GameStop’s Crypto Staff Axed in 4th Round of Layoffs

GameStop has let go of some employees — including staffers that built its first blockchain wallet — adding to sector-wide layoffs in recent weeks.

Several employees from the e-commerce product team and engineers were laid off, according to a LinkedIn post by a lead software engineer at GameStop, Daniel Williams. The team building GameStop’s blockchain wallet was also impacted, Axios reported. 

Brandon Jenniges, an iOS engineer working within the blockchain team, confirmed the development on Monday.

“Unfortunately I was impacted by layoffs at GameStop today,” Jenniges wrote on LinkedIn.

“I had a great time getting a deep dive into Ethereum and learning about many new things in the crypto space.”

It isn’t clear how many lost their jobs overall, but at least six employees said on LinkedIn that they had been let go. 

The most recent headcount reductions would mark the fourth round of layoffs for the video game retailer in the last six months, according to a former GameStop employee.

CEO Matt Furlong reportedly notified staff about the layoffs via email, saying the company is “emerging from the rebuilding phase” of its transformation. 

“We’ve recently completed several projects that were part of the initial phase of our transformation and enable the business to operate with increased efficiency,” Furlong wrote in the email, as reported by Kotaku. 

Furlong added that the company gained direction regarding the number of corporate staff required to achieve profitability and growth goals. The decision was made partly due to record-high inflation and “weakened consumer confidence” as a difficult job market weighs on sentiment.

“These two factors informed the decision that were taken across the organization,” he said. The email reportedly didn’t mention the degree of the job cuts. Blockworks has reached out for comment on the matter.

GameStop launched a self-custodial Ethereum digital wallet in May, allowing users to transact across decentralized apps and buy NFTs on its marketplace. The video game retailer had hired more than 20 people to run its NFT marketplace and set up crypto partnerships, according to the Wall Street Journal.

GameStop’s share price is down about 32% so far this year, with shares priced at $25.44 at the time of publication. The company is set to report third quarter earnings on Dec. 7 after the close.

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