American video game giant GameStop has revealed its plans of going into the non-fungible token (NFT) business. The company that was on the brink of bankruptcy last year is planning to ensure a lucrative future by investing up to $100m in game development through an NFT project.
The story goes that GameStop is going to join forces with Australian blockchain company Immutable to develop an Ethereum-based marketplace that game developers could use. The developers would get grants from GameStop via IMX tokens, which would serve as the platform’s default currency.
According to GameStop boss Matt Furlong, the marketplace should launch by the end of 2022, with the company putting “emphasis on the long term.”
Partnership with Immutable
Immutable is best-known as the company behind Gods Unchained, a trading game based on NFTs. Immutable created its token (IMX) a few years ago, using the Immutable X protocol, which is much faster than Ethereum in terms of transaction speeds. Further, the protocol also requires less computing power and is more environmentally friendly.
Immutable X will serve as the basis of the GameStop marketplace, which will use IMX as the currency. Startups looking for funds to develop games will be able to get a grant from GameStop in the form of IMX tokens.
At the moment of writing, the price of the token is $3.38, having grown by nearly 50% since the news about the GameStop partnership broke out.
Not All Gaming Companies Like NFTs
In 2021, the NFT market generated almost $25 billion in sales, causing a number of tech giants to get involved. A few weeks ago, one of GameStop’s main competitors Ubisoft launched an NFT marketplace for in-game items, while also revealing its plans to develop video games based on blockchain.
Something similar seems to be on the mind of people from Square Enix, who also plan on developing blockchain games.
GameStop is the latest big-name company to get on the NFT bandwagon, but there are some that still resist the temptation. In fact, a couple of major gaming brands are explicitly against it. The best example is Steam, a digital distribution service, which banned the use of NFTs on its platform.
Something similar happened with EA. Its CEO Andrew Wilson, who previously called NFTs the future of the industry, has backed away since. During an investor call earlier this week, EA’s boss said the company isn’t planning on getting involved anytime soon.
