The overly hyped GameStop NFT marketplace just cannot stop making headlines for the wrong reasons. Just today, Ars Technica reported instances of NFT games being minted and sold without proper licenses and the permission of their owners. To their disbelief, victimized independent game developers called out the marketplace and said, online thugs.
When we first heard of NFTs, they were just digital tokens that are commonly bought and priced using cryptocurrencies. Most of the time, NFTs come in the form of JPEG files that are purchased alongside a token that acts as a certification of the NFT being an original digital file, a reminder that its owner or buyer exclusively owns it. Simply put, NFTs are digital images with a virtual string attached.
Stolen 'Interactive NFTs' Are Impossible to Recover
This NFT collection up for sale in GameStop NFT is a whole new different story, NiFTy Arcade Collection sells 'interactive NFTs' that can direct its user to fully playable digital games. According to Ars Technica, the collection included "interactive NFTs" connected to HTML5 games that were completely playable from an owner's cryptocurrency wallet rather than basic JPEGs. Check out similar NFTs here.
What is wrong with this NFT collection garage sale is that it mints and sells as its own unlicensed works from other developers. Yes, quite literally profiting from stolen goods. The challenge for the marketplace and the independent game developers is claiming back these NFTs that are now permanently minted on the online blockchain. The unlicensed games themselves can still be accessed on GameStop's servers and through a blockchain-based file storage system, where they may now be functionally difficult to delete, even though the disputed NFTs are no longer available on the GameStop NFT marketplace.
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After receiving reports of said unlicensed sale of NFTs, GameStop was quick to suspend the said account on its marketplace. The owner of NiFTy Arcade has now been barred from selling NFTs on GameStop, but he's still hanging onto the tens of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency he earned from doing so prior to the ban.
GameStop NFT Faces Several Issues in the First Week
This sudden venture into NFT by GameStop has received so much flak for a week-old business. Many observers have expressed that this attempt at a massive NFT marketplace is a move destined to fail. There really is not much digital art in the NFT that is sold with all seriousness. Many pseudo creators look at this GameStop NFT store as a nest for memes more than a place you can actually find great NFTs to invest with.
Statistics from numerous reports also say that GameStop NFT sales have been underwhelming compared to their previous market forecast. For The Win tells us that according to a post on the r/wallstreetbets subreddit, GameStop's NFT marketplace experienced its worst day to date, July 30. The contentious storefront was earning around $13.40 per hour at one point. On the other hand, the maximum revenue point was roughly $475.41, which is quite good. However, it is still generally below average. Total earnings for the entire weekend were around $4696.41.
Earlier this week, GameStop flagged an NFT item for featuring a distasteful visual commentary of 9/11. PC Gamer reports on the said affair.
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