After a two-year cat and mouse chase, the Chairman of GameStop and Manager of RC Ventures has joined Joe Fonicello of GMEdd.com for his first extended interview.

When I invested in GameStop just over two years ago, the mainstream media considered the brick-and-mortar retailer the next Blockbuster, with the company valued for an inevitable bankruptcy. In October 2020, I shared the GameStop thesis in my University’s Stock Pitch competition and was told to “pick a company with strong long-term prospects.”

Myself and a small group of other passionate retail investors believed the retailer was misunderstood and took it upon ourselves to create GMEdd.coma platform to share the research that Wall Street analysts and media pundits were missing.

Once Ryan Cohen, the founder of Chewy and Manager of RC Ventures, reached an agreement to join the company board in January 2021, we published a research report with a view on how GameStop might evolve under his influence.

Within two weeks, the share price far exceeded even our most bullish case. Since then, GMEdd.com has followed the company’s progress through crowdsourced investigative research.

The investigations

With Cohen at the helm, video game retailer GameStop worked in silence, undergoing a tech-centric transformation with the development of a premium NFT marketplace marking this transition. The company’s newfound commitment was initially exposed when we stumbled upon job postings alluding to blockchain talent at the company in April of 2021, a year before the NFT marketplace would be publicly announced.

Investors began to speculate what GameStop NFT would entail. Curious to find out, we dug deep—on October 22nd 2021 we published clues that Loopring would be GameStop’s partner in a premium NFT Marketplace.

Just five days later GMEdd.com discovered Loopring’s source code, confirming our speculation and revealing Loopring was partnered with the video game retailer on an NFT Marketplace built on Ethereum Layer-2 technology.

The news shook the blockchain community, as the underdog coin became the most talked about cryptocurrency on Reddit. Loopring’s market cap shot from $565M to over $4.27B.

Our contributors tracked GameStop’s every hire, over 420 of them, using LinkedIn data to determine where the company was poaching their talent from.

The team identified that GameStop.com order numbers were sequentially numbered and could form the basis for a highly accurate estimate of performance. The crowdsourcing of order numbers fueled a financial model we freely shared online.

GMEdd.com was also first to note GameStop’s corporate expansion to South Florida, Seattle, and Boston.

the conclusion

It has been a privilege to write for such enthusiastic readers. There was rarely a dull moment over the past two years, as our community was always working to predict GameStop’s next move. GMEdd.com uncovered the power of crowdsourcing research.

After writing over two hundred stories for the platform, it is with great honor to conclude GMEdd.com’s investigations into GameStop by conducting Ryan Cohen’s first extended interview. 

I want to thank Rod Alzmann, ‘AlphaHound’, Chris Silvestro, and Jenna Dauzat for their voluntary contributions to GMEdd.com.

Cheers.


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The GameStop NFT launch strategy was unlike competition, and it worked to bring over $4,000,000 in volume in just three days. Here’s how.

In April of 2021, GameStop Chief Technology Officer Matt Francis stated the company’s transformation will be studied in every business school for the next decade. 

We’re witnessing this transformation in real-time. Why wait to study? Let’s dive into GameStop NFT’s marketplace launch strategy. It’s both counter-intuitive and simple.

GameStop’s strategy is involves building in silence and putting the community first. Stay tuned for exclusive insights from top GameStop NFT marketplace launch creators Ordinary Adam and Cyber Crew. 

Liftoff!

GameStop dropped their beta NFT Marketplace without warning on 7/11 at 4:20pm EST. 

In the crypto market, enthusiasts are used to new ventures spending weeks promoting and driving as much hype as possible prior to a launch.

But GameStop didn’t hype the marketplace in advance, and their official beta launch announcement was only a single paragraph press release. The gaming retailer didn’t even tweet about it until 20 hours later. 

The discreet release of the GameStop NFT launch was intentional. Even today, everyday people outside of retail investing circles have little knowledge that the “left for dead retailer,” launched something new, as stated by Chairman Ryan Cohen.

This is a completely different approach from how Coinbase, the leading centralized crypto exchange, launched their NFT Marketplace with mass marketing.

Why would GameStop do this?

The Rise and Fall of Coinbase NFT

Let’s first dive deeper into Coinbase’s NFT marketing strategy to understand why GameStop NFT took a different approach. 

Coinbase started promoting its NFT marketplace back in October 2021, when its VP of Product published a medium article encouraging people to join a waitlist.

Coinbase had decided to build in the open, providing updates and previews along the way. 

Coinbase NFT promoted their waitlist on October 12, 2021.

Four months later, in February 2022, Coinbase had over 3.7 million people on its waitlist. The crypto exchange also had a viral superbowl commercial which increased app downloads by 279%.

