EB Games lives again—in Canada, at least. GameStop Canada has been acquired by Stephan Tetrault, an entrepreneur and "longtime leader in the collectibles and entertainment space," and is being relaunched as , "a beloved and iconic name many Canadian gamers still associate with their earliest gaming experiences."
It seems like an odd move at first blush. The rise of online shopping has been absolutely murder for conventional retail, and nowhere is that truer than in the field of videogame sales. Why go to the trouble of driving to the mall, after all, when you can just browse over to your digital storefront of choice and choose from among, well, everything?
"This isn't just a business decision—it's about bringing something back that Canadians truly loved," Tetrault said in a statement. "We're going to build something special here, with community, nostalgia, and innovation at its heart."
It's kind of amusing (to me, at least) that GameStop hasn't [[link]] actually been in Canada all that terribly long. It has been legally—GameStop acquired EB Games in 2005—but it continued to operate in the country as EB Games until 2021, when it finally got around to . Less than four years later, it all seems like kind of a waste of time: The old name is coming back, but for many of us who aren't regular visitors, it never really left.
It's been years since EB (or GameStop) [[link]] had any relevance to PC gaming, but I'm old enough to remember when it was a destination—a time before the eminence of Steam, when PC games came in boxes, took up as much space on the shelves as console [[link]] games, and browsing the bargain bins—which to be clear were literally wire bins with cheap games dumped into them—was a genuine and often rewarding thrill. And I know that's not coming back, but even so it'll be nice to see the old shingle back over the door—and yeah, I'll probably stick my head in when I'm in town anyway.