Retail titan GameStop is now working with high-profile Indie developers under its new publishing label, GameTrust.

Following their endeavors with pre-order bonuses, retro-gaming trade-ins and collectibles, GameStop is now branching out into the world of video game publishing. With the help of some rather popular independent development studios, GameStop will begin publishing games under their new label “GameTrust” this year. Ready At Dawn, Frozenbyte will Tequila Works will all have titles published under GameTrust sometime in 2016. The studios are responsible for the likes of Trine, Deadlight and The Order: 1886; GameStop and Insomniac Games are already working together to publish and distribute Insomniac’s upcoming adventure game Song of the Deep.

It may seem hard to believe in recent years, but GameStop was once a humble subsidiary of the defunct Babbage’s Etc. brand. As some of the older gamers may remember the days of retro-gaming store Funcoland, host corporation Babbage’s was acquired by Barnes & Noble in the 90’s, resulting in the renaming of Funcoland to GameStop. GameStop became an independent company in 2004, with an onslaught of acquisitions following in the years to come:

Between 2004-2014, GameStop purchased Blockbuster subsidiary Rhino Video Games, Electronics Boutique/EB Games, the Norwegian branch of Free Record Shop, San Francisco browser-game website Kongregate, French retailer Micromania, digital-streaming service developer Spawn Labs, the PC digital platform Impulse (now “GameStop PC Downloads”), and Utah’s own Spring Mobile.

GameStop owns and operates the popular gaming magazine Game Informer, along with AT&T pre-paid wireless retailer Cricket Wireless. As with online gaming news site GameSpot, GameStop is partnered with CBS for the production of the in-store network GameStop TV. The gaming giant also had a movie-based store in the 2000’s with MovieStop, however the standalone chain was acquired by Hastings Entertainment in 2014. The pop-culture and tech outlet ThinkGeek and its parent company Geeknet were purchased by GameStop in 2015 after out-bidding Hot Topic.

GameStop will reveal more details regarding the GameTrust publishing platform in the coming months.

Source: GameStop
Images courtesy of GameStop, Insomniac Games