GameStop NFT "Creator" Suspended

In the first week of GameStop’s recently launched NFT marketplace, NiFTy Arcade was the most popular collection. However, a piracy issue occurred.

NiFTy Arcade’s minter was suspended for selling unoriginal and unlicensed NFTs of indie games on the GameStop NFTs marketplace.

The original NFT creator of the controversial game claimed he didn’t give anyone permission to sell his work.

Ars Technica first reported that NiFTy Arcade's "interactive NFTs" were being minted and sold without permission, and there was no “financial arrangement for the creators to share crypto profits."

Upon looking into the matter, Gamestop NFT stated that the pirate behind NiFTy Arcade had been suspended.

However, the pirate is still holding on to the cryptocurrencies made illegally before being suspended on the GameStop NFT platform, Ars reported.

The creator of NiFTy Arcade (the game comprising pirated NFTs) identified as Nathan Ello. They clearly stated his aim to be a creator of games that NFT marketplace users can benefit from. "The games I am creating are not meant to benefit a certain group of people either by purchasing at no fee from their wallet or GameStop profile without the need of using my profile," they said.

Two games - Galactic wars and Worm Nom Nom - had questionable sources. But, according to Ello, Galatic Wars had an "unlicensed" tag, which proved false.

Ars discovered that Worm Nom's license prohibited commercial use on further investigation.

Ello subsequently confirmed that he "did not seek permission from the original creators before selling them."

Ello confirmed that his account on the GameStop NFT storefront has been suspended "until [the IP issue] is resolved." Gamestop is yet to respond to comments on the piracy issue.

NFTs “a solution to piracy issues?”

One of the problems NFT is meant to solve is piracy. Non-fungible tokens are intended to have a sole proprietorship with accurately traceable origins.

However, this recent event reinforced that piracy and plagiarism are prevalent in the current NFT ecosystem. Unfortunately, the laws governing intellectual property and copyright remain unclear to buyers.

If a piracy issue like Ello’s could still occur in 2022, it makes one wonder if NFTs are the solution.

While piracy can be traced and promptly stopped, it's left to see if NFTs can take further steps - such that the issue doesn't occur in the first place. A case like this shows that more work is to be done, especially for platforms like GameStop.

How can GameStop NFT prevent further issues?

Being a new NFT marketplace, it’s pertinent that GameStop invests heavily in due diligence. Measures should be put in place to check and confirm that NFTs minted on the marketplace are owned by the user uploading them.

Such holistic investment in due diligence will deepen creators’ and consumers’ trust in the platform.

GameStop must also do more to verify consumers or NFT collectors using the marketplace. For instance, a blue tick could help indicate verified projects. Doing this will go a long way to protect consumers from patronizing questionable creators on the platform.