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Blockbuster closures in UK hit 160 stores
Deloitte, the group handling the administration of Blockbuster UK, will close 160 of the retailer's 500 stores. Blockbuster UK went into administration Wednesday, appointing Deloitte to the task of handling the bankruptcy proceedings and finding a buyer for the company.Lee Manning, an administrator with the group, told GamesIndustry International, "Having reviewed the portfolio with management, the store closure plan is an inevitable consequence of having to restructure the Company to a profitable core which is capable of being sold." Deloitte noted that more store closings may hit in the coming weeks.
Blockbuster UK enters administration
Blockbuster UK has entered administration (UK bankruptcy), with 500 stores and 4,190 jobs hanging in the balance. ITV reports Deloitte, which is also handling the administration of HMV, has been appointed to handle the bankruptcy proceedings and find a buyer. The HMV situation involves 239 stores and 4350 jobs in the region.Although neither HMV nor Blockbuster are wholly game retailers, these latest events push forward the idea that the ecosystem of UK brick-and-mortar video game retail is collapsing. GAME, the UK's biggest games retailer hasn't been immune, dealing with its own bout of bankruptcy. GameStop, a company that globally dominates game retail, removed itself from the physical UK market in early 2012.Hope you like buying your physical games at Tesco. Then again, you can buy physical games online from online retailers. So, hope you like buying physical games physically at... oh, we give up.
Blockbuster's UK video rental chain enters administration after 24 years
BBC News is reporting that there's another casualty on the British high street today as video rental chain Blockbuster enters administration. The company began life in the motherland back in March 1989 and, like several of its brethren, couldn't compete against online offerings from Amazon (amongst others). It's the second business in 48 hours to go under after HMV did the same yesterday. BBC News is also reporting that administrators Deloitte will continue to honor gift cards and will keep the stores trading in the hope of finding a buyer.
HMV entering administration [update]
Update: HMV confirmed it's filing notice to appoint Deloitte as administrators to the company. As the BBC reports, HMV is suspending trading on the London Stock Exchange from Tuesday, January 15. HMV's 239 stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland are to remain open while Deloitte seeks a purchaser. If a new buyer isn't found, around 4350 people will lose their jobs.UK retailer HMV will reportedly enter administration (i.e. bankruptcy), after it was unable to obtain £300 million ($483M) in additional financing against debt. The Financial Times and Channel 4 both report the struggling brick and mortar franchise will announce the news tomorrow morning, making it the latest casualty to affect the UK games retail market.Other prominent game retail victims in recent times include Play.com, which will alter its operation by March. Then there's the saga of GAME, which has also struggled and dealt with bankruptcy.GameStop removed itself from the UK retail market in early 2012 to become an "e-commerce only operation."
Comet closing last UK stores for good tomorrow
UK electronics retailer Comet has been circling the drain since going into administration in early November, and with no savior in sight, it's officially shutting up shop tomorrow. While the majority of stores have already served their final customers, the last remaining outposts will cease trading on December 18th. Comet's brand and website could live on in one form or another, should a buyer for these assets be found, but unfortunately, that won't help roughly six and a half thousand staff now out of a job. So, if you're looking for a potential fire sale bargain, or just want one last emotional wander through the aisles, your window of opportunity is quickly running out.
Game Australia to close all of its stores in the coming weeks
Retailer Game Australia will shut down all 31 of its remaining stores over the coming weeks, its administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers announced today. Game will close 16 Australian stores immediately and the remaining 15 within a few weeks.In May, Game Australia entered voluntary administration; it shuttered 60 stores, affecting 264 employees, and cut 17 head office positions. Before any closures, Game had an estimated 500 employees in Australia."This is a difficult time for employees, and closing the stores was not a decision we made easily," Warwick said of Game Australia's complete closure (and the ones in May). "Despite exploring available opportunities for continued trading, the ongoing trading performance and absence of viable offers for the purchase of the business has resulted in these closures."Game Australia is running discounts in a final closing-down sale online and in its remaining stores.
