The gaming company has taken steps to decrease its exposure to cryptocurrency activities. However, it seems to be moving forward with initiatives related to non-fungible tokens and blockchain technology.
GameStop, a gaming retailer, has announced that it will no longer focus its efforts on cryptocurrency after registering a net loss in the third quarter of $94.7 million and laying off employees from its digital assets section.
Matt Furlong (GameStop’s Chief Executive Officer) stated in an earnings call that GameStop had “proactively limited” exposure to cryptocurrency during the year. Furlong also stated that GameStop does not currently have a significant amount tokens.
The firm stated earlier this year that they were looking at crypto, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), as well as Web3 apps. These areas were described by the company as “increasingly essential for gamers of today.”
GameStop will continue to place more emphasis on collectibles, old games systems and items that were previously owned.
According to a December 7 filing with Securities and Exchange Commission, the company stated that it is also “pursuing, and planning”[s] To continue to pursue other strategic and business initiatives related to digital assets and blockchain technology. These statements give the impression the company is still working on its plans to move into the non-fiat currency sector.
GameStop launched a beta version in July and brought several Web3-related products on the market. The most recent was the NFT marketplace which went live on October 31st on ImmutableX (an Ethereum layer-2 blockchain). GameStop had previously launched a number other Web3-related products.
In May, the company introduced a beta version its self-custodial crypto wallet. It also launched a March test version of its NFT market on Loopring.
GameStop’s third quarter losses were slightly lower than the $108.7 million losses in the second quarter.
GameStop also sees a year-over-2018 gain, having reported a loss $105.4 million for the third quarter.
According to reports staff at the crypto section were let go.
Furlong, who was on the results call, confirmed that GameStop held its third round for 2022 layoffs on December 5. Several employees were fired as a result.
Furlong did no clarify where the majority the personnel losses occurred. There were reports that indicated that the NFT and Blockchain team was the worst affected. However, Furlong did nothing to clarify this.
Brandon Jenniges, a former iOS and Blockchain programmer, wrote on his blog that he had “a fantastic day taking a deep plunge into Ethereum and learning many new things about the crypto sector.”
In July, Game Informer let go a few employees, including Michael Recupero, its chief financial officer, and many others.
