GameStop
GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer, headquartered in Grapevine, Texas. The brand is the largest video game retailer worldwide., the company operated 3,203 stores including 2,325 both in the United States, 193 in Canada, 374 in Australia and 311 in Europe under the GameStop, EB Games, Micromania-Zing, ThinkGeek and Zing Pop Culture brands. The company was founded in Dallas in 1984 as Babbage's and took on its current name in 1999.
The company's performance declined during the mid-to-late 2010s due to the shift of video game sales to online shopping and failed investments by GameStop in smartphone retail. In 2021, after retail investors on Reddit noticed that the short interest exceeded 100%, the company's stock price skyrocketed from $17.25 to over US$500 per share. According to the SEC report, this volatility was only in part due to the massive buying power of retail investors. The company received significant media attention during January and February 2021 due to the volatility of its stock price in the GameStop short squeeze; the company was ranked 577th on the Fortune 500. GameStop also used to own and publish the video game magazine Game Informer before discontinuing it in August 2024 and selling it to Gunzilla Games in 2025.
Over 400 GameStop stores closed in January 2025 due to a decline in sales, a pace to close twice as many as the company did in 2024. Consumer shift to the online marketplace has led to a decline in revenue. This represents the highest number of stores that GameStop has closed in a single month.
On March 25, 2025, GameStop announced a plan to use its cash reserves to buy Bitcoin.
History
Babbage's (1984–1994)
GameStop traces its roots to Babbage's, a Dallas, Texas–based software retailer founded in 1984 by former Harvard Business School classmates James McCurry and Gary M. Kusin. The company was named after Charles Babbage and opened its first store in Dallas's NorthPark Center with the help of Ross Perot, an early investor in the company. The company quickly began to focus on video game sales for the then-dominant Atari 2600. Babbage's began selling Nintendo games in 1987. Babbage's became a public company via an initial public offering in 1988. By 1991, video games accounted for two-thirds of Babbage's sales.NeoStar Retail Group (1994–1996)
Babbage's merged with Software Etc., an Edina, Minnesota–-based retailer that specialized in personal computing software, to create NeoStar Retail Group in 1994. The merger was structured as a stock swap, where shareholders of Babbage's and Software Etc. received shares of NeoStar, a newly formed holding company. Babbage's and Software Etc. continued to operate as independent subsidiaries of NeoStar and retained their respective senior management teams. Babbage's founder and chairman James McCurry became chairman of NeoStar, while Babbage's president Gary Kusin and Software Etc. President Daniel DeMatteo retained their respective titles. Software Etc. chairman Leonard Riggio became chairman of NeoStar's executive committee.Gary Kusin resigned as president of Babbage's in February 1995 to start a cosmetics company. Daniel DeMatteo, formerly president of Software Etc., assumed Kusin's duties and was promoted to president and chief operating officer of NeoStar. NeoStar chairman James McCurry was also appointed to the newly created position of NeoStar CEO. The company relocated from its headquarters in Dallas to Grapevine later that year.
NeoStar merged its Babbage's and Software Etc. units into a single organization in May 1996 amid declining sales. Company president Daniel DeMatteo also resigned, and NeoStar chairman and CEO James McCurry assumed the title of president. In September of that year, after NeoStar was unable to secure the credit necessary to purchase inventory for the holiday season, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and appointed Thomas G. Plaskett chairman while James McCurry remained company chief executive and president.
The leadership changes were not enough; in November 1996, the assets of NeoStar were purchased for $58.5 million by Leonard Riggio, a founder of Software Etc. and chairman and principal stockholder of Barnes & Noble. Electronics Boutique had also bid to purchase NeoStar, but the judge presiding over NeoStar's bankruptcy accepted Riggio's bid because it kept open 108 stores more than Electronics Boutique's bid would have. Approximately 200 retail stores were not included in the transaction and were subsequently closed.
