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UK's Largest Specialist Video Games Retailer Enters Administration

Posted by Soulskill on from the increment-steam's-kill-count dept.

RogueyWon writes "The GAME Group, owners of high street chains GAME and Gamestation, which between them account for a large majority of the UK's specialist games retail market, have entered into administration. In the hours following the Group's entry into administration, hundreds of stores were closed and thousands of staff made redundant. While some of the factors behind the Group's downfall, such as stores located too close to each other and overly-ambitious international expansion, were likely unique to the UK-based company, other factors, such as price competition from supermarkets and online retailers, as well as a reliance on a fickle pre-owned games market, may have wider application."

39 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Not a surprise by Patch86 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Doesn't surprise me, for a variety of reasons.

    As mentioned in TFS, they were crazy when it came to sotre placement. In my town, there were two GAME stores and one Gamestation all on the same shopping high street. There used to be a third GAME in a department store two minutes walk away, and there was briefly a fourth GAME directly opposite one of the current two. They all stocked exactly the same thing, with no great specialisation. What on earth did they think they were trying to acheve?

    Another reason- failure to move into the online space themselves. They do do online retailing these days, but they compare poorly to the likes of Amazon. When you're sat at your keyboard, and you open two websites, and one has a betteer range and is cheaper than the other, why would you use the latter? Instead of capitalising on their huge brand presence, they just let themselves slip. their digital download service isn't even run by them- it's just a rebadge of a whole different company's website.

    A bigger reason, though, was just that they weren't pleasant places to be. They're competing against souless supermarkets and anonymous online mail-order companies. So what was their solution? Become as souless and supermarket-like as possible. Cram in as many shelves as possible, with no aisle space, no demo machines, no nice displays. Gaming is obviously a hobby which a lot of people take quite seriously, but instead of trying to tap into that sense of a hobbyist community, and trying to become a hub for that (lucrative) community, they just focussed on selling as many things as possible as efficiently as possible- something they couldn't hope to win on, against their competition. Compare and contrast with Games Workshop (seller of tabletop games and models); gangs of enthusiastic hobbyists hang around in there for hours at a time, playing games against each other, organising competitions, soaking up the atmosphere. You can buy Games Workshop models cheaper online or through some of the resellers- but the flagship shop is the place to be, and so is where most people buy their stuff from.

    1. Re:Not a surprise by omglolbah · · Score: 2

      A local store recently dropped their whole computer-game area and replaced it with more books and board games as well as expanding their 'props' space.

      With the way games in general are shifting to online systems it was a better way to go about it for them. That was the gist of things when I spoke to the owner a while back. There was little profit in it, but it took a significant amount of space. They had not lost any sales by removing the merchandise at all.. Hell, they improved their sales of books as they could keep more in stock.

      Of course, Games Workshop goods are still a big part of their store. It is -the- place to go for that.

      The only thing most if not all my friends used the local GAME store for was midnight releases... and hell even Elkjøp (think 'best buy' type store) has had midnight releases so they even lost that :p

    2. Re:Not a surprise by FireFury03 · · Score: 2

      Doesn't surprise me, for a variety of reasons.

      As mentioned in TFS, they were crazy when it came to sotre placement. In my town, there were two GAME stores and one Gamestation all on the same shopping high street. There used to be a third GAME in a department store two minutes walk away, and there was briefly a fourth GAME directly opposite one of the current two. They all stocked exactly the same thing, with no great specialisation. What on earth did they think they were trying to acheve?

      This one always confuses me. It isn't unique to games shops - go into any city centre and you will find like shops clustered together (here we have a bunch of banks all on the same street, the next street over there are a bunch of jewellers, etc.) I can only assume that it must work, otherwise they wouldn't do it, but I'm at a loss to understand why.

