By George Ward
As the adoption of blockchain and its asset continues, Retailer, GameStop Corporation, has announced the launch of its Non-Fungible token (NFT) marketplace. GameStop built its NFT marketplace on the Immutable X network, a Layer 2 Ethereum blockchain scaling protocol.
Despite GameStop’s struggles in the video game retail sector, the company is now a significant player in the NFT gaming market thanks to the launch of its marketplace. The company’s Chairman, Ryan Cohen, said the move is a strategy to expand its digital services and online products catalog.
It even outperforms crypto-native gaming NFT protocols like Fractal, founded by Twitch’s Justin Kan. GameStop follows the path of several crypto firms who entered the market before the boom in NFT.
Earlier this year, US’s largest crypto exchange, Coinbase, launched its NFT marketplace. Then, in June, one of the biggest e-commerce stores, eBay, bought the KnownOrigin NFT marketplace.
Immutable, the creator of Immutable X, teamed up with GameStop in February to launch a brand-new NFT marketplace that would sell resources for nearly all Immutable X games.
GameStop marketplace will offer carbon-neutral NFT minting and trading. Thus, creators won’t pay fees for using the Immutable X scaling protocol.
“Today’s partnership with the GameStop NFT Marketplace allows our users access to millions of additional NFTs and a best-in-class experience for our games’ players,” said Robbie Ferguson, Immutable X President.
In his words, Jonathan Reedy, one of ImmutableX’s vice presidents, said both businesses want to entice new Web3 gamers by offering training materials. Then, in the future, integrate physical and virtual games. Reedy added that ImmutableX aspires to develop a gaming environment in which genuine digital ownership and enjoyment are central to gameplay.
GameStop’s last quarter earnings report showed a 3.4% decrease compared to its previous quarter. Additionally, GameStop established a strategic partnership with Bankman-Fried-owned FTX US exchange last month.
The Downtrend In The NFT Industry
The partnership will give GameStop customers access to FTX’s marketplace to display and sell their digital collectibles. Since gamers are among the biggest supporters of the NFT industry, GameStop hopes to maximize this advantage.
The NFT industry has been on a decline since the start of this year. According to the on-chain tracker DappRadar, the Bored Apes and Fat Penguins NFT collection recorded their first month of sales under $1 billion since June 2021, four months ago. Also, sales volume on OpenSea (the world’s biggest NFT marketplace) dropped by more than 70% monthly.