GameStop’s (GME) reported plan to launch an NFT marketplace is “dead on arrival”, says one bearish analyst.
“NFT’s are a real thing…the problem is GameStop,” Wedbush’s Michael Pachter told Yahoo Finance Live.
A Wall Street Journal report says the company hired more than 20 people to run the unit which will launch an NFT marketplace, a strategy which the video game retailer has hinted at in the past. The media report also states GameStop is working on creating partnerships with two crypto companies.
“NFT’s can only be resold if the publishers allow them to be,” said Pachter.
“I know that a lot of the GameStop ‘Apes’ think that, ‘Well they have this unique relationship with their customer, and they have a great relationship with their publishers.’ That’s just wrong,” he said.
“The publishers are really going to be reluctant to let anybody trade NFTs unless they control the transaction and they capture the lion’s share of the profit,” said the analyst.
“BFD they hired 20 people. Who cares. Unless they hire all 20 people from Coinbase (COIN), I don’t see how they’re going to be able to pull this off,” he said. “Dead on arrival. This is a dumb idea.”
Only three analysts cover the video game retailer. Pachter of Wedbush Securities is one of them. He has an Underperform rating on the stock, and a price target of $45.
CEO Matt Furlong gave a teaser about plans involving non-fungible tokens and crypto during the company’s last earnings call, though no details or formal announcement has been made yet.
“We’ve also been exploring emerging opportunities in blockchain, NFTs and Web 3.0 gaming,” Furlong said during the call in December of 2021.
Several months ago, internet sleuths had noticed company job descriptions which included “NFT” and “Web 3.0.”
The video-game retailer also has a link on the GameStop URL soliciting creators for an NFT marketplace. “Request to be a creator on the GameStop NFT marketplace,” says the website.
Yahoo Finance reached out to the video game retailer about the Thursday’s media report and did not receive a reply.
Ines is a markets reporter covering stocks from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre
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