GAME plots summer of events to counter video games drought

High Street giant GAME says it will reach out to software-starved consumers with a series of major events this summer.

The firm responded to MCV’s story last week about a lack of games coming out over the next four months.

It said it would work ‘smarter’ to entice consumers, before announcing its biggest lock-in event so far for PS3-exclusive action game, The Last of Us.

75 GAME stores will open late between May 3rd and June 9th so that consumers can go hands-on with the title before it launches on June 14th.

We all want to get our hands on the latest releases, so when there aren’t as many new releases around we have to be a bit smarter,” GAME’s brand engagement manager James Taylor told MCV.

Our lock-ins are here to get gamers together to whet their appetite for new games, to build up excitement and create buzz around upcoming releases – and, of course, for gamers to pre-order. Lock-ins aren’t just about the games. They’re great social events too – a chance for our customers to meet other gamers, test their skills and hopefully make new friends in the process. The events are about building a local gaming community around our stores, which is something that online retailers just can’t do.

We have quite a few exciting things in the pipeline and we can’t wait to share the details. The Last of Us will be our biggest lock-in to date with 75 GAME stores. In the past few weeks alone we’ve run a Grid 2 lock-in series and an Injustice lock-in tournament.”

GAME says it will look to experiment with new in-store events over the coming weeks, too.

What you’re seeing is the result of over six months of work and each one seems to be bigger and better than the last,” said Taylor. We’re getting great feedback from our community and we’re always looking to develop them and adopt new ideas. We’ve run events in local cinemas for example to allow more of our gamers to get involved so we really are open to every idea.”