Meme-Stock Darling Gamestop Launching NFTs Marketplace
By Space Coast Daily // March 24, 2022
GameStop has announced plans to launch a marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) later this year. Gamestop is teaming up with an Australian Blockchain Startup in this project.
The long-awaited GameStop NFT marketplace is finally here. The World’s largest video game merchandise retailer has announced that it will launch its NFTs trading platform by the end of July 2022. This is after it failed to do so in 2021. The company is building an online platform where anyone can trade NFTs for VR games, including player avatars and weapons.
NFTs, which represent real-world objects like art and music, became popular in 2021 set new records in the crypto sector, MetaworldGambler informed. Bloomberg estimates that NFTs sales surpassed $40 billion in 2021.
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After over six months of negotiations, the North American company will be partnering with Immutable, an Australian Blockchain startup, in this project. Immutable will come in with the Ethereum built immutable X layer-2 scaling platform to power the NFTs marketplace.
Immutable’s main role will be to mitigate Ethereum’s high gas fees challenge by putting together hundreds of thousands of records into a single transaction on the Ethereum blockchain. The company promises to offset any carbon footprint with partners like Cool Effect.
James Ferguson Immutable’s CEO describes Immutable X as a secure limitless exchange protocol with zero gas fees for all P2P transactions.
GameStop NFTs platform will get an initial boost from Immutable X users who will list their NFTs on the platform. Both new and already existing projects running on Immutable X will be able to feature their NFTs in the GameStop marketplace. Gods Unchained, Illuvium, TikTok, ESL Gaming, Ember Sword, GreenPark Sports, and Playco are some of the already existing partners on Immutable X.
Several other well-known companies such as Ubisoft have already started selling NFTs on their platforms. On the flip side, several similar schemes such as Team17 and Stalker 2 have had to pull out of the market due to poor reception and backlashes.
While Gamestop is not the first video game retailer to jump into the NFT world, this step could be revolutionary for the gaming industry due to its mass retail following. Square Enix is already figuring out ways of jumping onto this trend.
Gamestop and Immutable are prepared with an initial fund of $100 million to motivate NFTs developers on their platform through grants. Although it is not official what criteria will be used to award these funds, James Ferguson speculates that mid-market gaming studios that want to dive deep into the NFTs world may be the greatest beneficiaries. The $100 million fund capital comes from Immutable’s token, IMX. GameStop’s NFTs dummy website is already up.
