- This announcement comes after GameStop partnered with Immutable X in February.
- GameStop’s stock, GME, surged 5.29% today to change hands above $92.
- Despite pivoting toward web3, GameStop reported a $147.5 million loss in Q4 2021.
American video game retailer GameStop is gearing up to roll out its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace before the end of the second fiscal quarter of 2022. The firm announced this news in its Q4 financial report, which was published on March 17. This means GameStop has until June 30 to deliver on its promise.
Following the announcement, GameStop’s stock (GME) plunged 9.6% in after-hours trading yesterday. This decline was likely because the company reported a loss of $147.5 million in Q4 2021. However, the marketplace news seems to have triggered a bullish momentum today. At the time of writing, GME is changing hands at $92.31 after surging 5.29% in the day.
GameStop first unveiled its NFT push in April last year after announcing it was hiring a security analyst that is well-versed with the blockchain, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies. A month later, the company hinted at launching an NFT project on Ethereum.
However, GameStop did not disclose the project’s details until it teamed up with Immutable X, a layer-2 scaling solution for speedy transactions on Ethereum, on February 3, this year. This deal involved creating a $100 million fund in Immutable X’s IMX tokens.
Both companies planned to use the funds to offer NFT content and technology creators grants to build on the GameStop NFT marketplace. On top of this, GameStop revealed that Immutable X would become a layer-2 partner and platform for GameStop and its NFT marketplace.
Meme stock companies continue embracing web3
GameStop got interested in the web3 ecosystem in 2021 after the stock meme frenzy revealed the power of decentralization. Before the meme stock frenzy, which involved Subreddit group WallStreetBets (WSB) orchestrating a short squeeze on different stocks, GME was on the verge of collapse, trading below $20.
As a result of retail investors teaming up against hedge funds, GME soared past $370. While this development had nothing to do with crypto, some crypto proponents said retail investors ganging up against hedge funds proved there is power in decentralization. With GME coming back stronger than before, GameStop decided to change its business model to include web3 projects.
Apart from GameStop, movie theatre chain AMC also decided to embrace crypto and NFTs following the meme stock mania. In AMC’s case, the firm offered its 580,000 shareholders free NFTs dubbed I Own AMC.
