Game Group Hit as EA and Nintendo Stock Refused by Store

Shares in Game Group - owner of the Game high street shop - fell 16 percent on Wednesday after EA and Nintendo announced that it would not supply the retail chain with stock.

Electronic Arts and Nintendo said that Game would no longer stock many of their new video game releases, including Mass Effect 3 and Mario Party 9, forcing the group's share price down to 4.92p.

Game, which is the largest gaming shop in the country, said that it would not be stocking "a small number of titles" from EA in March. "This situation - which is a result of ongoing discussions between the group and EA - is a temporary one and both businesses are already engaged in discussions about future launches together."

The video games shop said that it is committed to ensure that this issue with stock does not happen again, but industry website Eurogamer has secured an image of a memo sent to staff at Game and sister company Gamestation.

The memo reveals that Fifa Street 3, Tiger Woods 13 and Sims 3 Showtime will also not be stocked by the Game Group. Eurogamer added that the last EA game to be stocked by Game will be SSX, to be released on 2 March.

In the memo Game channel director Tom Devine said, "Last week we held an event for our publishers in the industry and explained the challenges we are facing in the short term, and we asked for their support."

The company had apparently asked suppliers to "trade with us using manageable credit terms," but it seems that EA and Nintendo were unwilling to do so

Devine added: "We will not stock products if the terms are not right for our business - a position we believe is critical to our long term health as a business - we have taken the very difficult decision to not stock EA's March releases, including Mass Effect 3."

Games that have been pre-ordered by shoppers can be refunded, but only with store credit and not cash, meaning anyone who has pre-ordered an affected game will not be able to get their money back and buy it elsewhere.

In an email sent to customers who have pre-ordered the games, Game said: "We have a supply issue with regards to Mass Effect 3, which means that GAME and Gamestation will not be able to fulfil orders for Mass Effect 3 at this time."