Coinbase NFT’s success seemed inevitable. If they just convert 2 to 5% of those 3.7 million people into users, the crypto exchange would have 74,000 to 185,000 users on day one, beating OpenSea’s daily users of 40,000 to 50,000 immediately.

At the time, the NFT-sphere on Twitter couldn’t stop talking about how Coinbase NFT’s launch would pump their bags and make them rich by onboarding hundreds of thousands of new users that’ll want to buy their NFTs.

Tweet from 570kyle on July 12, 2022.

On April 20, 2022, the beta version of Coinbase NFT finally launched, but only a select few that Coinbase invited via email could use the marketplace.

Coinbase claimed the marketplace was being rolled out in the order of the waiting list, but suspicion rose over the platform’s gated entrance.

It appeared that big NFT influencers were given priority access to beta test the Coinbase NFT marketplace. 

TechCrunch on April 20, 2022

Two weeks later, when Coinbase NFT was out of beta and available for everyone, Coinbase only had 150 transactions on its first official day. Few expected this massive failure, but it was dead on arrival

Coinbase NFT’s botched launch demonstrates failure to captivate an audience. Coinbase had the customers, but it didn’t have a community. The exchange had millions of existing crypto customers, but lacked a tight-knit community strong enough to support new business ventures. 

the GameStop NFT Community

GameStop Board Member Larry Cheng, who was also the first investor in Chairman Ryan Cohen’s Chewy, understands that communities are the key value drivers for businesses. 

Communities are created by people; so a genuine community isn’t easy to build. It’s about those with similar interests building relationships amongst one another and fostering a sense of belonging. 

GameStop didn’t need marketing for their NFT Marketplace because their community of individual investors is doing it for them.

When GameStop first published their NFT landing page, the gaming retailer didn’t announce anything. Still, retail investors quickly noticed the website contained a form where artists can request to be a creator on the GameStop NFT Marketplace. 

GMEdd.com’s 12/28/2021 article ‘GameStop Confirms NFT Marketplace, Calls on Creators to Request Minting Access Now.

In an interview with GMEdd.com, Ordinary Adam, a top GameStop NFT Launch Creator with $735,849 volume in one week, said he heard about the upcoming Marketplace thanks to the Reddit community and GMEdd.com. 

“I had a lot of fun following the bread crumb trail and hints left around that it was happening on Loopring technology,” Ordinary Adam says. “I had applied to the GameStop marketplace after I was heavily encouraged by the community to do so, I honestly thought I wouldn’t get in.”

After Ordinary Adam received word that he was approved for the marketplace, he shared that his experience with the GameStop blockchain team was “unbelievably positive.” 

“Admittedly I was nervous during our first conversation, but the moment we started chatting it felt like I was talking to old friends,” Ordinary Adam says. “The team is very receptive to feedback and really just wants to create the best experience for everybody. I couldn’t gush more about the team they’ve put together, just great people all around.”

Since the launch of the Marketplace, Ordinary Adam has sold out of his collection of animated trading cards full of inside jokes referencing GameStop’s retail investor community. 

Ordinary NFT Cards on GameStop NFT.

GameStop’s fanbase formed slowly and gradually, starting with a small group of individual retail investors who saw value in the company. When the buy button was turned off in late January of 2021 and the stock price dropped, investors were outraged and interest grew.

With various GameStop discussions forming on Reddit, Discord, and Twitter, GameStop began embracing their newfound fame.

The company formed a social media response team, SMRT, which would both help customers with order issues and engage with the community. The brand also started selling GameStop hoodies with small rockets on them as a subtle nod to the stock “going to the moon.” 

GameStop NFT developers are in on the fun as well, as the team hid a “secret.txt” file in the marketplace. When the community discovered it, it was quickly decoded and a secret message saying, “Power to the Puzzlers” was revealed. 

GameStop knows their fanbase loves to decode and investigate. Through hidden puzzles and easter eggs, the company directly engages with its community in a way that is authentic.

GameStop NFT Launch Strategy & Results

Back in October, when Coinbase was collecting emails, GameStop was building their marketplace in silence and dropping breadcrumbs that suggested the “left for dead retailer” was building something new.

Ryan Cohen’s tweet on July 11th, 2022.

Rather than spoon feeding the bigger picture to the community, GameStop helped the collective grow even stronger by giving them just enough hints to piece things together

Even with NFT trading volume in the broader market down 66% in the last 3 months, the strong retail base brought GameStop’s marketplace to 45,000 transactions on the platform’s first day

And in less than 48 hours, GameStop NFT trading volume surpassed Coinbase NFT’s lifetime trading volume.

Within 24 hours of launching, the GameStop NFT Beta had just over $2,000,000 in volume. Coinbase NFT had just over $100,000 in volume within 24 hours of launching.

