The US retail chain GameStop is planning to set up its own NFT platform. To operate this, the company has already hired more than 20 employees, such as one Report of the Wall Street Journal can be found. The platform will enable trading in NFTs of video game items, such as clothing and weapons for player avatars. Corresponding rumors have been around for around nine months. In April 2021, the GameStop website was looking for an analyst with knowledge in the areas of crypto, blockchain and NFTs. An exact time for the launch of the platform is currently not known.
Last year GameStop renewed its leadership team and board of directors, appointing activist investor Ryan Cohen as chairman. The turnaround efforts have not yet been reflected in GameStop’s financial performance. Before that, the company almost went bankrupt. Many hedge funds even speculated on bankruptcy as short sellers. But then the Reddit forum r / wallstreetbets took up the fight against these shortsellers and briefly drove the price to astronomical heights.
Is GameStop stopping the losses with NFTs?
The NFT platform could therefore turn out to be a financial lifeline for GameStop. The video game clientele seems quite well suited for this. Because they are already used to spending a lot of money on virtual goods. The current example of Dencentraland shows that virtual real estate in video games and collectibles from video games are also a rapidly growing segment of the NFT market. Other prominent video game providers like Ubisoft have already started building NFTs into their titles. It remains to be seen whether GameStop will succeed in stopping the wave of losses that has been going on for years.
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