Its been an interesting few years for UK retailer GAME (hereafter referred to as Game because I’m to lazy to hold down the shift key that much). After emerging back into the public market, the company has seemed to be experiencing positive growth. However, recent data reveals that Game posted a 1.8% decline in pre-tax profits for the 26 weeks to January 26. Actual revenues hit  £582.1 million, which is a decrease from last year of 0.7%.

Ok Digmbot, those are numbers. But what do they mean? Well dear reader, all in all Game has taken a hit in profits. Once you do a bunch of math stuff and add in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the company had about a 16.3% drop from last year. Of course, management had told investors this was coming, so the stock only took a 9% drop when the results were announced.

The departure of CFO Benedict Smith just a few weeks after this profits warning was issued is interesting. Smith as brought out in January 13, which was about 1.5 years before the company returned to the public market. Mr. Smith was actual a private equity veteran, which means someone without much experience in the games world. Naturally, Martyn Gibbs the CEO praised Smith for his contribution to the company, saying in part:

“Benedict has been a key member our management team which has transformed GAME, achieved a successful IPO and driven forward our strategy of being at the heart of the gaming community.”

Gibbs also commented on the challenging Christmas the company recently emerged from and said he remained confident in the company’s strategy.

There are many other factors at work here financially, such as the fact that Game operates with very little capital debt, and that they just acquire eSports team Multi for £20 million, £1.2 of which came directly from the company’s cash. While some may cry that Game is once again sliding into decline, it more seems that they are holding steady, reorganizing and preparing to diversify their business into other markets. And while some may say the end of the age of brick-and-mortar game (no pun intended) stores is coming to and end as digital content purchases rise, don’t forget that you can’t go to Steam and grab a used copy of European Ship Simulator…