      On the other hand, after hearing GAME's previous announcements about their financial problems, none of this surprises me: they appeared to have run the business by relying on regular bank loans to provide their working capital (for buying stock) rather than using their own profits to provide the working capital. One day the banks said "no" to their loan request and they were automatically screwed - they had no money of their own to buy stock. Using bank loans for one-off investments to expand the business is fine, but when you're relying on them on a day to day business for the normal operation of your business, you're putting everything in the hands of the bank with absolutely no guarantee that they won't withdraw their support without notice.

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      http://blog.nexusuk.org
    3. Re:Not a surprise by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      A friend of mine works in the industry (for Rebellion) and he said that publishers were annoyed about them selling second hand games. Obviously a second hand game produces no revenue for the publisher, and yet Game wanted special deals on new games too. Publishers declined and they ended up not being able to compete with the discounts offered in other shops and online.

      I always found Gamestation a nice enough chain of shops, a bit crowded perhaps but with a good selection of gear and reasonable prices. I think if Game hadn't bought them they would still be going, but instead they got dragged down too.

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    4. Re:Not a surprise by mjwx · · Score: 4, Interesting
      GAME are also in Australia. They want A$80-100 per game (GBP 60-70 ish) I can order the same games from Zavvi for GBP 30. Same with EB games. A lot of Australian gamers have taken to importing games and I dont think it will be long before retailers like JBHiFi test the waters of direct import on games and movies (they already do it on cameras). But GAME and EB wont bother, they're locked into the old way of doing things with local distributors charging inflated prices and as a result are dying slowly.

      GAME and EB Games will join the other retail dinosaurs like Harvey Norman in retail extinction.

      So what was their solution? Become as souless and supermarket-like as possible. Cram in as many shelves as possible, with no aisle space, no demo machines, no nice displays

      And staff it with people who know nothing about games.

      EB games Australia have gone one step further and play annoying techno way too loud. If I do buy a game locally (I.E. I want it today and am willing to pay the premium) I'll generally walk down the street to the nearest JB, no music, easy to find stuff and slightly cheaper.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    5. Re:Not a surprise by onetwofour · · Score: 2

      The list of closed stores can be found at MCV: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/store-closures-begin-at-game-and-gamestation/093365 Just looking through the list shows lots of store duplications within towns, I know that Hanley had two stores within one shopping center seperated by a ceiling and a Gamestation in the main high street. And that's the list of just the closed down stores.

    6. Re:Not a surprise by grainofsand · · Score: 3, Funny

      The hammock district!

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      A dream is good. A plan is better.
    7. Re:Not a surprise by snookums · · Score: 2

      The EB games at Broadway in Sydney actually had some real gamers on staff - at least for a while. I had a good chat with a guy there about where to buy retro games (PS1 and earlier stuff) and he seemed knowledgeable and interested.

      The retial price of games here is crazy though. It's a relic from the days of poor exchange rates. The dollar went up 50% in value, but the price of games stayed the same. It doesn't surprise me that physical game stores that don't work hard to add value are in trouble though. Most people evaluate games through reviews and downloadable demos - not by browsing a shop and reading box covers. Even if prices were comparable to online, the stores need to do more with in-store events, playable demo boxes, maybe the odd LAN party. The kinds of things that pen-and-dice and miniature gaming shops do.

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    8. Re:Not a surprise by FireFury03 · · Score: 2

      Clustered stores make sense as long as they're different companies, after all they're competing with each other and when they cluster that's usually a sign that the area has a lot of people looking for that kind of store.

      It makes sense where the stores have different stock, so people want to shop around to figure out which thing to buy: if you're buying a big ticket item like a car, a house, etc then you're going to want to do some serious browsing before putting down some money, so clustering estate agents, car dealerships, etc makes sense.

      On the other hand, a cluster of computer game shops, all selling exactly the same selection of games, aren't going to attract a lot of pre-purchase browsing: you know that the product you're looking at is going to be identical in the next shop, and the shop after that, so you're probably just going to buy in the first shop you come to. If you do shop around first, then you're just looking for the best price - you're not shopping around to see which product best suits your need. Something shops do not want to do is compete with each other on price alone, because this just causes a price war which lowers their profits, and this is exactly what you'll get if you cluster these types of shops. On the other hand, if you spread out, you're competing on other factors than just price - people are going to go into the shop that's most convenient and probably aren't going to trek across town to check if the next store has the same thing for a few pennies less.

