It’s not often I see two pieces of news about the same company that appears to be pulling in opposite directions, but here we are. GameStop has teamed up with web3 metaverse, Illuvium, for a limited edition NFT collection. GameStop has also parted ways with the CEO, Matt Furlong, in what seems to be a continued effort to move away from web3.
Illuvium x GameStop D1SK, Limited Edition NFTs
It’s no secret, we’re big fans of Illuvium here; it’s one of only a handful of metaverse projects I can see going the distance. There is a varied arsenal of components within the project, from different games to metagames to collections, all interspersed, and all of the highest quality. If you want an example, check out this article from a few weeks ago.
https://twitter.com/illuviumio/status/1665659741589368832?s=20
Now, Illivium has struck a curious partnership with GameStop for a limited edition collection of 20,000 Illuvitars — Illuvium’s PFPs with a collector system behind it. These Illuvitars will be usable across the entire of Illuvium’s ecosystem. There are around 108 combinations of six Illuvials, three expressions, three backgrounds, and two finishes.
To view the drop, click here.
Why is this a “curious partnership”? Well, GameStop has been seen to be distancing itself from NFTs and web3, including the most recent piece of news.
GameStop Parts Ways With CEO, Matt Furlong
GameStop has had a rather public change of strategy when it comes to web3. Although its marketplace had a staggeringly strong first day or two, clearing over $2 million in sales volume in the first 24 hours, it quickly plummeted in popularity. With gaming NFTs the next stop on the roadmap (thanks to a partnership with ImmutableX), it seemed as if GameStop’s move into web3 had legs, but by August last year, the outlook was bleak. The sales volume was down to just a few thousand dollars per day and the crypto world as a whole was in the depths of a winter.
Since the meteoric phoenix rise of GameStop courtesy of Reddit, web3 seemed a prime strategy but every piece of news, save for the one above, to come out of the company suggests otherwise. GameStop had more or less abandoned its crypto plans and the firing of Matt Furlong fit that narrative. Furlong was involved in the company’s web3 initiative and his departure seems related to that.
Ryan Cohen looks to have taken the helm and he is something of a hero to the GameStop fans. He did, however, time a tweet with the news of Furlong’s exit that is cryptic to say the least:
Not for long
— Ryan Cohen (@ryancohen) June 7, 2023
So, is GameStop fully out of the race for web3 dominance? It’s hard to tell. While everything was pointing in that direction, the partnership with Illuvium bucks the trend abruptly!
