Nick Arran, managing director of GAME at Frasers Group, chats to Clare Turner about his plans to build the gaming and entertainment company’s toy category 

What’s your background?  

Video games and retail are both passions of mine, and I’ve been working in this sector for most of my professional career.

Gaming has always been good to me. I worked for various companies including hmv, Blockbuster, Amazon and Sainsbury’s in a wide range of senior roles, before making my way to GAME in the early part of 2011. 

I temporarily left GAME to head up Business Development for Shopto.net but the allure of GAME was hard to resist, and I headed back in August 2017, working my way up until I became managing director in 2021. I’ve never looked back, and I love working for this vibrant and ever-changing business.

Tell us a bit about GAME. 

GAME Retail Ltd is a leading gaming and entertainment company, providing a range of gaming, toys, and entertainment products, as well as services to its customers. 

GAME’s UK retail businesses are spread over 270 standalone stores and concessions within Sports Direct and House of Fraser. 

GAME offers a fully integrated omnichannel reaching more than 18 million consumers across its reward programmes, and it partners with Belong Gaming Arenas to provide unparalleled customer gaming experiences. 

How would you describe your range?  

GAME is known first and foremost for video games: that’s our foundation, our core, and our passion. Gaming enthusiasts look to us to offer an experience and product range that they cannot find online, and we are able to help through our continued popularity of pre-owned games and trade-in, which saves the customer money. 

In recent years, our strategy has grown to encompass adjacent product lines including toys, collectibles, pop culture product and tech, with our much-expanded range proving popular.

What are your key categories? 

Gaming will always be our foundation, but we have also built our range to include toys, tech, and pop culture collectibles. 

By providing an ever-changing mix of eye-catching product, we’re able to excite and engage with our customers as they visit our stores to see what’s new.

When did you start stocking toys, and why? 

It’s been an organic process but one that we feel makes sense. We see an ever-blurring line between gaming, collecting and toys, and it was therefore an important strategic decision for us to expand our offering and attract existing and new customers alike. 

For example, the ‘kidult’ audience is growing, with franchises such as Transformers remaining remarkably popular among adults who are driven by nostalgia and authenticity. 

How many toy brands do you deal with and who are the key names? 

We work with many brands including Hasbro, Mattel, LEGO, Pokémon, Robosen, Epic and so many more. 

We’re pleased to say that we have a broad range of excellent partners who continue to work with us to achieve success in this sector.

What’s next for your board games, trading cards, and toys: are you looking at expanding into new categories? 

We plan on building our toy category – but in an organic and strategic manner, with products which we know will resonate with our audience, and offer a strong incentive to bring customers to our online platform, as well as in-store. We’re always looking for new categories and ways to expand our offering. 

What’s next for GAME: do you have any exciting news or plans that you would like to share?

We have a number of exciting incentives for our customers heading into 2024. 

We worked with the Pokémon Company to launch an innovative pop-up store, which ran from November 17 until December 4 at St David’s Shopping Centre in Cardiff, providing enthusiasts with a one-stop-shop and exclusives that couldn’t be purchased elsewhere. 

We also continue to offer amazing value to families and gamers alike. In the run-up to Christmas we had a two for £20 offer across a selection of games and toys, as well as value offers with as much as 50% off some of our range. 

Is there anything else you would like to add?  

We offer a vibrant and appealing retail experience with a great selection of product and friendly, knowledgeable staff. If you never grow old, you’ll love what we have to offer at GAME!