UPDATED: GAME customers gift card uncertainty

Law firm Thrings LLP has warned GAME customers that they may never be able to redeem any outstanding gift cards they have from the retailer.

This is despite the reinstatement of both the GAME Reward Card and Gamestation Elite Card yesterday.

"In essence, the administrator cannot honour a liability on a voucher or prepayment to full value when other unsecured creditors may get paid p/," Things’ restructure and insolvency boss Mark Cullingford told CVG.

"The loyalty card issue is a little different because he is selling goods at a discount – when he may be selling at a discount anyway. He is simply agreeing to sell goods that he may not otherwise sell at that price on a fixed discount basis and if these are redeemable on pre-owned games only, these games are probably likely to suffer more in a ‘fire sale’ and therefore he will want to enhance his sale price on what would otherwise be goods that drop in real value quicker.

"A buyer might be willing to offer transferability of loyalty as an incentive for sales and retain customers and the reopening of loyalty may be part of that process – but they are not likely to honour gift vouchers unless they have calculated that to do so is part of the price for the goodwill they are buying.

"And in doing so they will then seek to deduct that cost from the price they pay to the administrator for goodwill – but it is all part of a commercial assessment on the sale by the administrator and purchase by the purchaser."

UPDATE: A source close to the GAME situation has told MCV that customers MAY be able to begin using gift cards, possibly as early as next week. So don’t throw them away!