What you need to know
GameStop is launching a new NFT gaming marketplace in partnership with Sydney-based Ethereum layer two solution ImmutableX.
The marketplace will offer in-game NFT content from Web3 games built on ImmutableX, such as the collectible card game Gods Unchained and Guild of Guardians, a role-playing game (RPG).
GameStop marketplace changes asset economy
The new NFT Marketplace will be available to GameStop players and GameStop Powerup Pro customers in the US. It will allow carbon neutral NFT mining without gas fees. The launch follows a $100 million joint fund between GameStop and ImmutableX in February 2022.
According to ImmutableX CEO Robbie Ferguson, this marketplace will allow players to own in-game assets. This model is a departure from the traditional revenue model of the gaming giants.
Previously, players playing games from major studios were forced to trade in-game assets on black market websites since their legitimate exchange was not allowed.
At press time, several NFTs had been listed on the market, including several “pawn” NFTs from Immortal Game, a Web3 chess game. The current prices for these NFTs range from 0.007 ETH upwards.
Also listed are NFTs of DC Comics digital trading cards, although these are not yet for sale. Players can connect their crypto wallets, including GameStop’s recently announced GameStop Wallet.
GameStop stock jumped 5% just after the open on Monday, October 31, 2022. It ended the trading day 0.41% in the green.
A brief history of GameStop’s Web3 pivot
GameStop was born from a joint initiative between two Harvard Business School alumni, James McCurry and Gary M. Kusin. Originally, McCurry and Kusin opened a software retailer, Babbage, which later morphed into a video game sales company that sold games for the Atari 2600 game console.
After a series of acquisitions between 2004 and 2016, the company went into decline due to the rise of downloadable games on platforms such as Microsoft’s Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. A reduction in foot traffic during the Covid-19 pandemic did not help matters. Significant losses occurred in the third quarter of 2021 which led to changes in the business model.
After recording those losses, the company signaled its intention to diversify its struggling physical gaming business into Web3 in early 2022. It hired a new management team in 2021, appointing investor Ryan Cohen as the company’s chairman, who has since pushed for the company must focus on technology. The company later hired more than 20 people in January 2022 to lead the development of a marketplace for buying, selling and trading NFTs from video games.
GameStop follows a broader NFT trend
Time will tell if the pivot to NFTs will improve GameStop’s bottom line. To their credit, the NFTs listed so far are probably items that are more collectible than speculative assets. According to a recent report from Activate Technologies, this can bode well for success. The report suggested that buyers are moving away from NFTs as speculative investments. Instead, they choose to buy NFTs as collectibles, display them on social media profiles, or become part of a community.
But GameStop and ImmutableX also face competition for players from tier one blockchain, Zilliqa. Zilliqa declared war on console makers PlayStation and Xbox by announcing a Web3-focused game console to be launched in 2023. Zilliqa will release a skill game, WEB3WAR, with the console.
Got something to say about Gamestop or something else? Join the discussion in our Telegram channel. You can also catch us on Tik Tok, Facebook or Twitter.
Disclaimer
All information on our website is published in good faith and for general information purposes only. Any action the reader takes on the information contained on our website is strictly at their own risk.
