[LowlyAssassin]

well that's probably comet/ currys financial decision as game almost went bust remember and they ended up with new management / owners
it did seem silly having 2 stores under different names trading close too each other
but here's the technical as too why they where doing it
many councils and regions within the UK have a limit to one store per chain per post code
some are more strict some are less strict
some have a distance rule so say no more then one store per 5 miles
and although game and game station are owned by the same parent company they trade under desperate rules which means they can bypass these limits and win more custom as having 2 shops trading even under desperate names is better then only having one

now the reason why they are finally merging
although they are owned by the same parent company they are run as 2 desperate companies the board of directors may be the same or even share members but everything below that is essentially duplicated so if they merge they can essentially half the number of employees from a management perspective although they will not lay off half of there star as that a ready happened last april, it means they will be merging offices and paying alot less overheads and it seems that with the new management structure and administrators they have from a higher management level they must see this as a bonus for the business in the long term