GAME plots French expansion to compete with GameStop

GAME CEO Lisa Morgan has told MCV that the company is confident it can tackle GameStop’s dominant presence in France.

GAME’s current ten per cent share of the French market is dwarfed by fellow retailer Micromania, which claims 23 per cent of the market.

Micromania is the leading independent video games retailer in the country and will soon be fully owned by GameStop after its 350 million acquisition last month. Micromania currently owns 332 stores in the country.

However, GAME also plans to increase its store count from 192 outlets to 250 over the next few years.

We already compete against GameStop in a number of markets,” Morgan told MCV.

We’re focusing on our plans to open more stores, and work with suppliers to grow the market by serving more customers.

The GAME offer is unique in the French market – different from other retailers like Micromania or Fnac – and our aim is to keep strengthening GAME’s specialist difference so that customers get everything that they need.”

France is the second biggest video games market in Europe, worth an estimated €3bn in 2008, but with household. penetration of games consoles running at just half the level of the UK – around 26 per cent.

We see exciting opportunities in France,” added Morgan. It’s the second largest market in Europe, and last year the growth of the French market outperformed the wider European market. Importantly, the number of consoles per household is still much lower than in the UK.”