GameStop enters the NFT market with a Crypto portfolio

American video game consumer electronics and merchandise retailer GameStop entered the NFT market for their new turnaround plan. According to WSJ, the NFT and crypto market investment will help grow the company at the current time.

Nonfungible Token (NFT) is the term for virtual goods sold online, which works as a unique piece of art. There can be thousands or millions of copies, but the original remains to the owner. Mega wealthy people showing off an owned piece of painting on a museum or balcony to friends with champagne in hand could be a sign of wealth, and the NFT market works similarly.

When big Hollywood celebrities, musicians, athletes, entrepreneurs and other influential players started showing interest in the NFT collection, the market gained attention. GameStop Corp. (GME) started its service and developed a call. The market is for nonfungible tokens and cryptocurrency partnerships.

A separate division to launch NFT as a tradable, sellable asset is not a discovery, but a famous player in the video gaming industry coming to the NFT world is indeed blowing up the publicity. Shares jumped 20 per cent higher after the initial report of the NFT marketplace launch by GameStop.

2021 was a wild year for GameStop for being a 'meme stock' retailer. It was trending with lots of creators, news publishers and video game enthusiasts worldwide. Though the initial platform is already live, after the initial boost, shares fell 12 per cent below as of Thursday's close.

Currently, the biggest NFT marketplace is OpenSea, with a valuation of $13.3 billion. Though there are many competitors, OpenSea is still too huge to compete. GameStop may be just what we need to compete with OpenSea. To run the newly created unit, GameStop hired 20 new employees.

The 20 people workforce will power the newly created NFT—GameStop to maintain buying, selling, and trading NFTs. Primary NFT types from GameStop are, of course, video game goodies. They include outfits, weapons and similar cosmetics.

Though many people are shy from the whole NFT idea, they fail to realise that people still buy digital goods, which makes them feel good. They may be a level booster or cosmetic for the video game character they play. Most importantly, wealthy people like to show off wealth. In the digital world, owning the rights to an expensive artwork or PP shows status and wealth.

The company is signing a partnership with two crypto companies. NFT primarily runs on crypto balances, and the codependency and similarity created a unique environment.

After seeing GameStop pull the trigger and dive right in, many major retailers were interested in jumping in the NFT train. Grapevine, Texas-based company GameStop suffered through heavy controversies in previous years and was seen as a meme in the reports. The image might change now with a portfolio fit for today.

The turnaround may need some time as last year's change of decision-makers is still affecting the company. Investor and naming activist Ryan Cohen was named the chairman of the company. He was also the co-founder of Chewy, a pet product retailer company. The company was sold for $3.35 billion in 2017 and, at the moment, is giving all his attention towards the benefit of GameStop.

Matt Furlong, chief executive at GameStop, talked about the company's belief system and "emphasis on the long term." The company goal is to become much more significant than it already is by taking in newer challenges. Newer challenges come with risk, along with investor failure, stock price drop, productivity decrease, and so much more.

Over the past few weeks, the company plunged more than 45 per cent of its shares as some investors are losing their patience. Though a 20 per cent gain picked up gradually, last hour trading was pretty harsh for the company.