Gamestop Stock Tumbles as NFT Platform Release Window is Revealed
Gamestop's Q4 financials did not meet the company's expectations but the brick and motor video game retailer did announce some exciting news for crypto diehards.
The financial earnings call included a rough release date for the long-expected NFT platform which is planned to be released "by the end of the second quarter of the fiscal year 2022." This gives Gamestop up until June 30th to make good on its promise.
This announcement had been teased for months, with various sites reporting last spring of crypto-centered recruiting campaigns being held by GameStop. An unlisted site popped up in May of 2021 confirming that the project would be built on Ethereum, but it was uncertain how exactly it would be implemented.
All the rumors and speculation became true once Gamestop announced a partnership with ImmutableX, the layer-2 scaling solution for faster than average transactions on Ethereum, to assist with the launch.
The partnership came with a $100 million (paid in IMX tokens) incentive fund to lead video game studios to build on Gamestop‘s NFT platform. In a shocking move, the retailer would dump about $47 Million of Immutable X tokens days after the announcement, claiming the funds would help to develop the marketplace.
In spite of the verification of the marketplace launch, Gamestop’s (GME) still dropped 9.6% during overnight trading hours, as the stock continues a slow tumble.
The lackluster performance in the last quarter is certainly the reason for the downward trend, as Gamestop reported a loss of $147.5 million in Q4 2021, a scary number considering the firm earned $80.3 million during the same quarter of 2020.
Gamestop has had to scramble for revenue during the past decade as the video game industry has shifted to more digital sales. Long ago are the times of waiting on line at midnight for the new Call of Duty release. This has made the company pivot towards whatever hot trend it could. When you walk into a Gamestop today you'll see walls of Funko pops and shirts with Mario painted on them, and even prebuilt PCs.
Soon they'll be trying to get you to sign up for their NFT exchange right after signing up for a power-up rewards card, and giving you $4 for the latest copy of Call of Duty you had just traded-in.