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      http://blog.nexusuk.org
    9. Re:Not a surprise by RogueyWon · · Score: 2

      Yes, I think you've got a good point about the condition of the stores. I've done a couple of fairly lengthy journal articles about the collapse - one on the causes here and one on the repercussions here.

      I think the key thing for me is how little consideration GAME's management gave to what their key strengths ought to be set against supermarkets on the one hand and online retailers on the other.

    10. Re:Not a surprise by delinear · · Score: 2

      The article alluded to the one benefit bricks and mortar games stores can offer, unfortunately it's one thing Game never got right. It specifically says game stores are needed so that customers can try before they buy, yet Game and Gamestation where always awful for this. If you were lucky there'd be one or two consoles switched on, more often than not the controllers wouldn't be hooked up so there was no "trying" component, and god forbid you ask them to reconnect them or, even worse, throw in a different game to the one that's looping through the start screen demo... not gonna happen. The stores themselves are cramped, every available space crammed with junk merchandise, the staff waver between jumping on you if they think you're looking at a big ticket purchase like a sale or ignoring you if you have questions about anything else (right up until it's time to pay where they'll offer you five or six point of sale offers you're clearly not interested in).

      I genuinely think they should make the stores more like a hangout, big comfy sofas, a whole bunch of consoles (with some kind of hub system so you can choose which games you want to try). They could easily stop people abusing it by limiting the amount of time you can play games (have you create some kind of account in store and then use a system similar to OnLive, give you 30 minutes per title to try it out). There's not really any need to have every available shelf space crammed with copies of games, either - use that space to make the place a more inviting venue for customers. I avoid Game stores like a plague as you really feel like cattle, churned through the store (it's so crammed you can only move in one direction), channeled through the point of sale then dumped out onto the street. I'd rather wait two or three days and save money than subject myself to that. Create a more relaxed, fun atmosphere and people will be willing to spend time in your store and that in turn will lead to spending.

  2. Re:Translate by arse+maker · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think administration means the same thing. The company is no longer running its business. Someone else has been brought in to run things either to fix the problems or bring it into bankruptcy.

    In most modern countries its illegal to trade while insolvent.

  3. Re:Translate by omglolbah · · Score: 4, Informative

    Translates roughly into 'chapter 11' for the US.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_States_Code
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administration_(law)#United_Kingdom

  4. Black employee humour by TwentyCharsIsNotEnou · · Score: 5, Funny

    On the window of a Game store in Ireland: http://i.imgur.com/BQ8iD.jpg

  5. Digital distribution and death of second hand by gweilo8888 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would wager that, as much as it is to do with GAME's own failings, it is also down to two other things: the industry-wide switch to digital distribution (Steam, Xbox Live Marketplace, Playstation Store, Wii Shop Channel, App Store, Google Play, etc.), coupled with the engineered death of second-hand sales caused both by digital distribution and the game publishers and console makers alike actively taking steps to prevent resale, effectively turning your "purchase" into a "rental".

    1. Re:Digital distribution and death of second hand by Xest · · Score: 2

      This WAS part of GAME's own failings.

      When I bought Dawn of War II from them a few years back I complained to them about the fact I had to activate via Steam, and specifically that Steam wasn't letting me activate at first. I pointed out that the whole reason I bought a physical copy was so that I didn't have to deal with stupid online systems restricting what I could do with a product I'd paid for. I complained because whilst there was mention of activation, there was no mention that I'd have to create accounts and give details to both Valve, and Microsoft because it used Steam for DRM, and Games for Windows Live for other features.

      I pointed out quite clearly at the time that at very least they should better advertise what the requirements and restrictions would be of not using my product, but importantly questioned why they were allowing companies to get away with it. A key point I made is that it's insane that they're selling a product that forces their customers to go to their competitors digital stores - Steam, and Games for Windows Live.

