The job losses follow speculation on the company’s future in the past week. The chain is reportedly going through credit insurance problems that have affected buying stock, and the company has said it’s looking at selling its international arm.

“The proposed restructure will result in around 46 fewer roles at our central support centre in Basingstoke,” said a statement from GAME (via MCV).

“Our proposed new structure will change the way that we operate and will enable us to be significantly more efficient in our relationships with suppliers and customers. We are giving our full help and support to the colleagues who are affected by these proposed changes.”

As well as the lay-offs, GAME’s announced a new restructure for its UK team.

Tricia Brennan wil step up from her current role as commercial strategy director to become chief commercial officer. UK managing director Tom Devine becomes channel director. Brennan and Devine’s new roles are effective today.

Dave Hughes, who was recently behind the redesign of the GAME website, will leave in March.

All the best to those affected today.

In order to continue operating, the firm has agreed to do so within the “lower limits of its existing facilities than was previously available.”

With the new plans in place, the board, stockholders, and lenders are “confident” GAME will meet financial tests when the next meeting occurs on February 27. It will also need to provide an updated plan covering all aspects of its business including overseas operations, but the plan will need to be approved by lenders before being put into place.

The firm expects to post losses of £18 million for the year, which is lower than analyst speculation.

“We’re pleased to reach agreement with our lenders, but should be under no illusions about the challenges in our market or the hard work that is required to deliver our strategic plan,” said CEO Ian Shepherd in a statement.

GAME operated 665 stores in the international market – 573 in continental Europe, and 92 in Australia – as well as 610 in the UK and Ireland.

Thanks, MCV.

Speaking during the call, CEO John Riccitiello said the firm was “concerned with the financial condition of one of our major European retail partners,” which according to Riccitiello, could lead to both “increased bad debt and lost sales” for EA.

He never mentioned GAME by name specifically, but the UK retailer is obviously the one he was discussing.

Adding further color to the matter, CFO and EVP Eric Brown called the situation “isolated,” but agreed a negative outcome for the retailer “could adversely impact our Q4 results.”

Brown said other factors which led the firm to revise its Q4, were shipping more units than initially planned for for Star Wars: The Old Republic due to “strong” demand for the game; “moving an important social game launch from Q4 F’12 to Q1 F’13, and with it the associated profit”; and increased marketing spend in Q4 in order to take advantage of SWTOR momentum.

Riccitiello said GAME’s financial woes and the rest of these issues weren’t “material or consequential” for fiscal ’12, but taken together, may impact EA’s Q4.

“All in, we’ve delivered another strong quarter and expect to finish the fiscal year consistent with our original and our recently raised guidance,” he said.”

A report yesterday stated GAME’s credit insurance was in jeopardy, and today the firm confirmed it’s in talks with lenders to secure more funds.

GAME is in serious trouble, and it’s likely it will cease to exist in the near future. It may have negotiated stock for releases this week, but what about next week? And the week after that? It will be difficult for GAME to be able to navigate these problems quickly enough to survive.

Don’t pretend you’re shocked. In the past two days, a report of GAME’s difficulty in maintaining credit insurance has been backed up by a statement confirming the UK retailer is in talks to secure lending. The well-known high street chain has also said it may sell off overseas concerns.

Questions are now being raised as to whether GAME has a future at all. If a retailer’s credit insurance fails, it will ultimately mean it’s unable to stock new products. This would have a serious affect on GAME being able to operate in any way.

Speaking to MCV yesterday, GAME moved to assure that it’s working with separate publishers to ensure flow of stock. But while Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Soul Calibur V will be sold in GAME stores tomorrow – the games vanished from the firm’s website yesterday – there can be no doubting the company is facing a serious test of its ability to remain viable.

To illustrate the seriousness of the matter, EA said in its Q3 earnings call last night that it was concerned about the situation, as it’ll lead to decreased sales and increased debt if GAME’s trouble becomes terminal.

The larger question is whether or not time is finally up for specialist high street games retail. GAME is not the only one under potentially fatal pressure. HMV admitted in six-monthly results at the end of 2011 that general economic malaise “may cast significant doubt on the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern in the future,” reporting both wider losses and a double-digit revenue drop.