GameStop had underpromised and overdelivered, executing on one of Ryan Cohen’s core business beliefs

“It’s just a JPEG Marketplace.”

Leading NFT Marketplace OpenSea asserts that crypto-winter is here, and naysayers claim that non-fungible tokens are nothing more than tradable jpegs. What NFTs are now, though, is just the beginning of a larger shift to what web3 aspires to be: a decentralized internet. 

The centralized internet vs the decentralized internet.

Today’s internet, often referred to as web2, is centralized. Tech companies control everyone’s data through a centrally owned server resulting in little transparency and accountability. 

By owning everyone’s data, tech companies profit from selling information that shouldn’t be theirs to sell in the first place. Facebook might not charge you, but it is far from being free. Facebook has made you its product.

In web3, all user data is stored securely on decentralized blockchain networks such as Ethereum, enabling users to own their digital life while reducing vulnerability to attacks and censorship.

Phase Zero

A fully-featured web3 is a long way out, and GameStop NFT partner Immutable claims that the Marketplace is similarly currently in phase zero.

Immutable’s GameStop Marketplace Rollout Strategy

According to Immutable, phase zero of GameStop NFT features a limited selection of art from the community, helping small creators sell their work without middlemen.

Creators can set a royalty fee, such as 5%, and continue to earn from each resale. 

Brett and Ana Karina, two musicians from Boston who go by “The Derevolutions”, have been selling their music on the GameStop NFT Marketplace, and in 3 days the duo has made 3 years worth of Spotify streaming revenue. 

The Derevolutions made a comment on Reddit, “fuck the antiquated middlemen.”

GameStop is now fulfilling their promise to bring power to the players with the NFT Marketplace.

Cybercrew, one of the top GameStop NFT launch creators who created the GameStop astronaut art, shares why NFTs are redefining ownership. 

“Too many corporations just milk you with microtransactions. If they decide on a whim to remove access to a skin or item you purchased, it’s gone. No repercussions, no back and forth,” Cybercrew said. 

Cybercrew, made up of Engwind and Brenden, collaborated with GameStop to create the astronaut that’s featured on the marketplace site. 

But NFTs aren’t just about trading, and Cybercrew has big plans for their collections. 

“As we build out the cross platform interoperability and show that you can kind of standardize equipment and avatars, more and more platforms will work on making it easy to access so it’s a win win.”

Cybercrew envisions a future where your NFT avatar is playable in many different games and virtual environments, and believes that the team’s innovation is going to “rock the foundation of video games and metaverses for years to come.”

Web3 Games Coming Soon To GameStop NFT

GameStop’s partnership with Immutable, an Australian blockchain company leading the industry with their NFT game development studio, seeks to bring AAA-quality blockchain games to the Marketplace. 

Robbie Ferguson, co-founder of Immutable, said in a recent Twitter Space that large game studios will likely be the last to adopt NFTs. 

Established publishers are watching the space closely, but have too much to risk, leaving mid-market and indie studios to be the pioneers perfecting the formula for web3 play-and-earn gaming.

The Immutable Games Studio Site

Ferguson believes that once millions of gamers have a taste of just one web3 title with more rewarding metrics than traditional games, established gaming studios will be forced to invest in web3 gaming

Ultimately, NFTs in games shouldn’t be the selling point for web3 games. The web3 tech should be invisible to the players, and the games need to be fun enough to provide value for the players.

In web3, gaming studios will give up ownership of their in-game assets as it will align incentives with their audiences. If a publisher earns a small fee for each in-game transaction between players, then the incentive becomes to create the best games so that the player-driven economy grows. The more fun the game is, the more time players will spend growing that economy.

Gods Unchained states that “players deserve better.”

In 2020, gamers spent over $74 billion on in-game items, and they received $0 back. The money all went to the studios who are only incentivized by squeezing every last cent from its player base with DLCs or microtransactions. 

Goodbye gas fees, forever! 

Rather than rush out a marketplace, GameStop took the time to study one of the biggest obstacles plaguing NFT mass adoption: High gas fees.

For more on gas fees, read GMEdd.com’s GameStop’s NFT Marketplace Will Feature Gas-Free, Instant Transactions  from October 28th.

To eliminate gas, GameStop partnered with Loopring, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling protocol, to power the marketplace. As a result, GameStop’s NFT Marketplace is the only major marketplace with zero gas fees. 

Instead, GameStop collects a 2.25% fee from sellers. Loopring collects a minimum 2% fee from buyers.

GameStop NFT’s Checkout Page

If GameStop is only collecting 2.25% in fees, then they only earned ~$90,000 in fees in the first 3 days – how does that help the business? 