Investment company buys Game, halting closures, firings, bankruptcy
This has been a quick time coming -- Game, the UK games retailer, slipped into a downward spiral early this year, and since the first public announcement of its money troubles in February, Game has closed almost 300 stores, stopped stocking major titles, cut 40 percent of its workforce and entered "administration," the equivalent of filing for bankruptcy.The best outcome of these events would be for someone to step in and buy Game outright -- which is exactly what happened. Private investment company OpCapita's Baker Acquisitions Unlimited has purchased Game, bringing it out of administration and saving 3,200 jobs across a remaining 333 stores and administrative positions, Eurogamer reports.Baker will provide Game with "the capital it needs to trade on a normalised basis" and will re-hire a small number of people fired from the Game head office last week. There are no plans to close more stores in the future, Baker said.Game may have been bought for £1, after paying off an £85 million debt to Game's lenders, Eurogamer said.
OpCapita picks up GAME retail chain, plans to keep 333 stores open
The staff of UK video game retailer GAME's remaining 333 stores can breathe a collective sigh of relief today: investment firm OpCapita is buying the chain. "We are pleased to have reached agreement with the Administrator," declared managing partner Henry Jackson, "We strongly believe there is a place on the high street for a video gaming specialist and GAME is a leading brand in the £2.8bn market in the UK." The retailer's UK assets will be transferred to Baker Acquisitions Limited, an OpCapita funded company. The firm stated that it has "no plans for any further store closures," and that it hopes to safeguard the remaining 3,200 jobs the chain still has under its belt. Read on for the official press release.
UK retailer GAME goes into administration
Retailer Game, owner of the Game and Gamestation chains has entered administration. The chain has 1,270 outlets in Europe and Australia and rumors have circulated for months concerning unrest at the highest levels of the business. It was unable to agree deals with publishers Capcom and Electronic Arts for the latest titles, meaning it had to turn away customers looking to buy Mass Effect 3 during its blockbuster opening weekend. After the board informed shareholders that "it's uncertain any of the solutions [...] being explored by the board will be successful," the company's share price fell by 71 percent. A week later, the company withdrew its share listing from the London Stock Exchange as its share value collapsed to from 62p a year ago to 2.39p. A statement released today said that insufficient progress had been made in finding a rescue solution, but the company will continue to trade while talks continue: "Further to this morning's announcement of the suspension of trading in shares of GAME Group plc, the board has concluded that its discussions with all stakeholders and other parties have not made sufficient progress in the time available to offer a realistic prospect for a solvent solution for the business. The board has therefore today filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator. In the short term the Board's intention is that the business will continue to trade and discussions with lenders and third parties will continue under the protection of the interim moratorium."
UAE Cabinet has adopted iPads
The UAE Cabinet is now using iPads to "achieve speed and flexibility in decision making" says HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is the Ruler of Dubai and UAE Prime Minister and Vice President. The above picture, tweeted by Sheikh Mohammed, shows cabinet members already putting their iPads to good use. These tablets are part of a larger "Minister e-briefcase" initiative that'll automate most of the cabinets' administrative operations. [Via The Loop]
Elpida files for bankruptcy protection as debts of $5.5 billion are revealed
DRAM Maker Elpida has petitioned for a corporate reorganization (the equivalent of Chapter 11 or Administration) as the company has revealed it is close to collapse. President Yukio Sakamoto is expected to resign as the scapegoat for the calamity as it files for protection at the Tokyo District Court. The company, founded in 1999 as NEC Hitachi Memory Inc. has produced DRAM Products since 2000. It founded three wholly-owned subsidiaries: Tera Probe, which conducted wafer probe testing, Akita Elpida Memory Inc. which handled the back-end processes of DRAM production and Rexchip Electronics Corp, which handled the front-end. After a blockbuster period of invention, a fall in prices and the global recession in 2006 forced the company to enter restructuring with a 30 billion Yen ($372.54 million) Government-backed loan. That swathe of cash was used to pump more money into investment and R&D, but the combination of strong Yen and the Thailand flooding has once again forced the company to come clean about its finances. It revealed today that it had debts of 448,033 million Yen, or $5.5 billion and without the protection of the court wouldn't last too much longer. Times of Japan points to the strength of Samsung's memory offerings as being a big contributor to Elpida's collapse, with president Sakamoto saying that DRAM is now as cheap as a "rice ball."
