GYGO: The Grift That Keeps on Giving

Hello and welcome to Get Your Game On. My name is Maddi and I hope that wherever you are, you’re staying cool during this intense July heatwave. I’ve been playing even more games than usual since going outside has started to feel like walking into an oven. I recently enjoyed both Universal Paperclips and Dicey Dungeons, which had me glued to my phone over the weekend. If you’ve been playing games to beat the heat, tell us about it on Twitter, or, if you’re a member of our Patreon at the Sega Genesis tier or higher, in our Discord! Without further ado, the news.

Gamestop Gets into NFTs

Remember a few weeks ago, when GameStop fired its CEO and a laid off a number of employees? Since then, the company has launched the NFT marketplace it announced in February, just in time to enjoy the near-total collapse of the market. It is, perhaps predictably, not going super well. Though crypto outlets were quick to hype the GameStop platform’s early performance, research from Ars Technica suggests the early interest in GameStop’s NFTs is already waning.

In addition, one of the most popular NFTs has already been removed from the marketplace. The controversy began with an NFT titled “Falling Man” by a creator who goes by Jules. The piece shows an astronaut falling upside down against a black and gray background, emulating the iconic and controversial Associated Press photo of a man falling from the World Trade Center during the September 11 attack. Following criticism, GameStop removed the NFT from its marketplace for violating its terms of service, though it’s still quite easy to find given that NFTs are, for most intents and purposes, slightly fancier JPEGs. Anyone who purchased the NFT can transfer it to another wallet, but will be unable to resell it on GameStop’s marketplace.

Nintendo Launches Nintendo Pictures Subsidiary

Earlier this month, Nintendo announced its acquisition of Dynamo Pictures, an animation studio with credits on games like Death Stranding and Persona 5. The studio will be renamed Nintendo Pictures. The studio will now focus on “visual content” for Nintendo IP. Given the video game industry’s current interest in turning games into movies and TV shows and Nintendo’s own upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie, it’s not surprising that Nintendo wants to toss its hat in the ring.

That same week, Nintendo Japan also announced that it will offer employees in same-sex domestic partnerships the same benefits it offers employees in heterosexual relationships.

In other news…

This isn’t a sentence I get to type very often when writing Get Your Game On, but here is some heartwarming news. Stray, BlueTwelve Studio’s third-person cat adventure game set in a cyberpunk world, came out on July 19. It has been well received by humans and cats alike. PC players are even modding Stray to model the cat protagonist after their own real-life cats.

Blizzard Albany, a former Vicarious Visions studio, filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board. Management refused to voluntarily recognize the union.

Uncharted and The Last of Us director Bruce Straley has founded a new studio, Wildflower Interactive.

Square Enix announced it would release a statue of Cloud in a dress based on one of the outfits in Final Fantasy VII Remake (clapping, cheering). Unfortunately, each statue comes with a digital certificate of authenticity in the form of an NFT (booing, jeering).

Madison Butler

Madison Butler is Sidequest’s self-proclaimed jock editor. She co-founded the blog Critsumption and once got really into powerlifting via Fitness Boxing for the Nintendo Switch. She tweets at @_maddilo.