While it may be comforting for stores like HMV and GAME to blame international depression on what’s happening to their businesses, anyone with even a passing professional interest in media retail knows it’s not the whole story. And in the games space specifically, it may very well be that time for the specialist brick and mortar boys has finally run out.

Those with loaded guns, and those who dig

The problem is hardly revelatory: people are shopping in increasing numbers on the internet. We are in a transition period between a man walking into a shop and buying a video game, and a man buying a video game from a website. This has nothing to do with whether or not discs have a future in games going forward; it’s about where people are buying discs right now. There’s no question: the internet is winning.

Total retail sales in the UK were up 3.65% last year, while online sales grew 14%. While the trend is general, the situation in the games trade has clearly become untenable for GAME.

GAME is now apparently unable to offer publishers credit insurance. By way of explanation: when a store like GAME stocks a product, the publisher of that product is normally insured. Soul Calibur V is out tomorrow, for instance. If GAME cannot offer Namco credit incurance on the stock it intends to sell, that means Namco has no guarantee it will be paid for its games. If GAME goes bust next week, and the credit on Soul Calibur V’s GAME stock isn’t insured, Namco will lose a great deal of money.

The issue of credit insurance in games retail is of particular importance for two main reasons. Firstly, there are the license fees publishers have to pay platform holders, such as Sony and Microsoft. Secondly, developing a triple-A video game is extremely expensive. If, for example, HMV can’t supply credit insurance on stock of a music CD, the risk to the publisher is nowhere near as acute as it would be on a video game. As such, any sign that a retailer has failed to secure credit insurance will stop supply of games stock very quickly. Especially in the current climate, risk on a stock large enough to supply 600 UK stores could easily kill a mid-range publisher, and even the very biggest – EA, Activision, etc – will take a very dim view.

Show me the exit

No stock, no business. GAME does have some options, although they’re essentially futile. It could close stores and fire staff. This is only a short-term solution that could be made in an effort to balance books, and doesn’t fix the fact that it’s clearly failed to manage the transition from high street to internet. While the packaged goods business is declining and online sales are increasing, GAME.co.uk has failed to gain enough market share to prop up the business. GAME faces particular difficulty in this area as it doesn’t ship from Jersey, as do Play and Amazon, meaning its consumer-facing costs are generally higher.

Merging GAME and GameStation into one brand? This is basically the same as closing shops and firing staff.

In short, GAME is in serious trouble, and it’s likely it will cease to exist in the near future. It may have negotiated stock for releases this week, but what about next week? And the week after that? Publisher have known GAME’s been experiencing difficulties for months, but it’s only in recent days that the severity of the situation has hit the press wholesale. It will be difficult for GAME to be able to navigate these problems quickly enough to survive.

Is this is end for games on the high street? Of course not. Many people still want midnight launches, and they want to be certain of games on day one, but specialists like GAME are being bullied out of relevance in the “event” release space by massive general stores like Sainsbury’s and Tesco. GAME’s niche as a shop which stocks a wide variety of games has traditionally kept people walking through the door for all their gaming needs, but the whole concept is failing. If you want an historic game, do you go to your local store and find it’s almost certainly not in stock, or do you buy it online? You buy it online. GAME’s business of being a catalogue retailer is becoming void. Day-oners will almost certainly go to a supermarket for the next Call of Duty: it’s cheaper and there’ll be more stock. So you go to Sainsbury’s for your triple-As to ensure you get them on time, and you buy Assassin’s Creed II and Halo 3 from Play.com.

And where does that leave GAME?

Someone once told me that for an business to succeed it must be one of three things: faster, cheaper or better. GAME can’t be faster. Day one is day one. It can’t be cheaper on the high street because it’s competing against multi-national giants, and it doesn’t have the set-up to stay below competitors online. A games retailer that doesn’t insure stock will find it difficult to be “better,” to say the least.

Watch the clock. It’s starting to tick at double-time.

“In response to press speculation the GAME Group plc confirms that it is in on-going dialogue with its lending syndicate to reach agreement on revised terms for its facilities,” said the company.

“As part of these discussions, the lending syndicate is reviewing a strategic plan of the company which includes a review of its overseas operations. A further announcement will be provided once discussions with its lending syndicate have concluded.”