Bobby Kotick joins Coca-Cola board, will advise on digital media
Shortly after appearing in a cameo for Moneyball, Activision Blizzard CEO has picked up another choice role: He's joined The Coca Cola Company's board of directors. Kotick will help oversee the classic sugar water giant, and advise the company on its entries into digital media. Kotick also serves on a few educational institution boards, the board of directors at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and as the founder of the Call of Duty Endowment, Activision's nonprofit arm, built to support US armed forces veterans and their families. Kotick also served on Yahoo!'s board of directors previously.In completely unrelated news, Coca Cola also announced an "online pass" for its sodas going forward: You'll get all the water and carbonation of your soda with the initial purchase, but the actual syrup flavoring will require an extra charge. Ice will require a complete subscription.
Report: LA Noire dev Team Bondi enters administration
You don't normally expect a company to release a well-reviewed hit in May and then enter administration three months later, but L.A. Noire maker Team Bondi is following a strange, tumultuous timeline. SmartCompany reports that the Sydney-based studio has been placed into administration, with accounting firm de Vries Tayeh handling the ongoing process. A company in turmoil can be placed into administration to help facilitate payments to creditors, possibly through sale of assets or parts of the company. It's not known how exactly administration will proceed with Team Bondi, but earlier reports suggested that company assets were acquired by Kennedy Miller Mitchell (KMM), an Australian production company thought to be working on a Mad Max game. Staff at Team Bondi were reportedly offered jobs at KMM if they did not take severance pay. If you're looking for further developments regarding the L.A. Noire franchise, it will be have to be at Rockstar -- the publisher owns the rights to what is likely to be the last game from Team Bondi as we knew it.
Uncharted Waters Online moves to gPotato
gPotato already hosts a substantial number of different games -- Aika, Allods Online, and Rappelz spring to mind as some of the more familiar names. But that list has just expanded by one more entry, as Uncharted Waters Online joins the service. The 15th-century naval game allows players to create a naval pioneer during the Age of Exploration from any of the six major powers of the time, adventuring in the (highly stylized) backdrop of the era. To celebrate the change in service, the game is running two new events: a new player contest with a number of high-end prizes and a doubled experience event for all players below a certain level. Both events will be running until late July, giving everyone interested in the game ample time to take part. So whether you're an old fan of Uncharted Waters Online or you're new to the concept, it seems like a fine time to give it a shot.
Realtime Worlds' MyWorld purchased, APB still in limbo
Develop, a European-based games industry trade magazine, has revealed the sale of Project MyWorld from troubled studio Realtime Worlds to an unnamed American company. In a story released on its website earlier today, the publication stated that the purchase has split Realtime Worlds into at least two separate entities, each of which is being eyed by several potential buyers. The fate of the 23 developers recently re-hired by administrating firm Begbies Traynor is currently unknown, as is the ultimate fate of Realtime Worlds' more famous creation, the $100 million MMOFPS known as All Points Bulletin. Develop's confirmation of a U.S.-based purchaser for Project MyWorld would seem to invalidate speculation that the anonymous buyers are Realtime Worlds heads Dave Jones and Ian Hetherington. You can view all the details at Develop's website.