In web2, middlemen often take more profits than the artists themselves. These middlemen try to extract as much money as possible from artists rather than help them be successful in the long term. 

Mark Zuckerberg’s web2 giant Meta, for example, is trying to create a metaverse in which they charge creators up to 47.5% transaction fees.

Iosbel Asher Hamilton for Insider on April 12, 2022.

The public was justifiably outraged at this “pretty competitive rate,” demonstrating a need for a low-cost marketplace for creators and consumers to trade assets. 

Lower fees help artists grow. 

When the GameStop NFT collection “MetaBoy” sold out of 10,000 NFTs for $54 each, GameStop earned $6,750 while the MetaBoy creators earned $526,500. Now, MetaBoy is using these profits to build a GameStop NFT video game with MetaBoy sprites – this wouldn’t have been possible if GameStop took lofty fees.

The more successful the artists are, the more successful GameStop will be. It’s win-win. GameStop continues to onboard new artists everyday, which will grow the community and network effect overtime. 

While the GameStop NFT Marketplace is in beta, the foundation for gas-free trading is here and the community is growing. Demand for web3 is revealed by the success of launch projects such as Ordinary Adam, Cyber Crew, and MetaBoy, and GameStop’s partnership with Immutable hopes to soon bring AAA-quality games to the blockchain.

joecomotion guest wrote this article exclusively for GMEdd, Toast contributed and edited.


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Sources: GameStop Investor Relations, Coinbase Blog, Themetav3rse on Twitter, TechCrunch, Dappradar, Coinbase Blog, Gods Unchained, Frankenberg on Tableau 

GameStop has announced the long-awaited debut of its online marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Video game retailer GameStop has spent the last year undergoing a tech-centric transformation, with a premium NFT marketplace being at the core of this transition. This newfound interest for the brick-and-mortar was initially revealed through job postings alluding to blockchain developments at the company dating back to April of 2021.

GMEdd.com first unearthed the existence of GameStop’s Official NFT project one month later, in May 2021, upon discovering a website that didn’t detail much besides a potential slogan for the project, and ever since then investors have speculated what GameStop NFT entails.

By October 27th, 2021, GMEdd.com published source code that revealed Loopring, an Ethereum Layer 2 Protocol, had been hard at work building GameStop an NFT Marketplace of their own.

Loopring’s GitHub Code from October 2021.

Prior to this, digital breadcrumbs had led us to that same point, detailing how Loopring’s technology could power a bridge of traditional e-commerce and blockchain and engineer the revolution of gaming.

Power to the Players 

On Monday, GameStop launched a feature-packed NFT Marketplace. The platform, which is now open to the public for beta testing, allows users to connect their own digital asset wallets, including the recently launched GameStop Wallet, the company said in a press release. 

GameStop NFT’s wallet selection page.

Users will now be able to buy, sell and trade NFTs of virtual goods with near-zero fees. Over time, the marketplace will expand to offer other features such as Web3 gaming, GameStop said.

Since the GameStop Wallet and NFT Marketplace is still in beta, users might find performance issues or bugs which they can report to the blockchain team.

Creators can apply to sell their art on the NFT Marketplace by clicking the “create” button on the homepage. GameStop states the team typically replies to applicants within 2 weeks, and if not, creators can re-apply.

For beginners, the GameStop NFT marketplace has a detailed learn page with FAQs & video tutorials. 

GameStop NFT’s Frequently Asked Questions Page

The marketplace currently features 239 NFT collections and 53.3k NFTs, which were manually approved in advance by GameStop’s blockchain department to ensure originality and quality.

When exploring the newly-released marketplace, users can filter by four NFT types: html, image, model, or video. 

The html category includes NFTs that are interactive. For example, art that changes color or makes sounds when clicked, interactive story books, and mini-games.

GameStop NFT’s selection of interactive NFTs

The image category is what most NFTs are right now, featuring art that people can buy, sell, and trade, while supporting the creators. 

The model category features 3D art and provides all the files you will need to use them with AR software, while the video category is more self-explanatory.

To celebrate the launch, GameStop NFT gave a commemorative NFT to the 34 blockchain team members designed by Spike.

GameStop NFT’s commemorative NFT to mark the beta release.

The numbers

Within 24 hours of launching, GameStop NFT achieved over $1,500,000 in volume across 45,000 transactions. 

GameStop NFT’s top 10 collections are MetaBoy, Ordinary NFT Cards, Power 2 The Apes!, CYBER CREW, Genesis, Player Gloves, PXL Toys, The Roaring 20s, Bombatomics, and Animal Arcade.

GameStop NFT’s Stats Page

The most popular collection has been “MetaBoy,” a collection of 10,000 unique algorithmically generated characters that bring the love of gaming, pixel art and technology together.