It was seen yesterday that both MGS HD and NeverDead had been pulled from the GAME website.

MCV reported behind-the-scenes worries as the store chain is facing “challenges” with its credit insurance. NowGamer posted a similar story yesterday.

“This week’s big releases are currently all being processed through our system ready for launch on Friday as planned, including Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Soul Calibur V, which will all be available in stores and online,” said a GAME spokesperson in a statement.

VG247′s discovered that both MGS HD and NeverDead have been pulled from the GAME website when searched, though. SC5 and FFXIII-2 is still available to order. Konami’s declined to comment.

It comes as MCV reported behind-the-scenes worries it’s facing “challenges” with its credit insurance after an initial a NowGamer report earlier in the morning.

The trade site has said GAME’s financial outscape since the start of the year has “changed significantly,” and is in the midst of working with publishers to help solve its current woes. But the retailer said it has upcoming promotions planned for several upcoming titles.

“We are continuing to work closely with our industry partners and have big plans for further exciting launches.”

The NG report also suggested that staff wages would be held back “in an attempt to boost the retailer’s year end figures.” GAME has said staff who get monthly pay were given their wages yesterday.

“Claims regarding colleagues not being paid are untrue: all colleagues who are paid monthly were paid yesterday (31 January).”

MCV has more details.

GAME spokesperson Anna-Marie Mason said: “At GAME we guard our customers’ details very carefully. We have thoroughly investigated the hacking claims made today by the website Pastebin, and can confirm that they are entirely false. The published email addresses are not registered users of GAME.co.uk, and there has been no breach of our database security.

“We would like to assure all our customers that their details are well protected, and advise anyone who has any questions to contact our customer services team via the website, our Facebook page or Twitter account.”

Another retailer, Catalyst-Gaming from Northern Tasmania, was also reportedly affected, but there’s been no word on whether or not this claim is also bogus.

Via Softpedia. Thanks, MCV.

Sales dropped by 14.7%, while like-for-like numbers went down by 12.7%.

On a regional breakdown, sales in stores for the UK and Republic of Ireland were down by 17.6%, while international sales dropped by 3.9%. Consolation came in the form of online sales being up by 3.9%.

For the year ending January 2012, sales were down by 11.9%, less than the overall market in the UK at 13.1%.

“Our industry had an incredibly tough 2011, and so did we,” said company CEO Ian Shepherd.

“We remain the market leader and have a clear strategy which will return the business to growth. We are adapting to the changing market and are well prepared for the next hardware cycle,” he added, touching upon the upcoming launches of PlayStation Vita next month and Wii U later this year in Europe.

There’s more details over on GI.Biz.

The updated fighter was not expected to go on sale until tomorrow. Rival outlet EB Games is yet to follow suit, but if the usual pattern holds, you can expect all major retailers to offer it within the hour.

UMvC is available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with a Vita version expected at launch.

Gamepron reports local distributor All Interactive has given the go ahead to all retailers to begin selling Battlefield 3 early, after a chain of broken street dates.

A Target in NSW was the first to put the game on sale, ahead of its official launch tomorrow. As a result, a JB HiFI employee told Kotaku the chain would also begin selling the game early.

EA Australia and All Interactive had ordered JB HiFi to pull the game immediately, but JB HiFi is said to have given all stores the go ahead anyway.

EB Games, Gametraders and GAME, arguably the nation’s premiere specialist chains, initially indicated they wouldn’t be offering the game early, but a follow up tweet from EB Games revealed the retailer had decided to go head after all.

Many outlets had planned to host midnight launches today. An EB Games representative told VG247 that individual stores were weighing the merits of going ahead with planned launch events.

“It literally went on sale one minute ago, and we’ve had heaps of customers, call, so. We’re working on it,” he said, before asking hopefully if we were going to turn up.

Battlefield 3 released yesterday in the US and arrives in Europe on Friday.

Find GAME’s full list of stores opening here and GameStation’s through this.

Get the game from here or here. MW3′s out November 8 on PS3, 360 and PC.

The latest, apparently stunning entry in EA’s football sim series arrives on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the US today, but hits the UK on Friday, so GAME is throwing open its doors Thursday night for sales from midnight on.

243 GAME stores, as well as 165 outlets of sister chain Gamestation, are participating in the launch, including – of course – GAME’s Oxford Street headquarters.

