Gamestop, many people think a number of different things when they hear that name. For instance someone may think “Oh I can get games there.” or “Gamestop? I practically live there.” Contrary to what you may think though there is much more to it than just video games. They are actually the largest retailer of software and new or used video games in the world. Gamestop didn’t always hold that title though because as some people might know they weren’t always Gamestop. They used to actually go by the name of Babbages. Created in 1983 Babbages didn’t make the transition into Gamestop until eleven years later in 1994 when they began their first corporate merge with Software Etc. The second, more known merge was in 2000 with Funcoland and last but not least, the merge with EbGames in 2005.

In 1994 when Babbages merged with Software Etc. they began going by Neostar Retail. Despite the fact that they were now one company they still acted as if they were still separate. Meaning that instead of everything Babbages and Software Etc. outlet changing their name to Neostar Retail they just kept the original names and acted as two different companies.

When Babbages and Software Etc. merged into Neostar Retail things began going down hill. Since they were acting as different stores it got to where one side wasn’t sure of what the other side was up to and eventually caused them to go into Chapter 11 reorganization in 1996. That means that a troubled business can’t service its debts and pay its creditors. At this time there were currently 800 stores within the United States and more than a few offers for Neostar’s assets.