      Their response was the usual games industry blurb about DRM is for my own good, and how it protects me from myself and how it offers me a superior product and all that shit.

      So excuse me if I can't help but feel "I told you so". They were complicit and supportive of the rise of DRM, of the rise of systems that block second hand sale of games, and that generally remove consumer rights.

      They can't whinge about how they've suffered a tough time from these systems, they were fundamental to their creation. They were fundamental to the transition to these systems because they were selling and defending the tools that made this happen. They literally signed their own death warrant, despite being warned of the future that awaited them.

      They decided that the people they pay (publishers) were their customers, rather than the real customers - the people that pay them.

    2. Re:Digital distribution and death of second hand by gbjbaanb · · Score: 2

      There was one more aspect to this, the banks. RBS (yewp, thwe bank that had to be bailed out and is now owned by the UK taxpayer) didn't want to allow full use of the credit facilities it already had in place (games retail is a very cyclic business, and we;re just about at the bottom, waiting for new consoles), which made suppliers very nervous about supplying games to Game. This meant Game failed to get any revenue from big titles such as Mass Effect 3, and this pushed it over the edge.

      RBS than received a takeover offer from at least 1 other group, which it rejected. So now RBS are busy making fees from splitting it up, whilst jobs are lost.

      Digital distribution isn't as big a deal as many think - there are plenty of places that don't get enough download to get a copy of the latest game, even if Steam wants you to buy from them exclusively. Then there's the hardware that is best bought direct from a shop (usually just before christmas).

      The 2nd hand sales thing - this is something the game publishers want to see dead, so maybe EA et al are happy to see Game go.

    3. Re:Digital distribution and death of second hand by Zarjazz · · Score: 2

      I used to work for GAME many many years ago in their digital division. We had the developers, network infrastructure, industry clout (at the time) and the strategy to create Steam before Steam even existed. We were incredibly motivated to do this, basically it was why we'd all been hired. We all knew digital distribution was the future.

      In the end the then board decided "forget the internet, we ship boxes". The entire digital team was disbanded and moved to other departments. Just one of many, many mistakes they made but from my personal perspective a bloody huge one!

  6. Re:Translate by pecosdave · · Score: 2

    Apparently it translates to "Flamebait" and "Offtopic" on Slashdot.

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  7. Re:Not competitive by pecosdave · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've been to a Gamestop here in the US, a used copy of a game was $14 and the new one was $12 in the same store and the clerks still tried to pursued me to buy used. They were unable to give a satisfactory reason beyond their profit margins are better (oh, and it's worth more customer loyalty points).

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  8. In Australia... by pjr.cc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not sure what GAME uk's demise means for the australian game line, but i keep wondering how they *STAY* in business. They are consistently higher then everyone else simply for price.

    Consider their biggest competitor in the retail market is probably a place called JB hifi, and in shopping centers they're often so close (physically) together that you can see the big tags advertising their price for games (Specially up coming and new release ones). Yet, GAME au's prices are always more expensive.

    When they go out of business in AU, I will not be supprised. I've bought games from them (but only second hand ones, and at most 3 - typically jbhifi is cheaper for those as well). But AU's model can be summed up in 3 links:

    http://www.game.com.au/diablo-iii/pc-games/DIABLO3PC
    http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/game/pc-games/diablo-3/654000
    http://www.game-lane.com.au/pc-mac-games/2782-diablo-iii-3-pc.html

    To me, in AU, its not "how did they go out of business" its "how do they stay alive?".

  9. GAME was crap by DrXym · · Score: 2
    GAME was a spinoff of EB Games and shared the same mentality - high retail prices and a propensity to stiff customers who traded in or bought second hand. GAME took over its main rival Gamestation and got so big in Britain that the average medium sized town / city might have 3 or 4 stores belonging to one brand or another often across the road from each other.

