GameStop partners with Immutable X to develop an NFT marketplace

• GameStop intends to diversify into crypto and blockchain technology, according to the company’s CEO Matt Furlong. 
• The company reported net sales of $2.254 billion during the fourth quarter.

GameStop Corp., a multinational video game company, will launch a non-fungible tokens (NFTs) platform. This is expected to be ready by the second quarter of 2022. The company revealed the news during its fourth quarter and full-year financial results.

Notably, GameStop entered into a partnership with Immutable X to develop an NFT marketplace.  Additionally, the deal involves up to $150 million in IMX tokens, upon the achievement of certain milestones.

The GME stock market has been on the decline for the past year. According to MarketWatch, GME stock is down approximately 56 percent in the past year. Additionally, GME shares are down around 40.9 percent year to date.

With the decline, the $6.63 billion company has been seeking alternative revenue sources. Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology has been the most favored market. 

Notably, GameStop reported net sales of $2.254 billion during the fourth quarter. The figure was a few million higher compared to $2.122 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020.  An indication the company has recorded higher sales in the past year, regardless of share price volatility.

GameStop has portrayed characteristics similar to the crypto market. At the beginning of last year, GME shares experienced high volatility, following an organized short squeeze. 

Such instances of pump and dump are mostly experienced in the crypto market, more so in bull markets.

Ever since GameStop has shifted some of its energies towards crypto and blockchain technology. In its view, there is huge untapped potential in the crypto and block industry. 

GameStop and the NFT market

GameStop intends to diversify into crypto and blockchain technology, according to the company’s CEO Matt Furlong. Moreover, blockchain technology and the crypto market have a higher growth rate in the market. Whereby the NFT market is expected to record major adoption in the decade ahead.

“The company sees significant long-term potential in the more than $40 billion markets for NFTs,” Furlong said.

We are going to continue taking steps to create new offerings and make targeted bets in blockchain gaming and cryptocurrency. The company have learned from the mistakes of the past decade when GameStop failed to adapt to the future of gaming.

The NFT market has largely mingled with the gaming industry through GameFi. GameStop and Immutable X will develop the infrastructure for the NFT platform. Notably, Immutable X provides users with a secure way to create and distribute assets on a massive scale. Moreover, the platform is a layer-two scaling solution for NFTs on Ethereum.

IMX is Immutable X’s native ERC-20 utility token that has a maximum supply of 2 billion. According to market data provided by Binance-backed Coinmarketcap, IMX exchanged hands at around  $1.51, down 4.9 percent in the past 24 hours.