ALBAWABA – Gamestop, the American retailer specializing in selling video games and gaming merchandise, announced the halt of its NFT Marketplace on Feb. 2 only a year and a half after its troublesome release, followed by a shutdown of its crypto wallet in August.
Gamestop launched its Non-Fungible Token marketplace back in July 2022 just a few months after Wall Street Journal published an article on how NFTs are flatlining, a time when the blockchain technology was hitting record lows in sales. The same month Gamestop also separated ways with their CEO and laid off staff across their business portfolio due to the month earlier recording substantial losses.
The gaming store had previously praised the potential of Web3 and blockchain technology, comparing its effect to the release of the internet. However, their platform had only recorded about $3.5 million in NFT sales two days after release; a much inferior number compared to their largest competitor OpenSea.
Gamestop set to leave the Metaverse. (Shutterstock)
The reason behind leaving the crypto market, according to a company’s statement, appears to be related to regulatory unclarity and vagueness in the industry, this announcement comes as the market faces a downturn with the biggest collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club and Cryptopunks down about 60 percent since their all-time high according to METAV.RS.
Gamestop has included in their statement that current holders will still have access to their assets using different platforms, but no minting or transactions will be held on their marketplace anymore. Completely ending the retailer’s involvement in the Web3 industry.
The NFT market has been under scrutiny and a lot of criticism recently, as countless scam projects have surged and actual sales plummeted; for example the first-ever tweet by Jack Dorsey which had sold for $2.9 million earlier, is now only worth about $2000, with a report of dappGambl revealing how 95 percent of NFT projects have a market cap of a solid zero.