The first copy over the counter will be accompanied by a 3D LG TV, so if you intend that to be you, you may want to arrange a pick up. Three more TVs will be given out over the course of the evening, too.

Thanks, CVG.

MCV reports that multiple complaints against GAME Australia have been lodged with the ACCC by multiple offended parties.

The complaints pertain to new innuendo-based advertising. The advertising is utilised in the retailer’s newly revamped GAME ON reward cards. The designs encourage customers to insert their fingers through the cards to create lewd imagery. One card uses the cardholder’s finger features a finger-sized hole over a male’s genitals. A second card uses two fingers to create the image of a male’s naked bottom.

Ben Grant, marketing director at GAME, defended the scheme.

“People like saving money, and being rewarded for their loyalty, and gaming customers are no different. We firmly believe that our new Reward Card program gives customers a compelling reason to shop with us.”

The GAME ON reward scheme awards 10 points for every dollar spent at the retailer. Customers can then exchange points towards in-store purchases. One dollar of in-store credit is equal to 500 points. According to Grant Reward Card customers will also be given “VIP access to many benefits that money cannot buy, such as free gaming preview events and competitions, priority access to collector’s editions, and early access to sale promotions.”

GAME Australia is an offshoot of the UK high street chain of the same name, with over 90 outlets around Australia.

Thanks, GamePolitics.

A rep told the site that it was because people didn’t want to buy older models and instead opting for newer models.

An internal GameStation memo has suggested that its to do with the “high failure rate” of the hardware.

The models that will no longer be accepted include the original Core entry model, Arcade and 20Gb HDMI-less SKUs.

GAMEfest starts two weeks today, taking place from Friday September 16 to Sunday September 18 at Birmingham’s NEC, tickets for Saturday 17 have now sold out.

The event will play host to a plethora of games due out this Christmas and beyond, with the likes of Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, FIFA 12, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Rage and Mass Effect 3 all available to play.

Tickets can be purchased by Game reward card holders from the GAMEfest website, which also includes instructions on how to become a reward card holder if you’re not already, along with details of confirmed exhibitors.

The event will offer the first chance to play Modern Warfare 3, unless of course you happen to be attending the Call of Duty XP event in LA, that starts today. Fear not if you can’t make it to LA as we’ll have all the details from our intrepid reporter-on-the-ground and VG staffer, Steph.

Thanks, CVG.

Also available through gamestation, the special edition collector’s booklet based on the art book Halo: The Art of Building Worlds from Titan will be available while supplies last.

Those who have already pre-ordered the game with get it with their copy.

It contains 24 pages of art from the history of the Halo games including concept art, landscapes, and the evolution of Master Chief.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary lands on Xbox 360 on November 15.

Via MCV.

The UK’s biggest specialist games retailer will start selling digital versions of first-party Sony releases such as God of War Collection and Killzone Steel Rain Map Pack as of today.

An initial roll-out to 42 GAME and Gamestation stores will be followed by a larger scale roll-out to all 620 stores in September.

“This is a significant step forward in our digital strategy. For the first time, gamers will be able to browse a wide range of digital titles for the PlayStation Network in our stores, alongside a variety of other digital and physical products,” announced GAME CEO, Ian Shepherd.

“The partnership reflects the close and long standing relationship between GAME and SCEE across Europe as both companies move rapidly to innovate and bring new products and services to customers.”

Thanks, GIBiz.

Potential participants are asked to submit a written or video entry – details can be found on the Battle of the Clans website.

The best entries will be selected to compete in a single-elimination tournament showdown on August 27 in Sydney. Selected finalists need to be able to make their own travel arrangements to the event. High-placed teams will then go on to a grand final tournament, which has not yet been dated.

The last team standing in each of the two tournaments will become the official GAME Australia and Turtle Beach clans for that title, and receive $10,000 to cover travel for up to ten public appearances.

Moreover, each member of both teams will score an Xbox 360, two After Glow controllers, a Turtle Beach headset, and a uniform of hoodie and polo shirt.

Hit the link above to check out the conditions of entry and tournament rules.

Thanks, CVG.

Ireland, France, Spain, Scandinavia and Australia are the new territories with digital availability of 26 PC games via redeemable codes.

