GameStop looks toward NFT marketplace launch after big Q4 loss

Much loved retail video game store chain GameStop (GME) is looking ahead to its long-awaited NFT marketplace and Web3 gaming unit after suffering a net loss of $147.5 million during Q4 2021

GameStop quietly built a barebones NFT website in mid-2021 but has significantly ramped up efforts this year after unveiling an NFT and Web3 gaming division in January along with penning a major partnership with Ethereum (ETH) scaling solution Immutable X the following month to build an NFT marketplace.

As part of the Q4 results — ending on January 29 and published on March 17 — GameStop revealed that it intends to launch its NFT marketplace by the end of Q2 2022.

$GME will reportedly open their NFT marketplace at the end of their second quarter 2022.SHARE THIS ASAP! #GME #gamestop #stocks #news pic.twitter.com/CW2oDPHul1

The firm also highlighted that the Immutable X deal is set to fetch the firm $150 million worth of IMX tokens upon the “achievement of certain milestones,” and noted that it has hired “dozens of additional individuals with experience in areas such as blockchain gaming, e-commerce and technology, product refurbishment and operations.”

GameStop’s net loss of $147.5 million is 83% worse than the year prior, while its loss of $1.94 per share sits well outside of Wall Street’s estimates of $0.84 earnings per share.

The price of GME appears to have been significantly impacted by the publishing of GameStop's Q4 financials, with the price dropping 7.31% sit at around $81.29 at the time of writing. GME has, been on a strong downward trend this year despite positive developments in its Web3 initiatives, with the price dropping more than 40% since the start of January.

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Diving into the report a bit further, GameStop posted $2.254 billion worth of sales last quarter, a slight increase on the $2.122 billion a year prior. A major hindrance on the latest figure was the $1.87 billion cost of sales, while selling, general and administrative expenses totaled $538.9 million.

The firm was able to raise more than $1.67 billion in capital which was enough to eliminate “all of the Company’s long-term debt, other than a $44.6 million low-interest, unsecured term loan associated with the French government’s response to COVID-19.”

Despite a bearish trend in the NFT market over the past couple of months, GameStop’s partner Immutable X has gone from strength to strength, the firm announced a $200 million Series C funding round at a $2 billion valuation on March 8, which sent the price of IMX surging roughly 50% within 24 hours to around $1.78. Since then the price has retraced to around $1.54.