The End of an Era? | Joann Kelliher

Joann Kelliher takes a look at the struggling videogame market in Ireland.In the past year, Ireland has been faced with many financial losses, causing the closure of many retailers. The gaming industry has been hit particularly badly, with both HMV and GAME going into administration. What has caused the closure of these giants and how can they be addressed?Certainly, giving the employees little warning was not a solution. In mid-January, HMV employees, concerned about their last payment, staged a sit-in, refusing to emerge until they had received it. In March of last year, GAME employees chose the same route, having being told nothing of their redundancy pay. Neither company seemed willing to so much as give employees their last payment until pushed. The similarities in each company's demise are quite worrying.GAME still have something of a presence - outside of the Republic. After many major video game companies (including Nintendo, Capcom and EA) refused to supply the retailer, it had little choice but to go into administration. Since GAME was formerly Ireland's biggest video game chain, smaller retailers quickly took the initiative, with shops springing up at random in various cities. GameStop has now taken GAME's place as Ireland's main video game retailer. As the last major one left here, they represent the hope of our gaming market. Without such a well-known company, casual gamers will shy away from local retailers and the market will simply collapse.HMV's demise was quite unexpected. Dealing in music, video games and books, they covered many interests and were the easiest place to go to for the latest singles and albums. Their closure also arrived at a particularly cruel time - many people had received HMV vouchers as Christmas gifts, only to be told that they would be useless. Surely the management would have been aware of the closure prior to the holidays? Once again, GameStop stepped in, offering a 5% discount on any purchase to those with an HMV voucher. Even so, it still seemed like a harsh way to treat loyal customers. Purchased guarantees also became instantly voided - I can no longer return my damaged headphones. In this dismal economy, customer satisfaction is clearly no longer a priority. Although the blame could easily be put on Ireland's financial decline in general, many retailers have still prospered in spite of it.Where does the source of the gaming and music market's implosion lie? Piracy is one of the easiest culprits to identify. In a world where songs and games can be downloaded with the click of a mouse, why should people bother paying for them? R4 cards, the little carts used to store multiple DS games, were only outlawed last year, allowing many people to cheat retailers out of their profits. Many serious gamers consider emulation (the copying of a console's properties onto a different medium, allowing games to be played on devices they were not intended for) a huge problem. Most gamers, however, aren't very concerned. The music industry, pirated since the days of Napster, will always suffer from this issue. Nowadays, it is actually possible to convert YouTube videos to mp3 format, though the main sites have been taken down by Google. Even books are not safe from piracy. Rapidly following in the wake of the digital book era, files are often available within a week of release.So what can we do to prevent the total collapse of these important retailers? Since we are all feeling the financial burden at the moment, not much. Perhaps, though, we could all try purchasing a new book, a second-hand game or even a single on sale. Is it too much to help out our suppliers?