Published: January 17th, 2024
Just 18 months after the launch of its branded NFT marketplace, US video game chain GameStop is closing the platform, which offers collectible gaming and other non-fungible tokens via the Loopring and Immutable X scaling networks on Ethereum.
According to the GameStop NFT marketplace website, the company took the decision to close its NFT marketplace because of 'continuing regulatory uncertainty in crypto markets.’ Gamestop added that the platform will cease operations on 2nd February 2024. GameStop NFT holders will still have options to trade them, however, since they were minted on the Ethereum blockchain. That means they can be accessed, sold, and purchased on other NFT marketplaces.
The high street gaming retailer announced it was discontinuing its NFT wallet four months ago, citing similar reasoning. GameStop also delivered the news to crypto traders the same way, through a pop-up window on the NFT marketplace home page. Why GameStop didn’t close out both products at once remains a mystery.
GameStop announced plans to enter the NFT space in 2021. In January 2022 it hired a 20-person team to build a branded marketplace for gaming NFTs and announced that it had partnered with Immutable to use its blockchain about a month later. A USD 100 million facility was created for Immutable’s IMX token and then the company cashed out almost half its IMX token horde the following week, sending USD 47 million in tokens into the market.
GameStop launched its NFT marketplace in July 2022, but only listed Immutable X gaming NFTs much later, and then only after it had parted ways with the CEO who led the charge on its push into crypto.
Back in July 2023, a Simpson-eque NFT collection that blended elements of the successful CryptoPunks’ NFT collection with bits borrowed from ‘The Simpsons’ animated comedy, generated more than USD 2.3 million in sales in under 24 hours, leaping to OpenSea’s top trending spot.
The long-running series had just aired a special episode devoted to NFTs, lampooning non-fungible token enthusiasts.
Called ‘Springfield Punks’ the unofficial collection arrived as a free mint on Sunday, 5th November. Traders rushed in to grab the 3,400 Ethereum NFTs, generating 1,311 ETH (worth ca. USD 2.3 million) in trading volume at time of writing. Springfield Punks NFTs can be purchased for about 0.11 ETH (ca. USD 200) on secondary markets.
The brainchild of self-described parody artist Rino Russo, the Springfield Punks collection went live shortly after The Simpsons episode aired on Sunday night. Stacked against NFT’s big names, the collection was second only to Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks in trading volume
It wasn’t the only NFT collection paying homage to The Simpsons. On Monday, collections like ‘SimpsPunks’ and ‘The Chimpsons Official’ also staked out a position on OpenSea’s front page.
Beehive hairdos, beer, and donuts are all emblems of the long-running satirical comedy, and those images have found their way into all these projects. Most of the NFT profile images on offer bolt Simpsons-themed imagery onto ape-ish creatures, for collections encompassing thousands of choices.
‘The Chimpsons Official’ collection earned a special spot in the aftermath of Sunday’s NFT episode. Launched in September 2023, it’s attracted around 600 new sales this week alone.
In July 2022, in a period when all of the big name Ethereum NFT collections saw their valuations crater amid a wider crypto market crash, CryptoPunks jumped back to prominence. Following two multi-million-dollar sales in rapid succession, the minimum or ‘floor’ price for one of the project’s NFTs rose substantially.
On Monday 18th July, the floor price for CryptoPunks on secondary marketplaces jumped to above USD 100,000 for the first time since the crypto bear market began in mid-May. Data from NFT Price Floor showed the floor price for CryptoPunks at 84.84 ETH, or about USD 113,000.
That represented a leap of more than 30 per cent in a week.
The rising value of Ethereum, up 27 per cent over the same period, was part of the story. However, when measured against ETH, the CryptoPunks floor beat Ether's rise by nearly 12 per cent and by nearly 26 per cent over the previous month.
It wasn't enough to herald a market-wide uptrend for high-value NFTs. Leader Bored Ape Yacht Club saw its ETH floor price fall by five per cent.
An NFT is a blockchain token that indicates proof of ownership for another asset, typically a digital product like a unique online profile picture, and sometimes an artwork, collectible, or video game item. The NFT market reached USD 25 billion in trading volume last year, adding roughly USD 20 billion more for the 2022 year-to-date.
Regardless of its ups and downs, CryptoPunks remains one of the most successful projects in the NFT space. Parent developer Larva Labs launched the collection in 2017, first giving away its NFTs for free to stoke interest.
Owning a CryptoPunks NFT has since become a status symbol for crypto enthusiasts and celebrities alike. To date, the collection has posted more than USD two billion in trading volume, including a record purchase worth USD 23 million recorded in March 2022.
The leap in floor price last July was triggered by a pair of multi-million-dollar sales. One NFT sold for USD 2.5 million (2,500 ETH) while another sold for USD 3.2 million (2,690 ETH) two days later. Both were hard-to-find ape avatars from the collection’s selection of 10,000 profile pictures.
As positive as the news was, the slumping NFT market had a lot of ground to regain before any one could call it a turnaround. Even at its rising 2022 floor price, CryptoPunks lost significant value over the course of 2022. On January 3rd it peaked at USD 260,000 and was still hovering around USD 240,000 in early April. But like the Bored Apes and other popular NFT collections, prices have cratered in tandem with the broader cryptocurrency market slump.