Similar to trading cards, MetaBoys are pixel figures with differing traits that merge together to create unique avatars.

Since launch, MetaBoy has sold over $600,000 in volume, selling out of the initial primary price of ~$55. Now, MetaBoys are trading with a $250 floor as gamers and collectors alike join in on the craze.

GameStop NFT’s MetaBoy Page

Explore

GameStop NFT is finally here, and readers should explore the platform themselves to see what the wait has all been for. 

With more integration to come, the GameStop blockchain group’s work is far from over, and GMEdd will continue to cover the latest news and research.


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Sources: GameStop NFT

GameStop’s CFO is out after just about a year, and an internal memo within the company has laid out a plan towards profitability.

GameStop has fired its Chief Financial Officer, Mike Recupero, and is making staff cuts across departments as part of an aggressive turnaround plan, the video game retailer revealed Thursday.

Mike Recupero, a seasoned technology industry finance executive who spent more than 17 years at Amazon, was announced as the incoming CFO on June 9th, 2021 under Chairman Ryan Cohen’s guidance.

The sudden departure of Recupero appears less-than-amicable, as GameStop’s Form 8-K filing reveals he was terminated without cause effective immediately.

GameStop’s Form 8-K filed July 7th, 2022.

Simultaneous to Recupero’s termination, long standing Chief Accounting Officer Diana Saadeh-Jajeh has assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer.

She will have a starting annual salary of $200,000, according to the filing, and will be eligible for a “transformation bonus” in an aggregate amount of $1,965,000.

Hands off Mike

After about a year with the company, Recupero was “fired because he was not the right culture fit” and was “too hands off,” a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.

He was pushed out by GameStop Chairman Ryan Cohen, the person said.

In May, GameStop Board Member Larry Cheng stated that a down market tests whether the Chief Financial Officer is a leader. He went on to state that a culture-driving CFO can be a huge asset to companies in these down markets.

Larry Cheng on Twitter on May 11, 2022

“A down market tests whether the CFO is a leader. If the CFO is more of a back-office administrator playing a support role, companies can falter during these times. If the CFO is a culture-driving, agenda-setting leader, it can be a huge asset to companies in down markets.”

Cheng’s belief that a CFO acting more as a back-office administrator playing a support role can lead to a company faltering during a down market sounds familiar to the claims that Recupero was terminated for being “too hands off,” leading us to speculate that Cheng’s tweet was indicative of the situation at GameStop.

The Board Member also shared some evolving theory and observation related to CFOs on Twitter in January.

Larry Cheng on Twitter on January 31, 2022

“Evolving theory/observation: CFOs who know the key metrics of their business usually present to the board through organized slides. CFOs who aren’t sure about the key metrics often present to the board by navigating an extensive spreadsheet.”

The tweet from January indicates Cheng’s expectations for CFOs. The board member expects financial officers to present their key metrics in an organized manner, and that navigating extensive spreadsheets instead is a lack of understanding.

Larry Cheng’s Volition Capital is invested in a number of businesses so there is little evidence these tweets are about Recupero, but they say a lot about Cheng’s values.

Read more about Larry Cheng’s past, including his early investment in Ryan Cohen’s Chewy and mentorship to the ambitious entrepreneur here.

Organizational Updates

GameStop is also undergoing several organizational updates, including layoffs and investing in field employees, in a strive towards profitability.

The layoffs, which were announced by CEO Matt Furlong in an email memo to all employees, are on the corporate side of the company rather than at its stores, and are intended to “reduce bloat” as GameStop invests in other areas.

GameStop’s internal memo sent after market close on July 7th.

Furlong’s memo begins by highlighting the company’s evolving commerce business and new products in the company’s launching blockchain group.

The Chief Executive goes on to state that the company is now focused on achieving sustained profitability.

“After investing heavily in personnel, technology, inventory and supply chain infrastructure over the past 18 months, our focus is on achieving sustained profitability. This means eliminating excess costs and operating with an intense owner’s mentality.”

The CEO also contextualizes the cuts, and says the company has made 600 corporate hires since last year. Moving forward, the company will invest in store leaders and field employees, although specifics are yet to be announced.

The memo claims the hiring frenzy of last year and the first half of 2022 has positioned management to “right-size headcount” across several corporate departments.

To conclude, Furlong states that the changes will enable the company to operate in a profitable manner as it executes the strategy of pursuing sales growth and new product launches.

“These changes will enable us to operate in a profitable manner as we execute against our strategy of pursuing sales growth in our commerce business and launching new products that empower customers within the digital asset and web3 gaming verticals.”

word on the block

Several employees have made their layoffs known on LinkedIn, including Senior Directors and Software Engineers.