APB has 130K registered players, high average playtime and revenue per user
Realtime Worlds as a company has been suffering from all kinds of problems lately, but how's the game doing? With a very short press release, the company (currently "in administration," which is the British version of bankruptcy) has announced that APB is hosting 130,000 registered players. That's actually not too bad for a brand new MMO -- while real population numbers are often hard to come by, the most recent estimates would have the game beating Star Trek Online's current active base. And STO has actually done pretty well, considering how tough it is to start up a new MMO. Realtime Worlds still isn't home and dry, though. At 130K players, APB is just barely doing better than Tabula Rasa at its peak, and we all know how well that turned out. And APB's model means player registrations isn't necessarily a sign of good health. While the press release claims that the average player is playing four hours a day and the average paying player is spending $28 a month, APB's unlimited free social hours and the ability to "spend" in-game points rather than real money could be twisting those figures upwards a bit. Our colleagues at Massively also point out that while Star Trek Online was created relatively cheaply, APB's creation was reportedly much messier and more costly. Still, with a dark cloud over the rest of Realtime Worlds' affairs, they might as well grab a silver lining where they can. If the company survives this launch, APB could have enough of a player base to make itself profitable.
Realtime Worlds re-hires 23 MyWorld employees
The saga of Realtime Worlds continues, this time with a happy ending for 23 employees of the MyWorld project that were laid off earlier this month. In a press release from business restructuring firm Begbies Traynor, administrator Ken Pattullo lays out the details. "As a smaller entity, MyWorld is attracting considerable interest from potential buyers and 23 members of the team who had been working on the project clearly add value to it as a standalone business," Patullo said. In addition to MyWorld, a platform for creating social games announced earlier this summer, Realtime Worlds will continue to operate All Points Bulletin even as it looks to finish restructuring with an eye towards creating a company that can support the urban crime MMOFPS.
Realtime Worlds continues working toward recovery
News surrounding Realtime Worlds is coming at a rapid-fire pace these days, in a sometimes-confusing mix of dire and hopeful. Develop-Online reported a rumor earlier this week that RTW's North American office was closing, citing a "variety" of unnamed sources, but other events point to a potentially brighter outlook. Earlier this week we brought you the news that Realtime Worlds has entered administration, spurring Activision to send a recruitment team to Dundee. The good news in this is that the administration process will keep RTW on its feet -- and APB up and running -- until the company completes restructuring and finds a buyer for the game. APB's upcoming Patch 1.4.1 is another potential bright spot. The patch notes include a promise that "this isn't just another set of bug fixes; this is the beginning of some of the most fundamental changes to date." The patch brings new content and some gameplay changes, and also addresses several issues that were causing players a fair amount of grief. Will these efforts mean good things for Realtime Worlds? Keep an eye on Massively for future updates.
Realtime Worlds courting multiple buyers, staff reduced by 75%
As Realtime Worlds enters administration (read: dire straits), the ailing APB developer is reaching out to potential buyers "in both the UK and US," according to statements made by the company's administration consultant Begbies Traynor Group. "We are actively pursuing all these expressions of interest," Begbies Traynor joint administrator Paul Dounis told Edge. He also put a finer point on the staff count at the Dundee, Scotland and Boulder, Colorado offices, pinning the remaining employee number at just 67 in total out of an original 252 -- an approximately 75 percent reduction in staff. The studio apparently owes around £3 million ($4.6 million) to debtors in the UK. Dounis also pointed out that "The game [APB] will continue and that is something we want all customers to be aware of." Meanwhile, no one has mentioned what happened to that poor "Human Avatar" fella. He could be anywhere.
[Updated] Realtime Worlds enters administration
APB and Realtime Worlds have been receiving a fair amount of attention in the past few days, and it looks like they are about to get even more from another quarter. Gamesindustry.biz is reporting that Realtime Worlds is "entering administration," a legal process that essentially allows insolvent companies to continue operating while they try to recover. A third-party company, the Begbies-Traynor Group, will be involved to try to help RTW get back on its feet. What this means for the future of APB at this point is unclear. There hasn't been a statement regarding this development from anyone at Realtime Worlds, but we'll certainly keep watch for one. In the meantime, you can read the full story at Gamesindustry.biz. [Update: WorldsInMotion.biz is reporting that Activision has sent a team to Dundee to recruit Realtime Worlds staffers who have lost or may be losing their jobs.]