    So you have an (over) saturation of stores in prime rent locations selling a commodity, poor customer loyalty thanks to GAME's own business practices, a recession, and increasing competition from supermarkets, online stores and digital downloads. GAME didn't bother responding in any meaningful way to any of these threats and so it lost a lot of money and went bust. It sucks for the employees but it really isn't a surprise that it happened.

    Going into administration is probably the best chance it has of surviving. The creditors can cut the store down to size which might ultimately whip it into a survivable shape.

  10. In short: by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Funny

    Video Game Retailer Modded "Redundant -1"

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  11. Re:Gak, the Britishisms in that article were too m by DrXym · · Score: 5, Informative

    In the UK firms can't go bankrupt, they go into administration, i.e. an administrator is appointed to either wind it down, or find someone to buy it, or keep it running as a going concern. GAME is still a going concern, albeit massively downsized. It might ultimately be wound up or it may be that it carries on existing in some reduced form. Closing a bunch of stores was inevitable in any event.

  12. Re:Gak, the Britishisms in that article were too m by donscarletti · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sometimes Americans call administration "Chapter 11". This is different to bankruptcy, which is known as "Chapter 7". It's not really good international communication to use chapter numbers from a specific country's civil code, so they instead used the correct English words.

    --
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  13. Re:Gak, the Britishisms in that article were too m by geedubyoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm British. The terms "entered administration" and "made redundant" are in normal everyday use in Britain. I think it is reasonable to assume that the writer is British and that it would never have occurred to him that these phrases would be misunderstood by an American. I'm sure it wasn't done just to wind you up*. * I'm not sure if the phrase "wind you up" is used in the US. It means to say something with the intent to provoke.

  14. Re:Gak, the Britishisms in that article were too m by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Informative

    Chapter 11 is significantly less harsh on th business than British Administration - in CH11, a companies board can survive the ordeal, while under Administration they instantly lose everything and leave the business.

    In the US, CH11 is used strategically, for example see American Airlines - they waited until they had secured a $8Billion war chest before entering chapter 11, even buying $200Billion of aircraft in the run up to the declaration. Entering chapter 11 allows them to do things like break lease agreements (they had 50 or so aircraft sitting mothballed in the desert because they had reached the end of their useful life, but continuing to pay the leases was cheaper than paying the costs associated with returning the aircraft - but in chapter 11 one of the first things they did was just hand the aircraft back in an unflyable state...).

    Chapter 11 is a business tool, while administration in the UK is a severe punishment. Huge difference in aspect.

  15. Trade-in prices by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Trade-in prices is what put me off going to Game. I'd take in something recent, like, say, Street Fighter X Tekken and they'd give me maybe 13GBP for it, or 16 if it wasn't "scratched". They'd then sell it second hand for 30GBP (or 28 if it doesn't come with instructions or a box).

    Meanwhile, the independent shop near it, CEX, would give me 28GBP cash, or 30GBP exchange.

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  16. Re:It works with some competitors by FireFury03 · · Score: 2

    However what it doesn't work for is the same store. You also never see that. Competing with yourself is stupid.

    Except you do see it, all the time, it's really really common. In pretty much any city centre in the UK it is common to see Blacks and Millets next door to each other - they are both "outdoor gear" stores owned by the same company selling pretty much the same stuff (ok, so they started off as separate companies, but they've been the same company for years and years and have ample opportunity to thin the shops out and yet they haven't).

    In the city I live in, H. Samuel (Jewellers) have 2 shops about 200 metres apart. Santander (bank) have 2 shops on the same road (again, these didn't used to be both Santander, but they have had ample opportunity to close one of them down and yet they haven't).

    It also applies to shops owned by different companies that aren't the sort of shop to see people "shopping around" before buying - down in the local town centre, we have Tesco Express opposite Sainsburys Local - both "grocery convenience stores". No one is going to browse one and then browse the other before buying. It would seem more sensible to space the stores out a bit so that there is a good reason for people to go in one instead of the other (it's closer to them). Same just up the road - there's a Coop next to a Premier (again, grocery convenience stores).

