GAME denies rift with Activision

By Ellie Gibson Published 27 May, 2010

Won't just be fulfilling Blur pre-orders.

High street retailer GAME has dismissed rumours of a bust-up with Activision.

"No, we haven't fallen out," a spokesperson told Eurogamer. "We continue to work closely with Activision."

Rumours had been swirling that because of the alleged rift, neither GAME nor subsidiary Gamestation would be stocking new Activision racer Blur. The game is notlisted in the online stores of either retailer.

When asked if it was true GAME would only be fulfilling pre-orders for Blur, the spokesperson replied, "No. We have bought the stock we feel is appropriate to meet our customers' demand for Blur."

He added, "We are working closely with Activision, discussing all of their up-coming titles for the rest of this year."

Blur is due out tomorrow. It scored a healthy 8/10 on Eurogamer - read our review for the full lowdown.

UPDATE: Since this article was published, Blur has become available to buy on the GAME website.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Slipstream #1 2 years ago

    This is a normal occurance. If the pre-release demand isn't high enough then it's natural for the retailer 'sit on the fence' so to speak.
    Too many times have I seen a bulk load of 'potential' titles having to be sent back to a ware house, recieve hasty price drops, or in some rare cases having new copies of the game being sold as used in a desperate attempt to clear stock, recieving a large price drop at the same time.

  • deadmonkeyuk #2 2 years ago

    Does anyone know if Minority Report is being released on Blu-Ray?

  • suhawk75 #3 2 years ago

    @deadmonkey

    hahaha have a +1 for that

  • BBIAJ #4 2 years ago

    http://www.game.co.uk/Games/Xbox-360/Rac...

    Wow, selling it at the RRP of £49.99 is insane, and without the pre-order bonus that they had been offering.

    My guess is that something must be up, the last time games were sold at full RRP by GAME was when they had a spat with EA

  • Ryboy #5 2 years ago

    Sigh, another piece of non-news.

  • Gearskin #6 2 years ago

    Why is it listed as £49.99 on the site now?
    I ordered it earlier in the month, they shipped mine yesterday. For £39.99

  • levitate #7 2 years ago

    I don't buy stuff from GAME anymore, they're stupidly expensive and most staff are obnoxious and very rude.

  • Darren #8 2 years ago

    Wow, a penny shy of £40 for the PC version of Blur on the GAME website?!? What a bargain... it almost makes the obscene digital download price of £40 for Split/Second on the same format look reasonable! And £50 for the console versions is just a joke IMO, surely no-one will be daft enough to pay those prices when it's cheaper elsewhere?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #9 2 years ago

    If they were doing preorders for £40 and now, later than usual they put (effectively) post-release versions on sale for £50, it sounds like there might have been a backroom standoff about that RRP. I can imagine that Game execs would have been arguing that Blur didn't merit the extra premium RRP that Modern Warfare 2 had.

  • Retrogamer101 #10 2 years ago

    GAME and Gamestation knew about a month ago that there was going to be very little stock at launch. A communication was sent out stating this. Same problem as Red Dead, not enough copies made for initial allocation!

  • tachometer #11 2 years ago

    Seems like this has more to do with Activision getting shirty about the RRP being disounted too much. Funny thing is Amazon must be so big that Activision can't boss them around, they have Blur at £37.96 and were selling CODMW2 for £30 on release.

  • brseg #12 2 years ago

    Hmm, my money would be on something fishy going on, probably to do with SS vs Blur released on the same week.
    And, cant think of any game that would get 50 quid out of me! GTA5 done right, perhaps...
    edit: yeah, it could be due to discounting the rrp. Still nobody pays 50 quid for an arcade racer, so the rrp is wrong...
    Edited by brseg at 27/05/10 @ 10:04

  • RobotRocker #13 2 years ago

    Any Asda, Tesco or Sainsbury specials on Blur tomorrow? I'm tempted for Bizarre Creations but not at full price because Activision.

  • king2001 #14 2 years ago

    FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY CAN'T I SEE THE MINORITY REPORT ADVERT?

    I've disabled ABP but I see nothing...I feel like such an outcast and spurned by Eurogamer.

  • BBIAJ #15 2 years ago

    Got my copy of Blur from ShopTo today for £37.99.

    Shame the chrome BMW is a simple in-game unlock code, as there's a horrible promo ad on the cover for it

  • TopKatt #16 2 years ago

    Soooooooo, Split/Second or Blur? Anyone played both?

