UK Retailer GAME Cancels Pre-Orders For The Last Story

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Just ahead of The Last Story’s release in Europe on Friday, giant UK retailer GAME has announced that it has canceled all pre-orders for the Wii RPG and refunded the money put toward copies in advance. This is the latest in a long line of bad news for the retailer, and it seems that these announcement are becoming more and more common as 2012 continues on.

This news comes from Eurogamer, which reported earlier in the week that GAME had canceled pre-orders for the special edition of The Last Story. Up until today, it seems that the retailer would honor pre-orders for the standard edition, but unfortunately, the plug was pulled on that version as well. Eurogamer got in touch with a representative from GAME, who made it sound like the company’s decision to not offer The Last Story was the result of there simply being too many new games to sell:

There is a lot activity going on in our stores and online this weekend including the releases of Syndicate: Executive Edition, Jak & Daxter Collection, Zumba Fitness Rush, Binary Domain, and Fallout New Vegas: Ultimate Edition. The Last Story, for the Wii, is not in stock and we have apologised to any customers this has affected.

When you remember, however, that GAME’s only job as a specialist gaming store is to sell video games, then that excuse doesn’t really cut it. GAME has been facing all kinds of financial woes in past months, with rumors saying that GAME’s line of credit has been cut off. If that is the case, then GAME is being force to pay for new stock with cold hard cash, and would have to make some tough decisions when it comes to which games it should carry and which games it should pass on.

That being said, it seems silly for GAME to pass on The Last Story – easily one of the most hyped RPGs this side of Skyrim – in favor of games like Fallout New Vegas: Ultimate Edition and the Jax & Daxter Collection, which are just reissues of years-old titles. Here’s to hoping GAME isn’t going down, because if it does, it won’t be good for the games market in the UK. Sadly, things are looking rather grim for GAME, so if you have some GAME gift cards left over from Christmas, it’s probably a good idea to use them sooner rather than later.