On July 11, 2022, one of the worlds leading gaming retailers, Gamestop, launched its NFT marketplace. The company made even more famous by Wallstreetbets, ended up appealing to its favourite generation. It was highly anticipated at launch and they are still going strong today.
Power To The Players!
Gamestop NFT Marketplace (or GME) allows users to buy and sell art, in-game items and more in the form of non-fungible tokens. While it started off with existing collectibles and digital artwork, it now supports several wallets. Plus, it has all sorts of different categories to choose from. These days, it even has its own “Gamestop Wallet” available as a browser extension.
With its partnership with Immutable X, an Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution, users can trade in-game items on the Gamestop marketplace using zero percent gas fees. Not only that, minting on the platform is completely carbon-neutral. It also provides free desktop and mobile wallpapers for visitors.
Wondering how to buy an NFT on the GameStop marketplace? Well, it’s simple! All you need to do is:
GameStop allows users to connect their existing web3 Wallet (Metamask or any other supported wallets). Alternatively, you can download the native GameStop Wallet as an extension on Google Chrome.
You may then fill in all the required details on your wallet, including creating a display name of your choice and profile settings.
There are two ways to add crypto to your wallet. The first would be to buy ETH directly from the wallet you have linked to GameStop. This way, you will have deposited ETH into your wallet on Layer 2. Then the second way would be to transfer ETH from an existing wallet (layer 1) to the Layer 2 account/wallet connected to GameStop.
In case you were wondering, yes you can directly activate your Layer 2 account on Gamestop. After depositing the funds (ETH) in your GameStop linked wallet (Layer 2), select the “Profile” menu and click the “Activate Layer 2” option. This will open a dialog confirming the one-time fee to activate your Loopring Layer 2 account. You may then approve this transaction in your wallet.
Bridging your funds between Layer 1 to Layer 2 is simple on GameStop. After depositing funds and activating the layer 2 from steps 3 and 4 above, you can now bridge your funds between the layers. After connecting your wallet, click on the “Profile” icon. Next, you may click on the “Deposit ETH” option and enter the amount you would wish to bridge. The transaction will take place automatically, and you are now free to browse the goods!
Step 7: Pay
Once you fill out your form, creating NFTs on GameStop’s platform is really very easy.
Connect your wallet and click your profile icon. On your profile page, select the Create button to begin.
To mint a new token, a collection must already exist. Select the “+” icon to Create a New Collection. You may then fill in the details by adding a title, a thumbnail, and other details. These details will remain editable after you mint the collection as well.
Metadata is the information that comes with your NFT. Mainly, the metadata refers to the description, traits and the files it includes. At this point you can add all of this data to your token. You can also choose how many editions you want to mint.
After you hit save, the Gamestop Marketplace’s moderators will review your submission. If it passes, you’ll see a preview and it will be ready to mint.
Once you’ve drafted your collection, click the Mint button. It will show you the transaction fees to mint your collection. After approval, sign the transaction. Do not navigate away from this page as the mint process completes.
After this step, you can find your new tokens in your GameStop wallet and profile page under the “Collections” tab. From there, you can set pricing for your collection. Once you price it, you may then list it for sale, transfer it, or withdraw it to Layer 1 by clicking the ‘Manage NFT’ button from the detail page.
You can edit your collection’s banner and thumbnail assets after this step. Click “Edit collection” from the collection detail page, then you may update the Description, Assets, and Links of your collection.
Lastly, click on Save Changes, to find your new creations permanently on the Gamestop marketplace.
Please note: Once you mint an NFT on GameStop, its title, thumbnail, description, and any metadata cannot be edited! This is true for all digital assets on the blockchain.
In the first week of the public beta, the GME Marketplace had a trading volume of over $7 million. As the gaming industry adopts new technologies, GameStop is literally a go-to spot for gamer communities and brands alike. On October 31st the platform officially launched via a partnership with Immutable X. And since then, GameStop announced further expansion into NFTs, metaverses and interoperable crypto environments in the future.
However, in December 2022, Gamestop admitted that entering web3 wasn’t as fruitful as they wanted it to be. CEO of GameStop Matt Furlong said the company “will not risk meaningful stockholder capital in this space”, which doesn’t look great for the GME marketplace . To add fuel to the fire, he also confirmed the firm has already cut back on staff to limit spending.
As for the future of the platform, we will have to see. While it’s still going for now, will GameStop ever get its NFT marketplace out of Beta?
