HMV makes U-turn on reducing store space for games

HMV has said it now plans to upsize store space for games rather reducing it following a decision on the latter a few weeks ago.

Chain CEO Simon Fox told MCV it was aiming to take on GAME directly following its troubles earlier this year, although admitted support for HMV with games before Christmas was not what it wanted.

"Before and during Christmas the support we were getting from the games industry in general was disappointing," said Fox.

"Since then we rebuilt our relationships with all the key publishers. The relationships that we now have with the industry have never been stronger. We have gone from thinking that we might have to reduce the space for games to the opposite.

“The High Street has nearly 300 fewer dedicated games outlets. We have a credible games offer on many of those High Streets and it would be absolutely criminal of us to not take advantage of that. We need to do everything that we can to grab market share, both where we are up against GAME and where we are not."

Games were seen as a growth area for HMV in its recent financials in what was otherwise a disappointing year for them.