From embracing encryption and seeking change to giving up NFT and leaving the market, what has GameStop experienced?
Original author: Andrew Hayward
Original compilation: Deep Chao TechFlow
NFTs were once not only the darling of the crypto market, but also a good way for companies in traditional fields to attract attention and boost business.
Among them is the well-known GameStop.
In 2021, readers who still have impressions will definitely be able to recall that GameStops stock once staged a scene where retail investors rose up and violently defeated Wall Streets elite capital. Institutions believed that its traditional retail business was weak and shorted its stock. However, retail investors were enthusiastic about buying, which eventually led to an epic short squeeze and caused huge financial losses to institutional hedge funds.
GameStop itself has actively embraced NFT in an attempt to alleviate the problem of weak business.
But less than three years after first hinting at interest in NFTs, GameStop has decided to abandon its NFT marketplace.
From the spiritual totem of equal rights for retail investors, to embracing encryption and actively seeking change, and finally to its sad departure now... How did GameStop come along, and why did it give up its business? Are NFTs a profitable business for traditional companies?
Perhaps we can find some inspiration from the timeline of the companys business changes that Decrypt has sorted out.
April 2021: GameStop is recruiting blockchain analysts
In April 2021, GameStop posted a job opening for a blockchain security analyst, hinting at their plans to promote NFTs. A fintech recruiter at the time said that since the position was focused on security, it was likely that GameStop was planning to launch something serious in the crypto space.
May 2021: GameStop launches mysterious website
In May 2021, GameStop said via a minimalist landing page that it was continuing to hire employees for its blockchain project. It was unclear at the time whether it would launch NFT collectibles, tokens, a marketplace or something else entirely.
However, the landing page contains a number of hints and Easter eggs, such as a link to the GameStop Ethereum smart contract that obtained an NFT from Immutables Gods Unchained card game. The teaser website also hides an endless runner browser game.
January 2022: Blockchain department established
By January 2022, GameStop had established its blockchain division and hired 20 employees to work on its upcoming crypto initiatives. GameStop shares jumped 31% on the news.
February 2022: Agreement with Immutable + $100 million fund
GameStop announced a partnership with crypto startup Immutable in February 2022 to launch a $100 million grant fund to provide Immutable’s IMX tokens to developers who want to use the Immutable X blockchain and work with GameStop to release their NFTs.
The news also confirms that GameStop will use the Immutable X blockchain for its upcoming NFT marketplace (GameStops marketplace also uses Loopring, another Ethereum scaling network).
GameStop has so far been silent on its blockchain plans.
February 2022: GameStop sells $47M worth of IMX
In an awkward situation, GameStop sold $47 million worth of IMX tokens, causing the price of IMX to plummet 23% in 24 hours. While the token payments were part of a prearranged transaction, outsiders may view this as GameStop seeking to cash out and profit from its cryptocurrency partnerships immediately — even before launching a crypto product.
May 2022: GameStop launches NFT Twitter account and wallet
GameStop has launched the GameStop NFT Twitter account specifically to promote its NFT program. What the Internet has done for communication, blockchain has done for value, the account wrote in May 2022, adding that a public, permissionless, trusted value layer empowers players and promotes encryption Potential Benefits of Currency. However, by this time, sales in the NFT market had begun to gradually decline.
GameStop also launched its browser extension crypto and NFT wallet in May of that year, and tweeted out many different wallet patch updates throughout the year.
July 2022: NFT Marketplace Launch and Layoffs
In July 2022, a month after posting huge losses, GameStop fired its chief financial officer and cut staff across its business units. Days later, it launched the long-awaited beta version of its NFT marketplace, which requires NFT creators to submit an application for approval to be listed or minted on its platform.
GameStop’s NFT marketplace saw trading volume exceed 3,100 Ethereum in its first two days after launch, worth about $3.5 million at the time. While not much compared to the largest NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, GameStop surpasses Coinbase’s NFT marketplace efforts.
In the meantime, GameStop continues to encourage developers to apply for its $100 million funding program.
October 2022: GameStop finally adds gaming NFTs
Three months after launching its NFT marketplace, GameStop has finally added Immutable X gaming NFTs to its platform. This means that NFT items or assets in games such as Gods Unchained, Illuvium, and Guild of Guardians can be bought and sold through GameStops NFT marketplace. Previously, GameStop had only sold avatar-style NFTs and art NFTs on its platform.
According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, in November 2022, GameStop released a version for iOS mobile devices through the Apple App Store, further promoting the development of cryptocurrency and NFT wallets.
March 2023: SEC filings suggest NFT plans fall short of expectations
Our new digital asset products and services may not achieve the results we expect and may expose us to new risks, GameStop wrote in a March 2023 SEC filing in a blockchain risk assessment.
The company continued: If we are unable to successfully implement and operate these digital asset programs, we may incur unexpected costs and losses and face other adverse consequences, such as negative reputational impact.
GameStop further stated that its blockchain products expose the company to risks similar to risks associated with any new product offering, including but not limited to our ability to accurately predict market demand and acceptance, acceptance by creators and buyers, operational technical issues, products and legal and regulatory risks”.
June 2023: GameStop fires CEO
GameStop fired the CEO who led the companys push into blockchain and NFTs within a year of launching its NFT marketplace.
August 2023: GameStop cancels crypto wallets
In August 2023, GameStop stated on its NFT market website that it would stop launching its crypto wallet in November due to regulatory uncertainty in the cryptocurrency space.
Around this time, high-profile crypto lawsuits with the SEC against exchanges like Coinbase and Binance continued.
September 2023: NFT Twitter account goes silent
GameStops NFT-focused Twitter account, which promoted artists and portfolios recognized by its NFT market, has stopped posting content. However, until December 2023, the account had been responding sporadically to some users.
Its unclear whether the employee responsible for the account has been fired, reassigned to a different role, or simply told to stop posting gm or similar content on the account.
November 2023: GameStop Wallet Out of Service
GameStop gave its crypto wallet users roughly three months to move their assets out of its products before shutting down in November. The wallet was initially released for Chrome browser and iOS.
December 2023: NFT revenue is low
In December 2023, GameStops quarterly earnings report showed that the company generated $2.8 million in revenue from the sale of digital assets, referred to as NFTs, between January 2023 and the end of October. This is a far cry from the $77 million in digital asset sales during the same period in 2022.
January 2024: The GameStop NFT market is about to close
By January, GameStop made its intentions clear: its NFT market would be shut down. However, the listed company once again remained silent on its plans to shut down the NFT platform and did not comment on related response requests.