Pierre Dunkel, a former Director of Finance at GameStop, offered to help review resumes and engage in mock interviews for his coworkers.

LinkedIn posts by former GameStop employees on July 7th, 2022.

Dunkel also states that he is “not sure if anyone is left at the Seattle office at this point.”

GameStop had only recently expanded to Seattle, Washington, as part of an initiative uncovered by GMEdd.com in July 2021 that sought to reach a broader talent pool.

Rumors have surfaced that around 20% of corporate hires have been laid off, indicating that not all individuals who were brought on board during the hiring frenzy were compatible with the business; something to be expected during rapid growth.

Posts from LinkedIn on July 7th, 2021.

Posts on LinkedIn from Lesley Bender and Neda Pacifico of GameStop work to clue investors in on the departments facing downsizing.

“If you are looking to hire folks across visual merchandising, supply chain, social media, site merchandising, content, product, ecommerce, please let me know and I’d be happy to make intros.”

SVP, Ecommerce Neda Pacifico’s July 7th post also adds that individuals in analytics, data engineering, and user experience research were let go.

Hearsay also claims that no blockchain team members were included in the layoffs.

nimble operations

Through rapidly expanding GameStop’s corporate team with six hundred hires in just over a year, not everyone found compatibility with the start-up mentality that Chairman Ryan Cohen brought to the transforming business.

With GameStop committed to an NFT Marketplace launch by the end of the month, the results of the past year’s work will soon begin to unfold.


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Sources: GameStop Form 8-K, CNBC, Neda Pacifico on LinkedIn, Lesley Bender on LinkedIn, Tomasz Wolak on LinkedIn, Adrian San Pedro on LinkedIn, Sam Montoya on LinkedIn, Pierre Dunkel on LinkedIn, Larry Cheng on Twitter, Larry Cheng on Twitter

The new GameStop NFT Beta landing page now states the marketplace is almost here, and invites users to beta test now.

Video game retailer GameStop has spent the last year undergoing a tech-centric transformation, with a premium NFT marketplace being at the core of this transition. This newfound interest for the brick-and-mortar was initially revealed through job postings alluding to blockchain developments at the company dating back to April of 2021.

GMEdd.com first unearthed the existence of GameStop’s Official NFT project one month later, in May 2021, upon discovering a website that didn’t detail much besides a potential slogan for the project, and ever since then investors have speculated what GameStop NFT entails.

By October 27th, 2021, GMEdd.com published source code that revealed Loopring, an Ethereum Layer 2 Protocol, had been hard at work building GameStop an NFT Marketplace of their own.

Loopring’s GitHub Code from October 2021.

Prior to this, digital breadcrumbs had led us to that same point, detailing how Loopring’s technology could power a bridge of traditional e-commerce and blockchain and engineer the revolution of gaming.

With Immutable, another Ethereum Layer 2 NFT Marketplace provider, announced as a preferred partner in January 2022, GameStop investors were uncertain what role Loopring still held in this deal.

Now, GameStop has launched a new beta page for the incoming NFT Marketplace. Alongside this, an announcement by Loopring answers some questions, as well as allows users to connect their wallets and beta test features for a launch that is coming soon.

Loopring Does the Honors

In a Medium.com post on March 23, 2022, at 4:29 AM EST, the Loopring Protocol announced that the future of NFTs are here and they’re powered by Ethereum’s second layer.

Loopring states that they are thrilled to announce that the long-awaited GameStop NFT Marketplace (beta) is now LIVE, with the full NFT Marketplace coming shortly, built atop none other than Loopring L2.

Loopring Protocol’s Medium Post on March 23rd, 2022.

“GameStop, in partnership with Loopring, has the opportunity to cement itself at the forefront of this new NFT + gaming paradigm and become THE destination for new global digital economies.”

To accomplish this, the new GameStop NFT Marketplace is reportedly built atop the second layer of Ethereum, specifically Loopring L2, to ensure that users receive the strongest digital property rights, anchored by a secure, decentralized, and a credibly neutral environment, like Ethereum. 

Loopring L2 inherits Ethereum’s self-custodial security while abstracting away costly gas-fees, leaving no one priced out.

Loopring also acknowledges that GameStop choosing to build on L2 first, bypassing L1 altogether, marks a huge step forward for the future of NFTs and an important moment for Ethereum scaling.

“Loopring has built the rails for creators to deliver high performance applications that rival the speeds and scalability of Web2, while also empowering users to receive provable ownership and control over their assets in Web3. These massive speed improvements and lower costs open up the design space to create all sorts of new use-cases for NFTs + gaming that were unimaginable prior.”

