GameStop cuts several employees—including Crypto Wallet Engineers

Video game retailer GameStop has laid off another round of employees today ahead of its upcoming earnings report, according to reports and social media posts from people affected. The team behind the company’s crypto wallet was particularly hard hit, according to Axios.

Daniel Williams, GameStop’s lead software engineer, posted on LinkedIn earlier today that there was “another big round of layoffs at GameStop right now,” including e-commerce product employees and engineers — “a lot of them,” he added. In a follow-up comment, Williams said a company announcement will be made later today.

Several former employees have shared public status updates about the layoffs on LinkedIn today, including blockchain and iOS engineer Brandon Jenniges, who wrote that he was affected by the company’s move.

GameStop launched an NFT marketplace this year that focuses on Ethereum ecosystem, especially on Immutable X side chain. In May, the company announced the launch of its own Ethereum wallet – a browser-based plugin similar to MetaMask.

Ethan Gach, senior reporter at the gaming publication Kotaku, tweeted late this afternoon that GameStop CEO Matt Furlong confirmed layoffs in an email to employees.

“We have continued to gain clarity regarding the appropriate level of corporate staffing needed to meet our profitability and growth goals,” Furlong reportedly wrote in the email.

GameStop did not immediately respond Decryptits request for comment.

The company’s earnings report for the third quarter is scheduled for Wednesday, December 7.

GameStop layoffs last held in July amid the departure of CFO Michael Recupero, but the company did not disclose how many people were laid off.

The NFT marketplace has not had a significant impact on the space. As of October 31, NFT analytics platform DappRadar reported that the platform had caved only $29 million value of trades since the launch in July. For context, OpenSea, the largest marketplace for Ethereum NFT trading, regularly pulls in more than $6 million in daily volume, even now in a bear market. DappRadar is is no longer tracked GameStop’s NFT activity.