GAME refuses Oblivion PS3

By Robert Purchese Published 27 April, 2007

Retailer won't stock it.

Leading High Street retailer GAME is refusing to stock copies of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PlayStation 3, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting.

But neither GAME nor Ubisoft has said why.

The title, developed by Bethesda and published on the Sony console by Ubisoft, is not available in any of the company's 400 UK and Ireland stores.

The title has seen considerable success on the Xbox 360 and PC, selling over three million units and winning numerous awards including gongs from the American Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences and the UK's BAFTAs.

The PS3 version of the game goes on sale today in Europe, but chart success is likely to be hampered by not being stocked in the UK's leading specialist store.

There are fresh news-sausages sizzling every day on GamesIndustry.biz's BBQ.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (81) Latest comment 5 years ago

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

  • numptyboymatt #1 5 years ago

    How bizarre.... although with the 360 version only being £18 nowadays, I wont be bothering with the £40 PS3 version anyway.

  • sh0cked #2 5 years ago

    That is weird that... wonder if the sales of PS3 are effecting the profit in selling
    this kind of old game?

  • aldo_14 #3 5 years ago

    I can't think of a logical reason for this, unless Bethseda or Ubisoft were demanding store space / ads /etc that GAME were unwilling to give to a fairly old (well, compared to other versions) game for an underperforming console.

  • in5ane #4 5 years ago

    If you only have a PS3 however, £18 isn't much of a saving when you add in the price of a 360 console :)

  • bushwod #5 5 years ago

    I agree with aldo_14, the only likely explanation is a falling out between GAME and Ubisoft. Maybe over promoting the game, maybe over price (but that seems unlikly).

    hmmmm, (scratches beard)

  • jonsaan #6 5 years ago

    Why? How odd?

  • ralphwolfenstein #7 5 years ago

    heh, classic handbags, probably to do with piles of Ubi stock that GAME can't shift that Ubi are refusing to accept returns on

    I hate retail :)

  • rudedudejude #8 5 years ago

    Maybe it cause Ubi are French

  • Steroyd #9 5 years ago

    The same GAME that sells Tetris Evolution exclusively.

    They are a weird shop.
    Edited by Steroyd at 27/04/07 @ 16:24

  • ZuluHero #10 5 years ago

    nice one GAME - first you push the ps3 down our throats and now you won't stock games for it.

    Hmmm.

  • Killerbee #11 5 years ago

    Bizarre.

    Oh well...

    /goes back to playing the PC version

  • Killerbee #12 5 years ago

    ... and shopping at Gamestation. :)

  • RumpyStumpy #13 5 years ago

    "The same GAME that sells Tetris Evolution exclusively."

    "They are a weird shop."

    Game Focus on Goodge Street sells it too.

  • gizmo #14 5 years ago

    Just look in the 360 bargain bucket instead.

  • Steroyd #15 5 years ago

    There are people who exist in the world that don't have a Xbox 360....

  • dr_faulk #16 5 years ago

    sux 2 b sonyyyyyy

  • CaptainJack #17 5 years ago

    Hey,

    Go to Blockbuster. They have the game for £5 less than anybody else.

    You can also get it for just £9.99 if you trade in one of the PS3 games you have finished with!

    Edited by CaptainJack at 27/04/07 @ 16:37

  • crazyhorse174 #18 5 years ago

    Time for a boycott of Game then.

    It really is unacceptable for a specialist retailer to refuse to stock a new release of such a big name title. Fucking bizarre.

    Boycott a shop because it refuses to stock a game that you could've gotten cheaper from the web anyway? On you go mate - I'm sure they'll be closing shops down soon through lack of profit soon...

    Now if you'd have said boycott them because they're overprices, then I may have listened...

  • Darren #19 5 years ago

    I tried to buy Oblivion from Gameplay.com but was sent an email saying that they couldn't supply it for release day due to problems with the distributor. I was offered a further £5 discount as a way of an apology (bringing the online price down to £34.99) but the estimated date of 11/05/07 put me off so I decided to cancel and buy locally instead. I know GAME own Gameplay.com so this would explain why both are not stocking the game and, in fact, it no longer shows up on either of their websites. I was told by my local GAME today that the dispute with the publisher was to do with profit shares and that GAME didn't even known if they were going to stock it all.

    I bought the game from GameStation but it cost me £49.99 so it could be that Ubisoft are asking for a larger slice of the profit pie and that's the reason for this dispute in the first place.

