GameStop Focuses on NFT Marketplace Launch After Q4 Loss

GameStop, the much-loved retail video game store chain, is turning to its long-awaited Web3 gaming and NFT marketplace after suffering a $147.5 million net loss during Q4 of 2021.

GameStop has been quietly developing the minimum viable product of their NFT website since the middle of 2021. However, the firm has ramped up their efforts significantly this year starting with them unveiling their NFT and Web3 gaming division at the start of the year.

The firm also announced a major partnership with Immutable X, an Ethereum (ETH) scaling solution, the following month to build an NFT marketplace. According to GameStop, the Immutable X NFT marketplace deal is expected to bring them $150 million worth of IMX tokens should they achieve certain milestones.

Despite a bearish couple of months in the NFT market, Immutable X has gone from strength to strength, and also recently announced a $200 million Series C funding round at a $2 billion valuation on March 8. This sent the price of IMX surging almost 50% within 24 hours to $1.78. The price has retraced since then.

As part of the Q4 results that ended on January 29 and were published on March 17, Gamestop revealed that the launch of its NFT marketplace is scheduled for the end of Q2 2022.

GameStop’s net loss of $147.5 million is 83% lower than that of the year before. Its loss of $1.94 a share also sits well outside of Wall Street’s estimates of $0.84 earnings per share.