To wrap up the announcement, Loopring invites fans to get early beta access at beta.nft.gamestop.com, to set up usernames + profiles, make deposits, and be prepared for the full launch of the official marketplace coming soon.

Daniel Wang’s tweet on March 23rd at 4:57 AM EST.

The founder of Loopring, Daniel Wang, also took the opportunity to thank GameStop for the opportunity to work on multiple blockchain products. He states that this is certainly not the end of the partnership, and Loopring will continue to help GME polish their user experience.

A first look

GameStop, rockets, and the moon are three things very well-known to retail investors and GME aficionados alike. The GameStop NFT Beta landing page begins by marking three key elements that have become staples in the minds of traders across meme stocks and crypto for years. 

Upon first glance, the user is hinted towards a “Connect” button highlighting the opportunity to link a cryptocurrency wallet, which is fairly typical of existing NFT platforms such as OpenSea and Coinbase.

Following a wallet connection (we opted for MetaMask), users are invited to customize their profiles and make deposits.

GameStop NFT’s profile page.

The profile customization page allows users to set a username, choose an NFT profile picture, write a short bio, and attach an email address along with Twitter and Reddit usernames.

Users can also navigate to their owned, liked, and hidden NFT collections.

When depositing funds, the options are to buy ETH with a card, deposit ETH from your wallet, or ask a friend to transfer to your account.

The process of starting a deposit on the GameStop NFT Beta

Notably, deposits from Ethereum L1 are converted into Loopring L2 by default.

“Once on Layer 2, there are no more gas fees to transact!”

When users visit their account history, they will likely see a screen that shows “Nothing here yet,” we can assume this will display transaction history in the future.

GameStop NFT Beta’s Account History page

With over 1 million NFTs minted on Loopring L2 since early 2022, the page invites users to check the Loopring Layer 2 Explorer, further indicating the involvement of Loopring in this NFT Marketplace. 

Besides this, no other notable features are currently visible in the beta.

While the marketplace itself remains hidden, digital sleuths can tweak the code a bit to start showing listings, revealing what the final product may look like.

GameStop NFT’s hidden Explore page on March 23rd.

Some NFTs by Miguelgarest are displayed, an NFT artist who has been quietly working on new projects, alongside the GameStop NFT Arcade Machine, all of which are listed as not for sale.

some things aren’t so immutable

With nods to Loopring all over the GameStop NFT Beta, investors are left in the dark on Immutable’s role, as many thought the Australia-based Ethereum Layer 2 NFT Marketplace would be taking over the project entirely.

On the issue, Byron Wiebe, Loopring’s Head of Community, has again shared his personal thoughts on Loopring’s Official Discord server.

Byron Wiebe on Discord on March 23rd at 6:02 AM EST.

Byron states that Loopring has been working with GameStop for almost a year now to build and integrate this marketplace, fully built on Loopring L2.

“No IMX.”

Byron goes as far as to share that he believes Immutable (IMX) has been a little disingenuous with their marketing.

Byron Wiebe on Discord on March 23rd at 6:11 AM EST.

The Loopring Head of Community believes that Immutable’s marketing materials were “pretty shitty” and not true at all.

“Their marketing materials where they tried to position this upcoming announcement of ours to just be an “alpha” was pretty shitty on their part to be honest.”

According to Byron, as far as he is aware, there has been zero “technical work” done with IMX to this point, and it has just all been marketing, with GameStop doing “something” with them after the Loopring L2-based marketplace is fully live.

Byron Wiebe on Discord on March 23rd at 6:37 AM EST.

Byron also states that while he does not want to speak on behalf of GameStop, the marketplace was “genuinely supposed to be Q4, but had some unfortunate delays at the last minute.”

Over on the Immutable Discord, investors in the Ethereum Layer2 with 88% of it’s supply uncirculated are demanding the truth. 

Nigel Lee, Immutable’s Strategy and Operations Lead, is trying to fan the flames, stating that Immutable has never denied that Loopring was involved.

Nigel Lee on Discord on March 23rd at 6:20 AM EST.

Nigel even asks the naysayers, “Where’s the value talking about competitors?” in regards to questioning over Loopring’s clear involvement in GameStop NFT. 

Immutable’s Strategy and Operations Lead claims that IMX brings a network of games and partners they are working with to the table, and that the team has never denied Loopring’s involvement.

In a Discord Stage hosted at 7:45 AM EST, Robbie Ferguson, the Co-Founder and President of Immutable, was quick to insist that GameStop approved all of their marketing materials and nothing nefarious was at play.

GMEdd.com did not have any overpriced consultants available to ask whether this was the right strategy for Immutable.

What now?

GameStop’s retail investors will almost certainly spend the remainder of the week scouring through the GameStop NFT Beta, searching for clues as to what the marketplace will be like.

