Report - GAME bust within days, but 'fourth way' could save 300 stores

MCV reports that GAME will like go into voluntary administration before the weekend, but that a new, bank-funded chain with a different name could appear with 300 stores could be formed from the wreckage on Monday.

It now seems inevitable that GAME will go into administration before the weekend.

According to MCV, the is to be followed by the opening of a new company on Monday after the GAME Group is removed from the stock exchange.

UK and Spanish branches are the only ones affected, and "all other international operations" are to "cut off and told to fend for themselves”.

Store portfolios are to be reassessed and a store closure program implemented, resulting in the closure of Gamestation, "with the exception of a handful of well-performing stores."

The company is to be bank-rolled, apparently, and should operate out of around 300 stores nationwide.

"They get a chance to reduce debt, keep trading and work out a plan for a new owner without so many financial and lease millstones around their necks," said an MCV source.

GAME management have reportedly provided suppliers with four possible outcomes for the company after a consultation period between a financial specialist and GAME's key suppliers.

The first option was refinancing, which has apparently been "ruled out entirely." The second option was to look for a White Knight investor; as the deadline for fixing the situation is Sunday's, this is now extremely unlikely.

A third option is administration and shutting down entirely on Monday - a possibility still on the table. However, as noted above, it looks as though the fourth option of safeguarding a large proportion of the chain's UK workforce will be put into place with a round of bank funding.

All eyes will be on GAME over the weekend.