A popular high street retail shop has plunged into administration as all of its shops are set to close. GAME is a UK‑based retailer specialising in video games, consoles, accessories and gaming merchandise, offering both new and pre‑owned products as well as trade‑in options across its high‑street stores and online shop.

The company has once again entered administration, having previously gone through the process in 2012. The retailer was rescued in 2019 through a £52 million deal by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct, which later rebranded as Frasers Group that same year. It has also been confirmed that managing director Nick Arran will step down after nine years in charge; Arran is a long‑established figure in physical media retail, with past roles at HMV, Blockbuster and ShopTo.

Reports indicate that the final three remaining physical stores are set to close in April 2026. This development follows last week’s announcement that the company had filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, triggering a 10‑day period during which creditors are temporarily prevented from taking action.

Over the years, GAME has gradually reduced its number of high‑street stores as it continues to experience a financial downfall. The brand will continue to operate through concession outlets within other Frasers Group businesses, including the roughly 200 existing locations inside Sports Direct and House of Fraser.

At the beginning of 2024, the company withdrew from the pre‑owned market, and later that year it discontinued both its Xbox All Access offering and its rewards programme. 

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By July 2024, GAME had also stopped taking in‑store pre‑orders. In April, the retailer made redundancies as most employees were moved onto zero‑hour contracts, and by August, the majority of staff at its head office had been laid off. In 2025, the company announced that it had been forced to cancel “some” pre‑orders for the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.

Speaking to Games Industry.biz, managing director Nick Arran said: “Gaming is our core business and we will be last man standing selling physical video games.

“We see our place in the market as proving that there is a place for physical, whether that be the collector’s editions, which we see as the vinyl of video games, or the gifter who doesn’t want to wrap up a download code for Christmas. But we need to be realistic. We have a business to run and the expectation is this will decline. So we need to fill that gap.

“Expect more locations from us. We are constantly in talks with Frasers Group about where we could open up more concessions.”