Babbage's Etc. (1996–1999)
Following his purchase of NeoStar's assets, Leonard Riggio dissolved the holding company and created a new holding company named Babbage's Etc. He appointed Richard "Dick" Fontaine, previously Software Etc.'s chief executive during its expansion in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as Babbage Etc.'s chief executive. Daniel DeMatteo, previously the president of both Software Etc. and NeoStar, became company president and COO. Three years later, in 1999, Babbage's Etc. launched its GameStop brand with 30 stores in strip malls. The company also launched gamestop.com, a website that allowed consumers to purchase video games online. GameStop.com was promoted in Babbage's and Software Etc. stores.Barnes & Noble Booksellers (1999–2004)
In October 1999, Barnes & Noble Booksellers purchased Babbage's Etc. for $215 million. Because Babbage's Etc. was principally owned by Leonard Riggio, who was also Barnes & Noble's chairman and principal shareholder, a special committee of independent directors of Barnes & Noble Booksellers evaluated and signed off on the deal. A few months later, in May 2000, Barnes & Noble acquired Funco, the owner of Eden Prairie, Minnesota–based video game retailer FuncoLand, for $160 million. Babbage's Etc., which had been previously operating as a direct subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Funco. With its acquisition of Funco, Barnes & Noble also acquired Game Informer, a video game magazine that was first published in 1991. Funco was renamed GameStop, Inc. in December 2000 in anticipation of holding an initial public offering for the company.In February 2002, the company once again became a public company via an initial public offering. Barnes & Noble retained control over the newly public company with 67% of outstanding shares and 95% of voting shares. Barnes & Noble retained control over GameStop until October 2004, when it distributed its 59% stake in GameStop to stakeholders of Barnes & Noble, making it an independent company.
Expansion (2004–2016)
Acquisitions
- In 2005, GameStop acquired EB Games for $1.44 billion. This expanded GameStop's operations into Australia, Canada, Europe and New Zealand. GameStop's operations expanded to over 4,250 stores worldwide as a result of the acquisition.
- In 2007, GameStop acquired Rhino Video Games, who operated 70 video game stores throughout the Southeastern United States, from Blockbuster for an undisclosed amount.
- In April 2008, GameStop acquired Free Record Shop's 49 Norwegian stores.
- In October 2008, GameStop acquired Micromania, a French video-game retailer, for $700 million. GameStop, which had previously owned no stores in France, now had 332 French video-game stores.
- In November 2009, it acquired a majority stake in Jolt Online Gaming, an Irish browser game studio. Jolt closed in 2012.
- In 2010, GameStop acquired Kongregate, a San Francisco–based website for browser-based games. In 2017, it was sold for $55 million.
- In 2011, GameStop acquired Spawn Labs and Impulse in separate transactions. Spawn Labs was a developer of technology that allowed users to play video games that were run remotely on machines in data centers rather than their personal computer or console. Impulse was a digital distribution and multiplayer video game platform acquired from Stardock, and renamed GameStop PC Downloads. Under the ownership of GameStop, the service was redesigned and sold games that use other platforms such as Steam while also selling games that use its own proprietary DRM solution, Impulse:Reactor. GameStop shut down both PC Downloads and Spawn Labs in 2014.
- In 2012, GameStop acquired BuyMyTronics, a Denver-based online market place for consumer electronics.
- In October 2012, GameStop acquired a 49.9% ownership interest in Simply Mac, a Salt Lake City–based Apple authorized reseller and repairer founded in 2006. GameStop acquired the remaining 50.1% of ownership in November 2013. GameStop tried to target areas for potential new Simply Mac locations in smaller markets that did not have an existing Apple Store within a reasonable driving distance. In January 2017, GameStop closed many Simply Mac locations. The chain had as many as 70 locations at the time of the announcement. In 2019, GameStop divested Simply Mac; at that time it had 43 stores.
- In November 2013, GameStop acquired Spring Mobile, a Salt Lake City–based retailer of AT&T-branded wireless services.
- It acquired 163 RadioShack locations in February 2015.
- In July 2015, GameStop acquired Geeknet.
- On August 3, 2016, GameStop acquired 507 AT&T store chains in plans to diversify into new businesses and less dependent on the video game market.
Brand expansion
In October 2012 at Grapevine Mills in Dallas, GameStop introduced GameStop Kids, a pop-up retail concept. The brand, which had 80 locations in shopping malls during the Christmas and holiday season, focused on children's products, and carried only games rated "Everyone" by the ESRB, along with merchandise of popular franchises aimed towards the demographic.
In July 2014, GameStop's Australian Division EB Games Australia introduced ZiNG Pop Culturea pop culture retailer. ZiNG Pop Culture has since expanded to over 50 standalone stores as well as numerous large format hybrid stores, which include both an EB Games and Zing Pop Culture store in a single location with an expanded selection of games merchandise.