GameStop launches NFT Marketplace in the midst of cryptocurrency

Despite the best efforts from companies such as Ubisoft and Square Enix, players have so far, NFTs have resisted coming close to their favorite titles. Instead of putting non-fungible tokens into play, GameStop hopes to sell them directly to players. The game retailer launched its own NFT marketplace on Monday.

GameStop’s business has struggled over the past decade as people increasingly buy games online, a trend that is pronounced enough for Sony to offer a PlayStation 5 digital only
. With a changing customer base, the company now sees the lucrative NFT market, which was last year worth $ 25 billion. In addition to its newly launched marketplace, GameStop also offers its own cryptowallet.

NFTs are tokens embedded from a blockchain that certifies ownership of a digital asset; they are the digital equivalent of the title deed to a property. Critics say that NFTs are a temporary mania that will eventually disappear into obscurity when the bubble bursts well and truly, while proponents claim that NFTs will change the internet economy forever. Whatever the benefits, NFTs are big business. Around $ 17 billion has been spent on Ethereum-based NFTs in the OpenSea market this year, according to Dune analytics. OpenSea takes 2.5% of each NFT sold on the platform, which means that revenues will be around 425 million dollars in the last 7 months.

Unfortunately for GameStop, the recent cryptocurrency has sparked enthusiasm for everything to do with blockchain. Ether, the cryptocurrency with which most NFTs are purchased, has fallen by almost 70% since the beginning of the year. NFT sales on OpenSea fell from $ 2.5 billion in May to $ 696 million in June. With ether at around $ 1,000, there is enough marketing activity for an established company like OpenSea to keep up, but it will be far more challenging for a newcomer like GameStop.

GameStop’s marketplace is Ethereum-based, which means it does not sell NFTs built on blockchains such as Solana, and currently only offers artwork. GameStop is apparently focusing on its existing customer base to engage in NFT trading, as the marketplace does not currently offer blue chip collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club, Doodles or Cool Cats – collections popular with NFT traders, but unaffordable for most people.

Eventually, the marketplace will expand to include “Web3 games“, which refers to games that use NFTs and cryptocurrencies. For that purpose, GameStop has partnered with Immutable, a company that specializes in blockchain games. The two have offered a $ 100 million scholarship to Web3 developers who joins the platform.

It comes at a troubled time for GameStop. Last week, the company fired its CFO due to broader layoffs in the organization. “Change will be constant as we develop our trading business and launch new products through our blockchain team,” GameStop CEO Matt Furlong said in an email to employees, according to Kotaku. In the company’s latest quarterly report, at the end of April, it revealed a net loss of $ 157 million.