Immutable X and Microsoft executives appear to have intimated that the software giant may also be collaborating with GameStop on NFT games.
The stock price of GameStop jumped over 13% in one day amid online speculations of a deal with Microsoft to work on Next-Generation Gaming. GameStop is a famous video game retailer.
According to TradingView data, GME is currently trading at $115.60 as of market close on February 8. It remained around that level in after-hours trading.
The NFT’s Grant Program
GME began February at roughly $100 and has been surging this month. This is the result of GameStop’s collaboration with Immutable X. A Layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution focusing on NFTs that construct its future NFT marketplace.
GameStop is also launching a $100 million grant program for NFT content creators and tech innovators in IMX tokens. This will be a part of the agreement.
According to recent reports circulating on Reddit and Twitter, GameStop and Microsoft may collaborate. They will be providing NFT integrations into existing games as well as develop new NFT-focused games.
Twitter user “P MackD” published a snapshot of combined images of tweets from Immutable X and Microsoft executives. They cryptically state the “probably nothing” meme regarding the major GameStop relationship.
Yorke Rhodes III, the director of Microsoft’s blockchain division, specifically mentioned Xbox, Microsoft, and GameStop in his tweet, possibly implying that the tech giant is involved in the Immutable X and GameStop collaboration behind the scenes.
While the specific nature of the three parties’ relationship is unknown, a Feb. 6 post on the r/Superstonk Reddit community detailed noteworthy speculation of what the cooperation could involve.
Web3 and NFTs’ Influence to GameStop
Bamfcoco1 mentioned the firm’s turn-based player vs player collectible card game Hearthstone as if it were something ripe for NFT integrations via Immutable X and GameStop in response to Microsoft’s big $69 billion acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard.
The Redditor said that Hearthstone’s dropping user base from 23.5 million to 3.5 million was due in part to the high prices of card collection and a lack of actual ownership over the user’s assets, both of which could be addressed with NFT integrations.
It’s a no-brainer when you may freely mint and exchange NFTs on Immutable X’s platform. By creating an NFT for each card and then distributing them to customers’ existing card collections, GameStop could debut Hearthstone on their brand new Web3 platform. It’s about as straightforward as it gets.
It is appearing that the stock price of GameStop was because of Web3 and NFT-related news. In early January, Cointelegraph reported that GME’s stock jumped 26% in after-hours trading. This was following the announcement of the company’s new NFT business.
