WOOLWORTHS: UK games market will face more casualties

Today’s

closing down sale

represents what is probably the last hurrah for the UK’s celebrated Woolworths brand – but top retail figures in the UK games industry have warned that there’s still bad news to come.

Take someone like Woolies out of the retail equation and you’re looking at a potential tidal wave,” CHIPS joint boss Don McCabe told MCV. It’s about how people deal with that tidal wave. What about some of the smaller publishers who’ve got stock in EUK, Woolworths and associated retailers? What happens to them if payments are a little bit held up, or even non-existent? Even if they end up getting the stock back, how much value will it have lost? This ripple is where the real worry is.”

And one anonymous UK publisher boss is even more concerned: Woolworths’ first sale didn’t really touch their bigger ticket items such as games. At some stage during this clearance sale they’re going to change that. You can’t compete with thievery, and that stock has effectively been stolen. Consumers are going to get a bargain, but no other retailer will be able to match the discounts and a lot of other businesses are going to fold because of this.”

For an in-depth look at the potential affects on the UK games market, click here.