GameStop enters the NFT space; to allow customers to buy, sell, trade

Image: Reuters

Video game retailer behemoth GameStop is entering the Non-fungible token (NFT) space, having already hired more than 20 people as part of a new unit that will focus solely on building this platform.

Per Decrypt, a cryptocurrency news portal, rumours of the world's largest video game and gaming merchandise retailers stepping into the NFT sphere had been doing the rounds since last year.

Many job listings put out by the company in 2021 indicated that the company was looking for "exceptional engineers, designers, gamers and marketers" to come aboard an Ethereum-based NFT project.

GameStop follows in the heels of Ubisoft, which became the first conventional trading giant to bring forth in-game NFTs last year by launching the Quartz platform, which works on Tezos, considered to be an energy-efficient alternative to ethereum.

Notably, the company received backlash in the wake of the launch by a significant number of players who believed that the energy-intensiveness of blockchain caused harm to the environment.

For instance, when the company launched NFTs associated with Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint in December 2021, many fans went ahead to call these collectibles "pointless and a cynical trend chase." However, per the company, gaming NFTS are a "major change that will take time."

GameStop's NFT platform will allow customers to buy, sell and trade NFTs of video game items, including clothes, weapons and characteristics of the various player avatars. In-game NFTs not just signal towards various video games becoming interoperable, but also gives players a chance to profit from trading rarities in this sphere.