decrypt.co
Video game retailer GameStop today announced that it has added support for NFTs minted via Ethereum layer-2 scaling network Immutable X to its marketplace—which means that assets from Web3 games can be bought and sold through the platform.
Immutable X-based games like Gods Unchained, Illuvium, and Guild of Guardians are among the titles that now have their respective interactive NFT items available through the GameStop marketplace. That includes tokenized, tradeable items such as digital trading cards and customizable land plots, among others.
GameStop opened its long-awaited NFT marketplace in July, but at launch, the platform only offered digital artwork and collectibles. Given the company’s wider focus and previously announced plans for the marketplace, many in the Web3 space were curious when the firm would bring NFTs from interactive games into the fold.
The retailer’s partnership with Immutable X was first announced in February. The firms announced a $100 million token incentive fund for Web3 game developers, plus GameStop separately participated in a $500 million fund with investment and grants for NFT and game creators using Immutable X.
Immutable X is built on top of Ethereum, the leading platform for decentralized apps. While transactions on Ethereum’s mainnet require sometimes-hefty gas fees and can be slow depending on network traffic, Immutable X enables faster and cheaper game, app, and NFT interactions by offloading transactions to a second-layer blockchain.
Immutable, the firm behind the platform, achieved crypto “unicorn” status earlier this year. Investors like Tencent and Animoca Brands are betting big on Immutable’s vision for Web3 gaming, bringing the startup to a hefty $2.5 billion valuation via a $200 million total Series C funding round in March.
As of today, GameStop said that its marketplace has emerged from beta testing. GameStop is offering various incentives for traders to use its nascent NFT platform. According to a representative, the marketplace is giving users 1% of their daily trade volume back in Immutable’s IMX token and also offers rewards for staking (or locking up) tokens. It has also set its marketplace fee to just 0.2% for an unspecified duration.
However, GameStop NFT has only seen about $29 million in total volume from almost 24,000 traders ahead of today’s Immutable X launch, according to data from DappRadar. By contrast, leading overall NFT marketplace OpenSea has generated about $309 million in trading volume in October alone.
Decrypt reached out to GameStop and Immutable X representatives for additional information about the marketplace’s performance to date, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
While GameStop NFT sees more trading activity than a notable rival like Coinbase NFT, GameStop has yet to command a substantial share of the NFT market. Perhaps adding Web3 games to its platform will change that.