  • kangarootoo #17 2 years ago

    "Does anyone know if Minority Report is being released on Blu-Ray?"

    Not me, not anymore.

  • AtomicBanana Verified Level Designer, Playground Games #18 2 years ago

    Got mine from tesco for 32. I can't remember the last time I purchased something from Game/Gameplay - massive discount vouchers aside.

  • levitate #19 2 years ago

    @AtomicBanana: Sometimes they have a couple of good PC classics in the bargain bin. It's happened in the past that I bought WoW gamecards from them, but that's it. These days I stay as far away from those shops as it's humanly possible. The staff and managers don't know what customer service means and their prices on new games are a joke.

  • ignatiusjreilly #20 2 years ago

    My prediction - very soon we will regret slagging off games specialist retailers and getting our games cheap from supermarkets.

  • mfnick #21 2 years ago

    @Topkatt - ive only played Split/Second but IMO its the single best arcade racer released this gen. & the best ive played since Burnout 2 & 3. Its bloody brilliant!

    Ive been speaking to a mate that has Blur though & he says thats fantastic too. So either way, you cant go wrong.

    Id say if your after more of a pure arcade racer, get Split/Second. If you want something a bit more Mario kart like, get Blur. Or best of all, trade some stuff in & get both ;)

  • AtomicBanana Verified Level Designer, Playground Games #22 2 years ago

    @levitate

    It's a shame, I've spent a lot of money with them in the past (possibly into 4 figures) but they just aren't competitive these days. Sometimes it is the evil tesco, but sometimes it's other dedicated retailers as well.

    My tesco copy has arrived today as well, wasn't expecting that.

  • CHACK #23 2 years ago

    erm its called overstocks - Game's warehouse is brimming full with Activision titles, why do you think pre owned copies of MW2 (selling on average at £42.99 - yes pre owned) are more expensive than mint stock?
    Edited by CHACK at 27/05/10 @ 12:17

  • geeza2020 #24 2 years ago

    ^^^
    This makes no sense to me.

  • rascoj64 #25 2 years ago

    they should sell it for a million squid! that would teach those nasty customers!

  • Quixz #26 2 years ago

    Blur wont sell very well.. i think Bizzer Creations might be in some serious trouble with Bobby.

  • RandomHero #27 2 years ago

    We were told to stop taking preorders for the game a few weeks ago at Gamestation. Thought it was a bit odd to stop taking them that early. Couldn't tell you if it was because of a spat between Game and Activision though, probably more likely to be them being careful with stock levels like someone mentioned earlier.

    We're selling our copies a little bit cheaper at £44.99 so we're not quite as evil btw. XP

  • captainrentboy #28 2 years ago

    I work for Game and something was/is definitely going on between them and Activision, in my store we had 3!! copies of Blur on 360 and not a one on PS3. On top of that it's not on a single advertising end (unlike Split/Second) and it went as far as us not even getting any dummy inserts for the game. Hmmmm :/

  • CB.Gamestation #29 2 years ago

    Old news. Confirmed a few weeks ago that Blur was on nationwide shortage. Crap anyways, leave Split/Second too. Everyone get Mod Nation Racers!

  • SHPanda #30 2 years ago

    Game have fallen out with Activision, but it's nothing to do with Blur, it's just the reason Guitar Hero is impossible to find in any of their smaller stores i.e. not a shopping or city centre store (outside of the Christmas period) because Activision keep producing shoddy instruments that break and then don't take responsibility for it.

    Or at least that's what I was told when I worked there.

  • ObiChrisKenobi #31 2 years ago

    This happened years ago with EA, where EA had such a high buy in price for the retailers, that GAME had to sell them at full RRP to make anymore. So GAME removed all EA stock from the shelf and only sold it if people asked for it. Whats even stranger is that a CEO of GAME was Dating/Married to the UK EA CEO at the time.

    It worked for about 3 years then EA did the same stunt again.

  • thefold #32 2 years ago

    I just went into the GAME store on Oxford Street as the store closer to home didn't have ANY copies at all. The guy said I was lucky to get one as they only had 5 and didn't get any for PS3!

  • secombe #33 2 years ago

    This still isn't resolved in-store and employees appear to be giving mixed messsges. I enquired today and was told that 'all copies were recalled'. Odd.