“In the last six months we’ve introduced thousands of new customers to digital gaming,” GAME Group’s commercial strategy director Tricia Brennan told MCV.

“Our stores offer payment methods that aren’t available online, and which offer complete financial control and security. For example, customers can now use reward card points and traded-in games to pay for a digital title.

“We’ve learned that traditional retail disciplines work well with digital games. High profile in-store promotions, attractive trade-in deals, and sound advice from store teams have all raised the profile of digital titles and encouraged new customers to buy them.”

More digital titles and territories will be added in the coming months.

GAME group MD Tom Devine has said that pre-orders for the Infinity Ward-Sledgehammer shooter are “significantly ahead” of the numbers pulled in from Treyarch’s effort last year.

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 pre-orders are already tracking significantly ahead of Call of Duty: Black Ops at the same time last year,” Devine told MCV.

“We know that the Call of Duty brand and franchise has the most amazing fan-base and we’ve got some great surprises lined up for those who pre-order with us.”

The game launches on November 8 for PS3, 360 and PC.

Both GAME and Play were offering deals on 160Gb PS3 slims, leading some to speculate that Sony might be phasing that model out in the UK in anticipation of new pricing changes at Gamescom.

A Sony representative that spoke to MCV said that the deals and supply shortages must be due to increased demand in the region.

“Retail are currently being very aggressive with the price of the 160GB model to the obvious advantage of consumers,” said the spokesperson.

“This means demand is currently high and in some areas, stock is lower than we’d like. That said, we will be addressing this with additional shipments in the very near future.”

GAME already has the 3G-equipped Vita up on its website, with the listed price of £279.99 likely to be a placeholder.

The WiFI-only model is up for £229.99.

The news follows on from this morning’s report of a £235 UK retail price.

Meanwhile, on the Australian side, an anonymous source told games.on.net to expect an unusually equitable RRP of AU $299.

Sony announced European, Japanese and US pricing for the PS Vita overnight, pegging it at €299, ¥ 29,980, and $299 respectively. The base model, lacking 3G, will go for €249, ¥24,980 and $249.

Thanks, StolenGlory.

According to Deutsche Bank, the firm is expected to post profits of £37.5 million, which is a decrease of £0.5 million compared to earlier predictions in which GAME expected profits of £37 to £39 million before taxes.

Christmas sales for GAME were down 4.1 percent across all stores with the UK and Ireland down 3.3 percent. Like-for-like sales dropped 2.1 percent overall and 0.5 percent in the UK.

Back in February GAME announced that it planned to triple online sales by 2013, from £100 to £300 million.

The firm is also expected to report weak current trading, with Deutsche expecting a drop in UK like-for-like sales of 8 percent and an international drop in sales of 5 percent. Still, the bank is suggesting investors hold off on selling stock due to GAME’s net cash reserves of £110 million.

Back in February, CEO Ian Shepherd said the firm planned to triple online sales by 2013, from £100 to £300 million.

“Great businesses are good at reinventing themselves,” he said. “Following their customers as their customers change. Gaming customers are changing.”

“The market is getting more confusing. That creates as opportunity for the aggregator, the expert, the guide. In the games market today there is not that guide across the whole breadth of the market. By deploying our strengths we can position ourselves as that aggregator.”

Thanks, GI.biz.

Eurogamer reports that the move comes with publisher EA’s blessing and is a “market reaction” to Valve’s decision to sell it’s eagerly anticipated sequel early.

The game is only available early on PC, however. PS3 and 360 owners will have to wait for the official release tomorrow to see what all the fuss is about.

The critical reaction to Portal 2 has been really rather positive. A round up of reviews from all over the place can be found here.

Come one, come all, Game is doing some Spring cleaning and would you just look at what it found under its corporate bed.

As well as the expected deals on individual titles – including Lego Harry Potter on Wii for £22.98, Assassin’s Brotherhood on PS3 and 360 for £18.98 – there are some rather tempting offers on console bundles too – Xbox 360 250GB with Halo Reach for £159.98 or perhaps you’re partial to a 160GB PS3 Slim with Move starter pack for £229.96?

The full list of goodies can be found over on Game’s website, just remember to save some pennies for a rainy day.