GameStop, Immutable to Launch $100M Joint Fund for Gaming NFTs

GameStop and Immutable are launching a $100 million joint fund to invest in gaming NFT projects, according to an announcement on Thursday.

Immutable X, a layer-2 scaling platform built on Ethereum, will also be partnering with the company to power its forthcoming blockchain-based marketplace, co-founder Robbie Ferguson told Blockworks.

“We are going to market to try to bring NFTs to games,” Ferguson said. “The $100 million fund is going to be dedicated to everyone from indie games to AAA publishers who want to come and build on Immutable X and also want to have access to GameStop’s distribution [and] marketplace.”

The carbon neutral layer-2 has zero gas fees and nearly instant trade execution, according to Ferguson. It previously partnered with TikTok in September for its first foray into NFTs.

“Immutable is not for expensive and luxury JPEGs,” Ferguson said. “What I’m excited about is how we can take NFTs to the masses and actually create better experiences for players.”

The Sydney-based startup has not officially announced which gaming projects will receive funds, but Ferguson anticipates them to be “mid-market [gaming] studios” that are “looking to go heavily into NFTs.”

The co-founder of Immutable said talks of a partnership with GameStop started over six months ago and that the $100 million capital comes from Immutable’s token funds. 

Reports of GameStop dabbling in the nascent NFT space emerged last month, when The Wall Street Journal wrote that the retailer would be launching a division to develop a marketplace for the digital collectibles and establish partnerships with cryptocurrency companies. GameStop did not immediately respond to Blockworks’ request for comment on when the marketplace will officially launch.

“We believe our emphasis on the long term is positioning us to build what will ultimately become a much larger business,” GameStop Matt Furlong said on an earnings call in November. 

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