  • skillian #20 5 years ago

    probably to do with piles of Ubi stock that GAME can't shift that Ubi are refusing to accept returns on

    Sounds like the most likely explanation.

  • CaptainJack #21 5 years ago

    Like I said guys Blockbuster have it for £44.99. It may be cheaper on line but this is the cheapest price on the high street. They also have several PS3 launch titles at £34.99 so for PS3 ignore Game & Gamestation.

  • kangarootoo #22 5 years ago

    Until there is more information on the motive behind this, all I can really say is.... weird.

  • polymorph #23 5 years ago

    Big Bugs, found late???

    Just me??

  • CaptainJack #24 5 years ago

    Bugs!

    Since when did Game ever worry about selling bugged games... all games have bugs hence patches. All Game care about is their profits and getting as much of our hard earned cash as possible. Compare games now to 5 years ago and look how much they have progressed but game want to keep all the cash and leave the poor developers, programmers and publishers with nothing. Without them they have no product.
    Edited by CaptainJack at 27/04/07 @ 17:03

  • AcidSnake #25 5 years ago

    Money fight!!!

  • Totoriko #26 5 years ago

    Expect sex scandal story out soon

  • EffEmmGee #27 5 years ago

    Darren, is there really any need to pay over the odds for Oblivion on the PS3, when you already own it on both PC and X-Box 360?

  • polymorph #28 5 years ago

    Maybe, maybe they know, its BROKEN, And do not want consoles returned to them?

  • Uncle_Fishboy #29 5 years ago

    Maybe a man at game who sits in the back room at their HQ but that holds much power is scared that if they sell it his penis will fall off and his wife will leave him for a mouse or possibly a banana

  • mustardkid #30 5 years ago

    Its because they know that the power of cell(tm) will cause the game to run at a gazillion fps causing the form ID bug to manifest 20 seconds after you first turn it on.

  • polymorph #31 5 years ago

    I see they are still stocking other systems?

  • uiruki #32 5 years ago

    It's probably a spat over payments - Ubi games are the msot expensive PS3 titles at the local independent shop by a clear 2 quid. Perhaps Game wanted more profit in their Oblivion pie, since it's probably not going to sell that well, what with two versions already being out and all.

  • polymorph #33 5 years ago

    MMmmm??

  • smelly #34 5 years ago

    Why use up shelf space for a game which wont sell on a system which isnt selling?

  • HarryB #35 5 years ago

    GO ANYWHERE, BE ANYONE IN PS3's BEST GAME YET

  • Yaster #36 5 years ago

    Thats weird.
    Wonder if Game would sell pre owned copies of it?

    I think someone should trade a copy in to find out.

  • Kalinin #37 5 years ago

    I read elsewheres that a distribution problem has kept copies out of GAME's hands, and those sources report ingame staff saying it was "on it's way", although that's probably mis-communication.

    The same source said HMV and Virgin had plenty of copies, so it's possible GAME are giving Ubi the fingers over this because other major outlets weren't hit by this distribution problem and thus they've probably lost the bulk of their pre-sales.

  • Barry619 #38 5 years ago

    I'm sure there might be more to it than this, but just from a business sense you can understand why they might not want to stock it. It's a old(ish) game know that they sell much cheaper on 2 other formats, both of which have a much larger customer base anyway.

    My guess would be that GAME didn't want to stock as many copies due to these reasons as there normal games, but Ubi weren't willing to give them the same discount deals for a lower amount of stock, and between them they couldn't come to a agreement.

    Of course thats just my opinion / guess, but if i was a high-up at GAME i would be concerned for these reasons.

  • septimus #39 5 years ago

    Very odd. The PS3 isn't doing 'that' badly in the UK.

  • Machetazo #40 5 years ago

    "The same GAME that sells Tetris Evolution exclusively."

    /Dances merrily! It's out here, at last?!
    Funny that, because mn.com says there's new DLC just released for it...Waterfalls?

    I agree with the likeliest explanation being Ubi over saturating GAME's shelves, with their EA-of-old-esque multiplatform shenanigans.

