GAME employee shares 'devastating' scenes in shop on major release day (2025)

An employee of a GAME store recorded footage of his store's shopfloor where, despite Assassin's Creed Shadows' eagerly anticipated release, there were no customers to be seen

The era of gamers lining up at midnight outside stores for the latest instalment of popular franchises like FIFA and Grand Theft Auto seems to be a thing of the past.

Now, with digital downloads being just a click away from the comfort of one's home, visiting a physical store to purchase most modern games is no longer necessary, unless you're a collector who prefers tangible copies.

On Thursday (March 20), the gaming world welcomed a new addition to the Assassin's Creed franchise, Assassin's Creed Shadows, which became available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC and Mac. Yet, there were no eager crowds at GAME waiting to get their hands on it, as evidenced by a TikTok post from a staff member.

A former Concessions Manager at the retail outlet, now working as a Casual Assistant within House of Fraser where GAME is located, humorously highlighted the "massive queue" for the release. In reality, however, his clip showed an empty shop floor, devoid of customers.

Jokingly addressing his online audience, he said: "Did you see the massive queue? No, neither did I. Thought I was losing the plot."

Brandishing several copies of the game, he informed viewers: "The point being I have plenty of copies of the game so if you are in House of Fraser, come on down and grab them."

He closed by announcing the prices, adding: "They're only £64.99 for the special edition, or if you want the standard edition, it is £62.99." The post garnered hundreds of reactions from TikTok users, many of whom expressed little surprise at the absence of a crowd inside GAME.

"£63 for a standard game is insane," one individual admitted, noting their sentiment on gaming prices. "Sad what's happened to game shops though."

Another voiced their disappointment: "Sorry about your day, but Game is just not a viable place to buy physical from. Really sad to see that launch day excitement I remember from the past has gone, though."

A third recollected nostalgically: "It's a shame as I remember going to midnight launches of consoles and games like halo and cod etc, the days of that are long gone and game doesn't even offer preowned anymore."

Sharing a different perspective, a fourth person commented: "Mine was delivered this morning for cheaper than RRP. No need to leave the house, no need to pay high street prices."

While a fifth critiqued the current strategy, adding: "Sort the prices out and people will make the effort. Why would someone want to leave their houses, travel to town and pay more than they would sitting on their sofa? How is that a hard concept to grasp?"

Those who do still value physical copies, meanwhile, stated that they're more likley to snap up the game from an alternative retailer. "No disrespect, I'm a collector of physical copies, but you can get that same game elsewhere for £55, so why would I purchase from GAME? They're so overpriced," indicated one TikTok user.

Whilst a second declared: "We don't need to compare online. It's £56.99 in Smyths - another bricks and mortar store. If you want to buy physical in a shop there's cheaper options than GAME - sorry!"

GAME has been asked to comment.