Some are even speculating that the website’s code may have accidentally revealed the launch date for GameStop NFT as “Astronaut day,” a national holiday on May 5th.

Code revealed on the GameStop NFT Beta on March 23rd, 2021.

Although this date does fall within with the recently announced launch before the close of Q2 2022, veteran GameStop investors are experienced enough to know to not rely on dates hidden within code.

While GameStop’s NFT Beta only allows users to create accounts, deposit funds, and claim usernames at the moment, we urge those curious to check the platform out themselves, as GameStop gears up to soon deliver power to the players.


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Source: Loopring on MediumGameStop NFT Beta, Loopring on Discord, Immutable on Discord

Who’s going to be the host for all these files?

It’s no secret that GameStop has been building a premium NFT marketplace, with job postings alluding to blockchain developments at the company dating back to April of 2021.

After a year of cat and mouse chases searching for clues as to who GameStop is working with, the aspiring technology company’s latest known technology vendor has been uncovered in what could be seen as an intentional Freudian slip. 

The Pinata Broke

Pinata’s very own Head of Product, Justin Hunter, confirmed that Pinata is providing backend distributed storage for the emerging retailer turned-NFT Powerhouse during a speaking event with Texas Blockchain.

The Head of Product at Pinata commented that the shadow vendor-client relationship hadn’t been intended for public scrutiny, but that Twitter had spread the message after a user dug into GameStop source code.

“[GameStop] is using us both for the storage of the assets and then serving the content back.” — Justin Hunter

Before this spill, investors were already clued into the relationship between GameStop and Pinata.

The DNS records of ipfs.nft.gamestop.com

GameStop’s own DNS records have long referenced gamestop.mypinata.cloud, revealing that the gaming retailer has been using their hosting services for some time now.

So what is Pinata?

Pinata claims they’re “the home for NFT media”, and trusted by well-known non-fungible pioneers such as Rarible, Autograph, Protocol Labs, and sorare.

Screenshot of pinata.cloud’s homepage as of March 5th 2021.

Pinata is a cloud based InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) service provider offering users the ability to host their NFT content on the decentralized Web 3.0. 

The company is currently a leading service provider for dedicated public IPFS gateways, which allows creators to upload their NFT content onto the peer-to-peer distributed file system where it will no longer need to rely on a centralized service provider such as Amazon S3, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, who currently lead the Web 2.0 services sector.

A visualization of HTTP vs IPFS

Due to the decentralized nature of blockchain technologies, in order to have true ownership of NFT content users cannot rely on a centralized server. 

In the centralized world of Web 2.0, users must trust the data provider as well as the data. Contrary to this, in Web 3.0 users only need to trust the data itself thanks to the decentralized nature of IPFS and its use of cryptographic hashing. 

By using Pinata and their IPFS services, GameStop can securely host NFT content on behalf of its users in a decentralized manner which enables players, creators, and collectors to have complete ownership of their content. 

IPFS provides both reliability and resiliency to attacks. When a traditional content provider goes offline, whether due to maintenance, software bugs, a cyber attack, or even censorship, users are left unable to access their data, games, media, or other files. With IPFS, users can rely on the many peers of the system to continue hosting content while some nodes may be offline. 

To put it simply, GameStop powers the players, creators, and collectors; Pinata powers the underlying NFTs. 

Pinata’s Roots

Established in 2018, Pinata offers professional services for NFT file management, allowing users to upload files of any type and size to the peer-to-peer distributed file system known as IPFS.

“Our mission is to help creators provide an experience worth paying for.” – Pinata

Pinata by the numbers, according to pinata.cloud/about

Pinata works via storing content, such as games, media, or files, within a hash of an NFT’s verified URL. This verification takes place with an access token that is only generated by the NFT owner. 

Think of a DNA strand: it’s tiny and works with others to make up a whole asset, but if destroyed, the next strand can reproduce the entire product! 

Pinata’s distributed storage creates DNA strands of digital assets, enhancing security and decentralized goodness. 

Pinata’s Submarining, explained.

One of Pinata’s distinct features is Submarining, which allows users to make an IPFS file they upload private from the public IPFS network. This capability allows people to attach data to an NFT and control who can view it based on ownership of the NFT.

It’s a Party

In essence, Pinata allows applications, end users, and creators to interact with the Blockchain to create trustless, decentralized verification between themselves and others.

GameStop using Pinata’s offerings to host and serve their NFTs indicates that the video game retailer is committed to the future of digital, pinning themselves at the forefront of the internet’s transition to Web 3.0.

Vice and kmsully contributed to this piece. Toast edited and contributed.


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Sources: IPFS Draft 3, What is IPFS, Pinata FAQ, Pinata Features, The Block Crypto