GameStop is a retail chain that sells video games and related products. It appeared in 1984 as a software store. The Dallas firm was founded by three entrepreneurs: Leonard Riggio, Daniel DeMatteo, and Richard Fontaine. Its headquarters is located in Grapevine, Texas (USA), and it owns more than 5,500 trading platforms around the world.
Meaning and History
This sprawling network began with a humble pavilion called Babbage’s. The company got its name in honor of Charles Babbage, a mathematician-philosopher and the first ideologist of digital programmable computers. Soon, it quickly reorganized itself to sell video games, focusing on customer requests. In 1991, the new assortment brought her two-thirds of her total income.
The business owners were Gary M. Kusin and James McCurry, former classmates at Harvard Business School. To get the store, they asked for financial assistance from Ross Perot, who became their investor. The marketplace then went through several mergers and renames until it became GameStop. It happened in 1999.
1999 – 2000
After the rebranding, the company received a new name and logo. There was an inscription “Gamestop” on it, where there was no wordplay “Game” + “stop” yet: only the direct value “Games” + “top” was reflected; therefore, “s” was lowercase. The name was executed in the classic form – in lower case with the first capital letter. The word was surrounded by three curved lines, one at the top and two identical at the bottom.
2000 – today
The transition to the 21st millennium was a turning point for the company and required a transformation. The cardinal decision resulted in the emergence of a completely different concept of the logo, emphasizing “Game” and “Stop.” By combining the two foundations, leadership got the opposite meaning, which confused, pushed to buy and check – is it so? As a result, “Stop” (prohibition, stopping) gave a start to an increase in interest. Simultaneously, the emblem itself is quite simple: a horizontal inscription made in two “fatal” colors – black and red.
Font and Colors of the Emblem
This logo has no graphic part – the informational inscription is of paramount importance. Text is present in both variants, highlighting the main product range. If before the word was classic, now it looks original. This was made possible by two factors. The first is uppercase “G” and “S” at the beginning and end of the name. The second is a two-tone palette. She very well conveys the emotional intensity of a person and reflects two extremes – all or nothing, as is customary in the world of games.
For the word “GameStop,” the developers chose the Impact typeface. Massive and wide letters look indestructible. “P” has a shortened leg, while “m” and “t,” on the contrary, are elongated. Although the two different stems are fused, their borders are highlighted in capital letters and color. The left side of the name is colored black, the right side – red. They symbolize the peak of emotional stress. The inscription was made in a thin font with white characters in the debut version, so it almost did not attract the eye.