Despite GameStop’s mixed Q4 financial results, the video game retailer did offer at least one twist for crypto enthusiasts.
The firm’s financial results included the announcement that its long-awaited NFT market is expected to launch “by the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2022.” This gives GameStop until June 30th to make good on its promise.
Hints and clues have accompanied the reveal of the GameStop NFT promotion, with initial reports of a crypto-centric recruiting campaign emerging last spring. The May teaser site also revealed that the project would be built on Ethereum, but it was not clear at the time exactly what that would look like.
The transition into the space became a lot clearer last month after GameStop announced a partnership with ImmutableX, a layer-two scaling solution for fast transactions on Ethereum, to help with the NFT launch.
The merger with ImmutableX also saw the creation of a $100 million incentive fund to incentivize game studios to build the GameStop NFT platform.
Despite confirmation of the marketplace’s launch, GameStop (GME) shares fell 9.6% after hours last night.
The bearish reaction is likely a response to the company’s rather subdued results; GameStop reported a loss of $147.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, which is a grim figure considering the firm made $80.3 million in the same period the previous year.
GameStop’s path to NFTs
The shares of the video game retailer made headlines in 2020 as one of the main assets fueling the meme stock frenzy in the financial markets.
Other stocks, including Blackberry, AMC Theatres, Nokia and Bed Bath & Beyond, rose as new investors poured money into those stocks. Some of these firms have also used this momentum to push into the crypto wild west.
One example is the upcoming launch of GameStop NFT, but the AMC Theater network has also begun accepting payments in cryptocurrencies, including the Dogecoin meme coin, for ticket sales. They even offered free NFTs to shareholders.
However, it remains to be seen if other members of the meme cast will switch to cryptocurrencies.
Denial of responsibility
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment or other advice.
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