GameStop, a popular meme stock which is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer, announced through the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that it is launching a division to develop a marketplace for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and establish cryptocurrency partnerships, pushing the company into much-hyped areas as it tries to turn around its core videogame business.
Since the announcement, the meme stock shares, going by the ticker ‘GME’, is currently up by 22.68% in a premarket skirmish, indicating that investors are reacting positively to the announcement, which is believed to bring more value to the company in the long run.
GameStop’s new division calls for it to build an online hub for buying, selling and trading NFTs of virtual video-game goods such as avatar outfits and weapons. As per the announcement, the company has hired more than 20 people for the division.
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What you should know
- According to the WSJ, the video-game retailer hopes the new unit will lead its turnaround efforts to become profitable, citing people familiar with its plans.
- It also stated that the company is also close to signing partnerships with two crypto companies to share technology as well as co-invest in games and other NFT-related projects.
- Prices for LRC, the native token of layer 2 protocol Loopring, spiked about 15% on the news. There have been rumours that Loopring is one of the crypto companies that is working with GameStop on its NFT marketplace. That speculation sent LRC’s price soaring in November.
- This news comes as no surprise as the retail game store giant has been quietly working on an NFT marketplace since May of 2021 and ramped things up in October by listing several job openings for Web 3.0 and NFT-experienced software engineers and product marketers.
The marketplace is slated to launch later this year and GameStop has yet to confirm the news so far. The price of GME currently trades $131.03, up 1.28% from yesterday’s price action. However, the price is looking to open at market open trading around $160 a share due to bullish demand in pre-market skirmish.
