Is Opensea under threat as GameStop launches NFT marketplace amid NFT winter?

The Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market has been called a bubble for the entirety of its existence, with many expecting the same to burst soon. Even though NFTs are becoming a major means of marketing in the mainstream media, the actual market is consistently losing money. On top of that, new competition is making an appearance in the form of GameStop.

Opensea and NFTs

Despite 2022 being one of the worst years for the crypto market, NFTs seemed to have enticed traders during the first half of the year. The first month of the first quarter, January, noted the highest volume of NFT sales for Opensea, exceeding $5.86 billion. This was followed by April, when total monthly sales again crossed the $5 billion mark.

However, the months after April registered the worst figures for NFT sales. While Opensea only sold NFTs worth $3.1 billion in May, the volume slipped below $1 billion by June to settle at $826 million. 

With October ending today, the total NFT sales registered over the last 30 months barely crossed the $300 million mark. 

Opensea's monthly trading volume

Even if the price of NFTs may not have been impacted, the lack of recovery of the crypto market certainly kept NFT traders away for a while. This is also visible on Opensea’s daily trade count, where the total figure has slipped from 217,000 in May to 20,895 on Monday.

The condition of other NFT marketplaces is no better. Since Opensea is the biggest marketplace to exist, it represents more than 66% of all NFT sales volume. The combined sales of all marketplaces, including Opensea, barely crossed $450 million.

Despite this, GameStop launched its own NFT marketplace on Monday.

GameStop enters the arena

The 38-year-old video game retailer set foot in the NFT space with the Ethereum-based layer-two solution ImmutableX. Through this partnership, ImmutableX intends to bring aboard millions of GameStop players and GameStop Powerup Pro loyalty customers throughout the U.S.

The marketplace has also been built keeping environmental conservation in mind, allowing for 100% gas-free and carbon-neutral minting and trading. However, with the launch coming at a time when NFT sales are suffering, GameStop may not be able to attract many traders immediately.

But if it does manage to, Opensea and other older NFT marketplaces could be threatened.