After entering administration last week, UK video game retailer GAME has closed 277 of its 600 stores in the UK and Ireland, and laid off 2,104 employees.

Online services have also been suspended, and GAME is no longer taking pre-orders or accepting gift cards.

GAME had been in trouble for quite some time, but the beginning of the end seems to have come last month, when the company was unable to reach agreeable credit terms with distributors including EA, and couldn't stock the hot-selling Mass Effect 3.

GAME reportedly owes $287 million, and if administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers can't find a buyer for it, the company could shut down entirely.

[venturebeat]

Struggling UK video game retailer GAME, which has over 1,200 stores in Europe and Australia, has officially entered administration -- the UK equivalent of filing for bankruptcy. The company's stores will remain open while an appointed administrator decides what to do with the business.

GAME had been showing major signs of trouble in recent months, failing to reach deals with major game publishers, including EA. As a result, the company's stores didn't carry Mass Effect 3, and missed out on the game's huge opening weekend sales.

Shortly afterward, GAME pulled its shares from the London Stock Exchange after seeing them drop by 71%.

Today's administration announcement comes after GAME's creditors rejected a takeover attempt by investment firm OpCapita, which had offered to settle all of the company's debts.

[geeky-gadgets]