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    http://blog.nexusuk.org
  17. Re:Translate by Sique · · Score: 2

    In most modern countries its illegal to trade while insolvent.

    Not so. In most countries I know of, a court appointed administrator is then responsible for the company, and it's up to him to reach an agreement with the creditors how to proceed. The main reason behind the whole insolvency procedure is to avoid conflicts with and between the creditors. They should be able to recoup as much as possible of the outstanding debt, and their demands against the debitor are ranked in a law defined order. If the counsil of creditors finds that reorganizing and getting on with the business is in their best interests, the insolvent business will carry on with the trade, sometimes firming as "in insolvency" or "in liquidation" to warn potential customers and suppliers.

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    .sig: Sique *sigh*
  18. Re:I worked in game for several years.. by ledow · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The American customer service model does not work well in Britain. A lot of American chains forget that when they come over here. If an Englishman wants help, he'll come and find you and ask. Otherwise, leave him the hell alone.

    If you come up to me all smiles and "Hello Sir, can I help you", I don't think "Oh, that's nice", I think "What are you trying to sell?" and "How can I get rid of you?". If you try to learn my name, or start trying to steer me towards products, I actually feel more like a number, not like you're helping. And English sales assistants can't do smalltalk well at all, and you find them approaching you with an offhand comment about the weather before launching into sales patter as an example of their "engaging" with the customer.

    If you approach me in a shop as a member of staff, you will be politely turned away. If you're persistent, I will just walk unless I really *NEED* the thing I'm trying to buy - I've done it several times. I *KNOW* whether I need your help or not, so listen to me when I tell you. If I look incredibly baffled, of course you can try to ask, but chances are that most geeks and kids will say they're fine and want to carry on on their own. And, kid, I was writing computer games before you were even born - don't try to tell me "What you really want is...". If you haven't got what I want, tell me. Hell, point me to your competitor. Because you won't make any money out of me, I'm costing you valuable sales time AND I will return if you're honest and help me buy what I want rather than what YOU want me to buy.

    To be honest, it baffles me even in Europe, and is a small part of the reason why the English are considered rude abroad. You can spend 30 minutes talking to a pharmacist in Europe (even as a native) when all you wanted is some sunscreen, and they will deliberately put things out of reach or on counters that deter browsing just so they *can* talk to you.

    In England, walk up to the shelf, pick it up, buy it. There's usually a nice assistant available if necessary but if she says more than "Hello", she's getting in your way. The English sometimes see such "personal" service as fake because - well, we don't have it and don't understand it, and a lot of the time it is completely fake. Do I really believe that spotty oik #8 cares about me leaving his shop with what I wanted to buy, even if it's only a £5 game?

    GAME were incredibly annoying for this. "Do you need help?" four or five times per visit. Not buggering off when I don't. When I do (or the person I'm with stupidly launches into a ten minute explanation of why we're there), they steer you to things that you just said you DON'T want (whether because of sheer stupidity, high sales pressure, or just bad knowledge of their industry area) and hassle you to buy a DS when you only went in for a £5 PC game. And NO imagination over what to stock. Top-end £50 Wii-titles and nothing else, tiny PC section at the back with top-end £50 AAA titles that need Steam accounts of GfW to activate anyway. Where's the budget section? Where are the indie games? Where's the stuff that people WOULD want to buy on impulse?

    They also had high prices compared to online sales and, I'm sorry, nothing that I'd actually buy. I used to be in there all the time as a teenager, but haven't bought anything in one for literally YEARS. The pre-owned section gets the most attention from other customers, and the only time they're busy and not just a small shop of geeks and kids is when Christmas is coming and they've secured a few units of whatever the next big thing is. They remind me a lot of the Games Workshop stores - from outside it's all kids and geeks, which is enough to put off e.g. girlfriends, mothers, grandparents, etc. but at least Games Workshop have half-decent service and sell them what they wanted.