  • captainrentboy #41 5 years ago

    I work for Game, to be honest not even our e-mails this morning stated why we weren't recieving this game for launch, but it's got to be something big between Game and Ubisoft because we didn't even get any copies for our pre-order customers, and that pretty much never happens :/
    The e-mail did state that we wouldn't be getting the game any time in the near future too, so it must be a pretty big bust up.
    The only thing I can think is that Ubi is asking for too much moolah for bulk shipments of their new titles, the same sort of shit always happens between EA and Game.
    Edited by captainrentboy at 27/04/07 @ 18:46

  • mattius30 #42 5 years ago

    GAME isn't prepared to buy Oblivion in at the price being demanded. GAME tried to bully by saying that being the biggest high street games' retailer they would be selling the most copies and if the price wasn't dropped then Oblivion would suffer in the charts, but Ubi and it's distributor hasn't budged...hence the stalemate.

  • secombe #43 5 years ago

    GAME isn't prepared to buy Oblivion in at the price being demanded.

    Why not, they would end up selling it for a fiver more than every other store anyway.

    The damn place still stocks certain Wii accessories above the RRP or whatever it is/isn't allowed to be called these days. I hope they fall on their arse quite frankly, the "advice" I've overheard them giving customers is borderline criminal sometimes.

  • ghearoid #44 5 years ago

    ah, that explains a sign in the window of gamestation i saw on the way home tonight: "PS3 oblivion now in stock!"

    i just thought, "who the heck cares about that?"

    ;op

  • _Price_ #45 5 years ago

    Finally, someone with the same sense of marketing stratagy as Sony.

    They should form a club.

  • bonker #46 5 years ago

    Christ, is the stench of death surrounding anything Sony/PS3 ever going to go away?!

  • thefilthandthefury #47 5 years ago

    "the "advice" I've overheard them giving customers is borderline criminal sometimes. "

    Same can be said for any store. If you try saying I give customers bad advice then you're talking out of your arse, quite frankly.

  • Netfreak #48 5 years ago

    What a week for Sony UK fans.

    First Ken quits and now this debacle?

  • davisorle #49 5 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • numptyboymatt #50 5 years ago

    nice to see all the usual fcukwits are out in full force again....

  • Keso #51 5 years ago

    Another Bill backhander maybe

  • Gavvie #52 5 years ago

    Just had a scan of other shops, and Gameplay aren't stocking it either.

  • Kiigan #53 5 years ago

    Well, Gameplay are owned by Game so...

  • Katanax #54 5 years ago

    GAME can crawl under a rock and die for all I care.

    Their service and loyalty to hardcore gamers has been tested many times over the last 8 months, and I had a big falling out with Head Office over their Wii launch, to the extent that I will not be spending any of my hard earned cash in their stores.

    The staff are mostly OK, but upper management has no fucking clue how to treat those they rely on for regular takings and instead hike all prices up by £2-£3, and go out of their way to shift items that will make the biggest profit and appeal more to parents of demanding children rather than the gamers themselves.

    I realise they are a business and profit is important, but when you start burning your core demographic by refusing a midnight launch (after starting the damn trend with the PS1 and continuing through to the launch of the 360), ripping people off (theres a reason we all pay more for our games and consoles in the UK and it aint tax) and deciding how th UK games industry should offer retail service to customers by picking and choosing which games they believe we should be playing there need to repercussions for the company. Unfortunately people are too lazy to shop elsewhere and parents dont know any better.

    Dont even get me started on their reward scheme...

    Well this has put me in a good mood...

  • captainrentboy #55 5 years ago

    As I said, I work there and agree with a fair few things the guy above said. The company as a whole is getting a lil too greedy for my liking, their greed is pissing a lot of the managers off in my region too.
    The latest thing they like to do is basically 'test the water' with their prices on a lot of new releases, GOW2 for example, from 9 - 11 am on Friday it was priced at £35, clearly after a few hours they realised that rediculous price (when compared to other retailers) was hurting their sales big time, so they dropped it back to the slightly more accepted £29.99.
    It's happening a lot with the bundle deals too, we'll actually get two lots of POS in for the same bundle, they'll test the higher priced one for a few days if it's underperforming we'll have to swap it to the lower one.
    It's fucking me off :(

  • muftak #56 5 years ago

    game didnt refuse to stock it they just havent got it
    distrubution problems aparently .

    http://www.computerandvideogames.com/art... read here staff on oxford street say getting it in next week.

  • AOFanboi #57 5 years ago

    GAME here in Norway had it - but perhaps GAME is run differently in Scandinavia.

  • teabagger #58 5 years ago

    Roll on digital distribution then the retail sector, who have had the industry by the balls for a good few years now, can all go fuck themselves.

  • Overlush #59 5 years ago

    "Using Oblivion to sell PS3 - another mistake
    too little
    too late"

    Would that be your comments, or something more profound?

