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A 90s retail chain is set to disappear from UK high streets for good this month. GAME, which previously had stores in Birmingham and Solihull, is preparing to vanish from British shopping centres later this month.

GAME is gearing up to shut its three remaining standalone outlets in April. The retailer will cease trading at locations in Dudley, Sutton and Lancaster.

However, the precise dates of these closures have yet to be confirmed. GAME has been steadily scaling back its operations, with its Basingstoke headquarters shutting last year, though the brand intends to survive through concession stands within other retailers.

Managing director Nick Arran said: "Gaming is our core business, and we will be the last man standing selling physical video games.

"We see our place in the market as proving that there is a place for physical, whether that be the collector's editions, which we see as the vinyl of video games, or the gifter who doesn't want to wrap up a download code for Christmas."

"But we need to be realistic. We have a business to run, and the expectation is that this will decline. So we need to fill that gap."

"The transition to digital has been faster than many people anticipated," says Lisa Byfield-Green an analyst at Planet Retail. "With that many shops, Game could not keep pace. Any future for the company will involve a much smaller store base - whether that means being split and bought by different companies, or someone deciding to take on Game as a whole.

"What we've seen with other successful chains is an element of retail theatre," says Byfield-Green. "You've got to give people a reason to come into a store.

"We've seen it a lot in the US. Barnes and Noble has a tie in with Angry Birds, where people can bring their Nook eBook device and get exclusive content when they visit a store.

In 2012, GAME collapsed into administration, bringing an end to two decades of trading and what had once been a dominant force on the high street.

PwC partner Mike Jervis attributed the crisis to "high fixed costs, an ambitious international roll-out

"In the UK, Foyles are growing their sales and their store base, but they're relatively small, and they're able to tailor their stock to their local customers. That's where the national chains need to re-focus.

"You have to give local customers what they want. If you do that, there's always room for specialists."