    In comparison, the other geek/kid hangout of the local exchange shop (Cash Convertors, CEX or some local equivalent) had lots of customers

  19. Re:It works with some competitors by MrAngryForNoReason · · Score: 4, Insightful

    in the UK it is common to see Blacks and Millets next door to each other

    While they are both Outdoor equipment/clothing retailers Blacks and Millets were aimed at very different markets. Millets was aimed squarely at family campers and casual hikers, whereas Blacks was more specialised and aimed at serious hikers, campers, climbers etc. The seperate stores allowed them to target their stock and marketing at their particular markets more successfully.

    This kind of differentiation is important when you have very disparate groups of customers. Serious hikers/campers/climbers are pretty snobby about their gear so the product ranges they demand are higher end and higher price, the kind of stuff that puts off casual shoppers.

    Of course in the end both stores have suffered from the prevalence of big warehouse style outdoor equipment stores that have cheaper prices and enough space to effectively service both markets. Millets is now effectively dead and Blacks is seriously struggling.

  20. Re:Gak, the Britishisms in that article were too m by ledow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not only that, look at the terms themselves.

    If you (or your job) has been "made redundant", it means - quite literally - that they no longer have a use for you. It doesn't matter what version of English you speak, that's the meaning of the word. It may not specifically state that would mean losing your job, but the context is there and useful - and differs from "being sacked/fired" quite significantly. It wasn't that they sacked you, they didn't need you any more. It was NOTHING you did wrong. You were simply redundant to the business. We even use terms like "redundancy money" where the business compensates you when it stops your contract because it *COULDN'T* find a use for you any more.

    And to "enter administration". That means that some process has taken over to administer the business. Not bankruptcy, because we have that word too and that wouldn't be administration of the business but a final "winding up", but someone is there to administer things - presumably because they can't do it themselves.

    Though the terms are not clear-as-day, they are no worse than any other English phrasing and at least hint at what they mean (I'd expect most people to understand them by the context they are used and the inference of the meaning of the words). I don't see why you can't pick up those words from context, to be honest, or just from their meaning - especially when I spend a LOT of my time looking up what the hell certain Americanisms mean because they're not at all obvious (John Doe? Really? You can't just say you don't know their names?).

    Company enters Chapter Whatever? What the hell does that mean. The fifth amendment? Eh? Which one's that? What does it say? Amendment to what? Do the other 4 take precedence?

    Although the answers are easy to find, they aren't anywhere near easy to infer just from the context given. English is one of the most poetic, cross-culture, verbose and diverse languages. Use it and the facilities available within it, and people can infer what you mean. Numbering everything is only logical if everyone has a reference list of what those numbers refer to and memorises it. But the word "redundant" is present and means the same in both languages - it's just a particular instance of it that doesn't fully explain the implications of your "redundancy" but that the context does.

    Don't even get me started on navigation in America. Xing-Ped (Someone had to TELL me what it meant, and that it was "backwards" and I only speak English!) and 49th/50th/51st/52nd street drive me mad. It's abuse of language where it's not necessary, no imagination, nothing to make anything or anyone stand out and not using meanings have been attached to words for centuries.

  21. Re:Gak, the Britishisms in that article were too m by asdf7890 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In the US, CH11 is used strategically

    Administration is used strategically in the UK too. 7Global, a DC/hosting provider did it while we were using their services but didn't tell us. I'm not sure how it was arranged (I think it was a management buyout while in administration) but they were in administration for 24 hours meaning they could walk away from certain contracts and debts. This also nulled our contracts with them, which our clients could have been very unhappy about because that meant we were in breach of our contracts with them by not being able to guarantee things (that were previously guaranteed by proxy via our contract with 7Global). They also moved their entire operation (which went very badly leaving us with no service for days) without letting anyone know the plan (there was a planned maintenance period that night which was down as "working on the server racks") but that is another bitter story.

    lt;dr: "strategic administration" happens in the UK too, and quite often in fact but it is usually not widely reported.

  22. Re:Gak, the Britishisms in that article were too m by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

    "I've read up on "made redundant""

    I thought that was international. What do Americans say instead?

