GameStop fires Game Informer Staff as it doubles down on NFTs and Blockchain

GameStop started another big round of layoffs yesterday, which included the dismissal of its own CFO, with reports that more than 150 employees were released, including key personnel at Game Informer, the besieged magazine and the website that has already been targeted for cuts before this.

All this is in service of GameStop’s new plan to invest heavily in an increasingly unstable space, web3, blockchain and NFTs.

The blockchain was the main focus of a leaked internal memo sent out by CEO Matt Furlong:

“Change will be constant as we develop our trading business and launch new products through our blockchain group … These changes will enable us to operate profitably as we execute our strategy of pursuing sales growth in our trading business and launching new products. which strengthens customers within the verticals of digital assets and web3 games. “

GameStop has launched its own crypto wallet and plans to launch an NFT marketplace just as the NFT trading volume has fallen by around 90% in recent months, according to some reports. GameStop seems to think that the same types that made it a “meme share” will go big on the web3 concept, although all this seems very different from what was previously the core concept of the company, a store that sells video games with value-added assets as an enthusiast magazine. It also seems a bit like diving with your head first into a pool that has just been almost completely drained of water.

The tweets from Game Informer employees have been quite heartbreaking to watch over the last day, as their jobs have been sacrificed in pursuit of this hazy blockchain dream:

It is unknown how much of Game Informer is left, since it was already cut down before this during previous layoffs. In addition to GI and the CFO, it reports that entire teams such as the Data Integrity Approval team have been released.

Given that GameStop effectively seemed like the video game version of Blockbuster when it all went digital, their continued survival has been a continuing miracle over the past decade as they pivot and pivot and pivot to try to retain some relevance. It feels like yesterday a kind of grand plan was announced to make stores a destination for personal gaming and e-sports, now it is a huge investment in the blockchain, which seems like an even more risky prospect.

It feels unwise to predict GameStop’s imminent doom, given how they have managed to survive so long. But at the same time, it also feels bad for GameStop to believe that crypto and NFTs will be their saving grace given the current reality of the rapidly dissolving markets. We’ll see what happens.

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