    "Oblivion players don't buy consoles to play a vastly superior experience on the PC"

    Oh dear. A PC snob. How quaint.

    /decides to tackle anyways

    If they were Oblivion 'players' they probably wouldn't buy it anyway, would they? If however you're new to it, the PS3 is the definitive console version to have (slightly better graphics through HDMI and much, much better loading times than the 360 and the pure joy of not having to whore gamerpoints).

    My dear boy, there IS a world beyond the 'vastly superior' PC. It's one that presides over a kingdom of Barker & Stonehouse armchairs and 40" HDTVs.

    Back in your box room you cultural hethen.

  • Overlush #60 5 years ago

    Oh, and the irony:

    The 'crash and burn' Sony crowd turning their dial to 'crash and burn GAME' for not selling a PS3 game...

    ...you're all in greenpeace, aren't you?

  • mcdrye #61 5 years ago

    I work at a big Woolworths store and we only had ONE copy of the game delivered, a stark contrast to our usual delivery of 10-20 copies. Obviously that sold on Friday and we've yet to recieve any more. There appears to be a distribution problem but of course if only the average customer were to understand this...

  • Malacath #62 5 years ago

    I can't understand why anyone would shop at GAME anyway.
    They're rip-off merchants who sell second hand games as new.
    If you want Oblivion you can buy it from play.com who have it in stock

  • zuljin #63 5 years ago

    @Malacath
    "They're rip-off merchants who sell second hand games as new."
    I've had this happen to me at GameStation. Boy was I ticked off.

    No sir, we absolutely DO NOT resell second hand games as new.

    Explain again why my "new" copy of MarioKart has highscores?

  • Gavvie #64 5 years ago

    I used to work at GAME, and I know for a sure fact that our store never did it.

    Also, I was unaware that Gameplay were owned by Game. Any proof to back that claim up, because Gameplay don't like people talking about other competitors on their forums, and if they both had the same head office then surely discussions about their parent company would be accepted?

  • thefilthandthefury #65 5 years ago

    "Explain again why my "new" copy of MarioKart has highscores?"

    Probably left over from when we did the 10 day returns policy. It's been people like you who moaned when the policy was in effect (because pre-owned is "sold as new";) and then moaned when the policy was removed (as you can no longer "try out" the games).

  • aldo_14 #66 5 years ago

    Probably left over from when we did the 10 day returns policy. It's been people like you who moaned when the policy was in effect (because pre-owned is "sold as new";) and then moaned when the policy was removed (as you can no longer "try out" the games).

    I fail to see how that (10 day returns) is any justification for selling a used product as new. It seems to be along the lines of 'if a single customer abuses our policy, we have free reign to treat them all as scum'. Although in my experience GAME often doesn't need the qualifier at the start.....

  • zuljin #67 5 years ago

    @thefilthandthefury
    "Probably left over from when we did the 10 day returns policy. It's been people like you who moaned when the policy was in effect (because pre-owned is "sold as new";) and then moaned when the policy was removed (as you can no longer "try out" the games)."

    Sorry, but I agree with Aldo_14. People like me? You don't know me buddy, and I've never returned a game just because I was bored of it. Maybe it was an employee taking a little extra cash home (sold as new to the customer, sold 2d hand to the system). Maybe, it was an employee that took the game home for a few days to try it out, then put it back?

    Whatever situation caused it, why should I have to pay full price for a second hand product?
    Edited by zuljin at 29/04/07 @ 17:21

  • thefilthandthefury #68 5 years ago

    "People like me? You don't know me buddy"

    Ok "buddy" perhaps I didn't make myself clear. People who say the things you said are the exact sort who moaned, moaned, moaned. There. Clear? I didn't mean you are a moaner yourself. It came across harsher than I intended.

    EDIT: Spelling error, doh!
    Edited by thefilthandthefury at 29/04/07 @ 19:22

  • thefilthandthefury #69 5 years ago

    "I fail to see how that (10 day returns) is any justification for selling a used product as new. It seems to be along the lines of 'if a single customer abuses our policy, we have free reign to treat them all as scum'. Although in my experience GAME often doesn't need the qualifier at the start....."

    We never mentioned people abusing a system. People were within their right, at the time, to bring it back for whatever reason within those 10 days. If they didn't like the game that was a valid reason.

  • blender #70 5 years ago

    just to confirm GAME do sell 2nd hand games off as new. I am proof.

  • thefilthandthefury #71 5 years ago

    Anyway let's get back on topic.