    Divorced.

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    You are welcome on my lawn.
  23. Re:"to enter administration" = ??? by Alioth · · Score: 2

    Roughly similar to Chapter 11 in the US, which even if you're not from the US is fairly widely know.

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    Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
  24. Re:Gak, the Britishisms in that article were too m by 9jack9 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not only that, look at the terms themselves.

    If you (or your job) has been "made redundant", it means - quite literally - that they no longer have a use for you.

    We call that "laid off" on this side of the pond. Quite different than just "laid", I assure you, and they're both different from "laid out", which might also involve lying down, but I always say, make love, not war. Lay offs are when a business needs to reduce its workforce. There are a lot of rules and regulations about how its done. The natural tendency is to get rid of the deadwood as cheaply as possible, but there are significant rules designed to keep things "fair". I've been on both sides of the lay off process, at least half a dozen times. One time we laid off my whole division, so I've even laid myself off.

    . . . especially when I spend a LOT of my time looking up what the hell certain Americanisms mean because they're not at all obvious (John Doe? Really? You can't just say you don't know their names?)

    Not to be confused with John Deer, John Handcock, Johnny-come-lately or Dear-John or just a plain John, which has several meanings, none of them particularly flattering, or even doughboy, although even you Brits ought to recognize that last one. And over here Johnny is just a friendly name for a guy named John, or sometimes any bloke.

    The fifth amendment?

    Not to be confused with the Fifth Amendments, although truthfully I've never quite understood the difference between Parliament and Funkadelic. And lots of people smoke Parliaments, although that's probably NOT what P-Funk was smoking.

    49th/50th/51st/52nd street

    Do you *really* want to go down that road? At least NYC was laid out (mostly) by people who actually SPOKE English, whereas London, for instance, was laid out by blokes who spoke SPOKE A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE ENTIRELY. And they burnt the town to the ground every few centuries and changed everything, but kept all the same road names. I mean, have to actually LOOKED at a map of London? I bet there are tourists who've been lost in there for YEARS.

    And by the way, you've got your own share of odd terms. Over here a sleeping policeman is actually a sleeping policeman!

    Don't get your knickers in a twist or throw a wobbly. I'm not trying to be cheeky or even twee. We could argue about 'maths', 'plasters', amongst' , 'paracetamol', 'petrol' or a bunch of other words in inverted commas, last of all, zed, for heaven sakes.

    Let's forget all that and just stay mates. And by that I mean pals and not any sort of hanky-panky. Sure, we had our disagreements every now and then, and actually burning the White House was a bit beyond the pale, but we've got your backs and you've got ours. US and UK, BFF.

  25. Re:Gak, the Britishisms in that article were too m by pecosdave · · Score: 2

    The US version of the Laid Off has changed over the years. Used to laid off meant you had a pretty good chance of getting recalled, be it a week later, a month later whatever. The definition has slowly changed to more or less permanent. I think the words "down sizing" were meant to fix the confusion but were a little late to the party.

    I've been given a week furlough - essentially a lay off - for corporate purposes. Vacation time was seen as debt to the stock holders so they would force everyone in the entire corporation to take one occasionally to boost the stock prices. That company was so concerned about their stock value they screwed the customers on a regular basis and lost a lot of contracts over it. Pleasing stock holders cost tons of business and reputation.

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  26. Re:I worked in game for several years.. by Eli+Gottlieb · · Score: 2

    If you come up to me all smiles and "Hello Sir, can I help you", I don't think "Oh, that's nice", I think "What are you trying to sell?" and "How can I get rid of you?". If you try to learn my name, or start trying to steer me towards products, I actually feel more like a number, not like you're helping. And English sales assistants can't do smalltalk well at all, and you find them approaching you with an offhand comment about the weather before launching into sales patter as an example of their "engaging" with the customer.

    Dude, nobody on Earth likes that style of customer-service outside the American South. I've always lived in the American Northeast, and I'm still not sure why companies insist on trying to export the South to the entire rest of the English-speaking world.