, with over 200 of these currently running.
There are currently just three standalone stores still open, which will now close.
The retailer has struggled for well over a decade with it closing nearly 300 stores after it entered administration in 2012. It would be acquired by Frasers Group in 2019 for over £50 million.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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More business for CEX I guess. I never found the Game concessions in Sports Direct stores very good. Pricing was poor and stock was limited. It didn't have the buzz of original Game stores. I used to love the deals where you got to choose multiple games for a set price, 3 for £10 etc. Also my Sports Direct is on a retail park I rarely go to.
I know its inevitable with much of gaming switching from physical to digital but is sad to see it.
I still prefer physical copies of games and always will, and the GAME concessions within Sports Direct just aren’t the same.
Hell, the city I live close two had 2 such concessions and they closed the better one last year.
It's a world wide issue sadly.
New Zealand just closed a heap of EB Games, USA closed 470+ Gamestop stores, Canada just sold/rebranded Gamestop stores as EB Games and closed a heap of stores.
And Australia has been slowly winding back EB Games stores that aren't super profitable.
I buy physical for consoles, but they don't make it easy with many games not arriving at my local store, so I buy online.
I remember GAME having physical locations in Australia and chatting to a staff member about Xenoblade and The Last Story for Wii.
Didn’t really make sense at the time to have both EB Games and GAME running stores. Was only clear room for one back then.
Lack of used games, in my view, was when GAME really started to end. Ashley had no real interest in saving the company and used was a big part of it's business. Gamestop still deals in used, right?
Look at CEX, the now only main retailer that deals in that stuff. It's still making money and profits too and it's only used.
True but Im wondering if it was just because of the physical decline. Back when I was at uni, half a GAME store used to be used games. Just before they stopped doing the , it was only a few shelves.
Even with CEX their shelves are much emptier than they used to be even around Covid times.
Shelves are still full of PS5, Switch and Series X games.
Okay, so not as many as PS4 or PS3/ Xbox360/Bone... or copies of The Matrix on DVD but still. Infact I'm surprised at some games that are on the shelves of my local but maybe that's more of a surprise the game even has a physical release. :P
Switch 2 is dominated by eWaste game key cards, which are physically distributed, digital downloads.
Xbox hasn't had any real shelf space for years.
My local EB Games hasn't stocked new release Xbox games in years, I have to buy from other stores like BigW, JBHifi or Gamesmen.
And often Xbox doesn't get a physical release, only digital.
For example... Outerworlds 2 got a physical release on PS5 in Australia, but digital only on Xbox.