    Why don't we have Oblivion? :( I'd like to know just as much as others.

  • blender #72 5 years ago

    ubisoft would only supply NEW sealed Copies. I suspect game declined to stock games in such a condition.

  • BonzoBanana #73 5 years ago

    I can't remember the last time I bought anything at game but must admit if they are resisting an increase in trade prices then I support them. The uk already pays too much as it is for hardware and software and I can't say I'm happy about this french publisher trying to increase their margins at the expense of the poor old uk consumer. Other shops may just take it but I'm glad game are resisting.

    Its the sort of title that doesn't really matter anyway as its available on other formats and its relatively old.

  • zuljin #74 5 years ago

    @thefilthandthefury
    Trust me, only reason I used buddy was because first draft there was something much ruder :)

    I know I'm moaning, but I don't think what I was asking for was really out of line.

    Working in the industry, I actually return a number of games, ones I get given as freebies or that do not appeal to myself or friends. What got me truly peeved at this scenario was that I had returned 3 games, all three unplayed and still in cellophane wrapping, and that I only got trade in money for them. Thats fair enough in itself, but if they re-sell 10 day returns, I'm sure they'd sell mine full price...

    But yes, doesn't explain the absence of Oblivion.

  • captainrentboy #75 5 years ago

    To the guy above, if Game traded in one of your titles whether it was fully sealed or not it would remain a pre-owned item, they wouldn't magically make it a new item of stock as it would show up whenever their stock take was taken.

  • bdaggers #76 5 years ago

    Well, I used to take a lot of Tesco freebies into GAME, entirely sealed and as new. The fuck wits at the counter would then UNSEAL the game so that they could sell it as second hand. (These games still had an intact Microsoft seal on the side, too)

    So if, as has been suggested, they are trying to sell second hand as new, they had a golden opportunity there - which they didn`t take.

    Haven`t been into a GAME since Tesco stopped their Refund and Retain policy tho - and don`t see myself going back in there anytime soon. GAME staff are demoralised, bored, and obviously pimping the latest bollox they have been told to. By comparison to GAMESTATION staff, they are entirely hopeless, amateur chancers.

    GAMESTATION (in my area) seem to employ people who actually LIKE games, rather than being serve bots.

  • aldo_14 #77 5 years ago

    We never mentioned people abusing a system. People were within their right, at the time, to bring it back for whatever reason within those 10 days. If they didn't like the game that was a valid reason.

    So why abuse the customers by selling them used products as if they were new? Because the only justification I can see being made is that it's some kind of mass quasi-punishment for treating returns as rentals, which is just ludicrous.

    Oh, and (it's linked on the prev page, methinks) apparently Ubisoft have supply problems with PS3 Oblivion. Dunno why - whethers it's (!) demand, shipment problems or blu-ray fabrication problems (for example).

  • septimus #78 5 years ago

    Meh, I picked it up from Gamestation at a pretty good price.

    Admittedly the staff aren't knowledgable, but when 2 are really cute girls I don't think anyone cares about their knowledge of games.

    As long as they know release dates and what's in stock... who cares?

  • jonsaan #79 5 years ago

    2 really cute girls?

    Must be the only gameshop in the country?

  • captainrentboy #80 5 years ago

    The thing a lot of you seem to be forgetting when accusing Game of selling traded in games as new is that pre-owned software makes faaaaar more profit than new software does, so selling a traded in game as new wouldn't make any sense :/

  • Ganon_wants_a_360 #81 5 years ago

    "The thing a lot of you seem to be forgetting when accusing Game of selling traded in games as new is that pre-owned software makes faaaaar more profit than new software does, so selling a traded in game as new wouldn't make any sense :/"

    Exactly. The profit on preowned games is insane. We lowly sales assistants are constantly pressured to sell more preowned. So selling preowned as new would be bad for the stores stats.

    However, under the old 10 day returns system, you could return a game within ten days if you had the receipt and the game was mint. Quite a difference between these mint games and the battered old things in the preowned section. It would then be returned to stock, the same as any other store would do if they had a similarly generous returns policy.

    And most people seemed to like the policy, but then complained about getting games people had already played. Now they complain even more when they buy a rubbish game and can't get anything better than a trade in price. "How am I supposed to know if the game is any good?" they cry, as if only a wizard can read reviews and know not to buy shitty licensed games.

    And yeah, I don't know the reason for this oblivion thing either. Until about a week ago we were getting pressured to take lots of preorders for it.