Carrie Mihalcik | CNET.Com
Troy Warren for CNT #Business #NFT
The marketplace is expected to launch later this year.
GameStop confirmed Thursday that it plans to launch an NFT marketplace, saying it’s partnered with blockchain startup Immutable X to develop the project. The NFT marketplace is expected to launch later this year, GameStop said in a release.
An NFT, or nonfungible token, is a blockchain-based technology used to determine ownership of unique digital or physical items such as art, music or even a tweet. NFTs began popping up everywhere in 2021, from the NFL to Twitter to Variety, and have grown increasingly popular in the realm of art and collectibles, with some NFTs going for hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.
GameStop and Immutable also plan to launch an up to $100 million fund that’ll award grants to people making NFTs for the new marketplace. The fund will use Immutable’s cryptocurrency, IMX. GameStop said people from “gaming studios, web 3.0 and metaverse gaming developers, and elsewhere,” can request to be creators in the company’s NFT marketplace.
Some video game companies have started looking into integrating NFTs into games. Ubisoft in December introduced NFT weapons and gear to the squad shooter Ghost Recon Breakpoint. But gamers are wary of new methods of monetizing video games, and there are environmental concerns surrounding the technology.
