Thankfully, Disney Plus has a clearer limit on the number of simultaneous viewers than some other streaming services. Disney+ has a consistent amount regardless of the plan you choose, unlike some streaming services (hello, Netflix!). This is due to the fact that it only offers a single straightforward plan with the option of paying monthly or yearly (Disney+ does not offer a free trial). That implies that you won’t need to change your subscription based on how many users you anticipate utilizing your account.
Disney+ allows for simultaneous registration and login on up to 10 devices. Disney Plus is compatible with virtually all devices. This covers the majority of smart TVs, game consoles, and even your web browser. It also includes streaming devices like Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV Sticks, as well as the Nintendo Switch. The notification “It looks like you’ve reached your device limit for streaming Disney Plus” will appear if a user tries to connect with a fifth device while the other four are watching a show or movie. Disney Plus streams simultaneously on up to four devices.
Fortunately, four devices should be more than enough for most households, and it’s higher than some rivals. It’s interesting to note that the four devices can be placed wherever. You may theoretically share your account information with friends and family as all four devices have the potential to access Disney Plus from various locations across the world. Disney does not currently have a mechanism to enforce the terms and conditions of Disney Plus, which go against that. Disney has previously stated that it will monitor unusual logins, so you should take every precaution. Having said that, occasionally sharing your login is unlikely to cause a problem.
https://disneyplusbegincodes.com/many-people-can-watch-disney-plus/

Another big week. Delayed a day because I've been dealing with a terrible flu

Cognosys - a web based version of AutoGPT/babyAGI. Looks so cool [Link]
Godmode is another web based autogpt. Very fun to play with this stuff [Link]
HyperWriteAI is releasing an AI agent that can basically use the internet like a human. In the example it orders a pizza from dominos with a single command. This is how agents will run the internet in the future, or maybe the present? Announcement tweet [Link]. Apply for early access here [Link]
People are already playing around with adding AI bots in games. A preview of whats to come [Link]
Arxiv being transformed into a podcast [Link]
AR + AI is going to change the way we live, for better or worse. lifeOS runs a personal AI agent through AR glasses [Link]
AgentGPT takes autogpt and lets you use it in the browser [Link]
MemoryGPT - ChatGPT with long term memory. Remembers past convos and uses context to personalise future ones [Link]
Wonder Studios have been rolling out access to their AI vfx platform. Lots of really cool examples I’ll link here [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]
Vicuna is an open source chatbot trained by fine tuning LLaMA. It apparently achieves more than 90% quality of chatgpt and costs $300 to train [Link]
What if AI agents could write their own code? Describe a plugin and get working Langchain code [Link]. Plus its open source [Link]
Yeagar ai - Langchain Agent creator designed to help you build, prototype, and deploy AI-powered agents with ease [Link]
Dolly - The first “commercially viable”, open source, instruction following LLM [Link]. You can try it here [Link]
A thread on how at least 50% of iOs and macOS chatgpt apps are leaking their private OpenAI api keys [Link]
A gradio web UI for running LLMs like LLaMA, llama.cpp, GPT-J, Pythia, OPT, and GALACTICA. Open source and free [Link]
The Do Anything Machine assigns an Ai agent to tasks in your to do list [Link]
Plask AI for image generation looks pretty cool [Link]
Someone created a chatbot that has emotions about what you say and you can see how you make it feel. Honestly feels kinda weird ngl [Link]
Use your own AI models on the web [Link]
A babyagi chatgpt plugin lets you run agents in chatgpt [Link]
A thread showcasing plugins hackathon (i think in sf?). Some of the stuff is pretty in here is really cool. Like attaching a phone to a robodog and using SAM and plugins to segment footage and do things. Could be used to assist people with impairments and such. makes me wish I was in sf 😭 [Link] robot dog video [Link]
Someone created KarenAI to fight for you and negotiate your bills and other stuff [Link]
You can install GPT4All natively on your computer [Link]
WebLLM - open source chat bot that brings LLMs into web browsers [Link]
AI Steve Jobs meets AI Elon Musk having a full on unscripted convo. Crazy stuff [Link]
AutoGPT built a website using react and tailwind [Link]
A chatbot to help you learn Langchain JS docs [Link]
An interesting thread on using AI for journaling [Link]
Build a Chatgpt powered app using Bubble [Link]
Build a personal, voice-powered assistant through Telegram. Source code provided [Link]
This thread explains the different ways to overcome the 4096 token limit using chains [Link]
This lads creating an open source rebuild of descript, a video editing tool [Link]
DesignerGPT - plugin to create websites in ChatGPT [Link]
Get the latest news using AI [Link]
Have you seen those ridiculous balenciaga videos? This thread explain how to make them [Link]
GPT-4 plugin to generate images and then edit them [Link]
How to animate yourself [Link]
Baby-agi running on streamlit [Link]
How to make a Space Invaders game with GPT-4 and your own A.I. generated textures [Link]
AI live coding a calculator app [Link]
Someone is building Apollo - a chatgpt powered app you can talk to all day long to learn from [Link]
Animals use reinforcement learning as well [Link]
How to make an AI aging video [Link]
Stable Diffusion + SAM. Segment something then generate a stable diffusion replacement. Really cool stuff [Link]
Someone created an AI agent to do sales. Just wait till this is integrated with Hubspot or Zapier [Link]
Someone created an AI agent that follows Test Driven Development. You write the tests and the agent then implements the feature. Very cool [Link]
A locally hosted 4gb model can code a 40 year old computer language [Link]
People are adding AI bots to discord communities [Link]
Using AI to delete your data online [Link]
Ask questions over your files with simple shell commands [Link]
Create 3D animations using AI in Spline. This actually looks so cool [Link]
Someone created a virtual AI robot companion [Link]
Someone got gpt4all running on a calculator. gg exams [Link] Someone also got it running on a Nintendo DS?? [Link]
Flair AI is a pretty cool tool for marketing [Link]
A lot of people have been using Chatgpt for therapy. I wrote about this in my last newsletter, it’ll be very interesting to see how this changes therapy as a whole. An example of someone whos been using chatgpt for therapy [Link]
A lot of people ask how can I use gpt4 to make money or generate ideas. Here’s how you get started [Link]
This lad got an agent to do market research and it wrote a report on its findings. A very basic example of how agents are going to be used. They will be massive in the future [Link]
Someone made a plugin that gives access to the shell. Connect this to an agent and who knows wtf could happen [Link]
Someone made an app that connects chatgpt to google search. Pretty neat [Link]
Somebody made a AI which generates memes just by taking a image as a input [Link]
This lad made a text to video plugin [Link]
Why only talk to one bot? GroupChatGPT lets you talk to multiple characters in one convo [Link]
Build designs instantly with AI [Link]
Someone transformed someone dancing to animation using stable diffusion and its probably the cleanest animation I’ve seen [Link]
Create, deploy, and iterate code all through natural language. Man built a game with a single prompt [Link]
Character cards for AI roleplaying [Link]
IMDB-LLM - query movie titles and find similar movies in plain english [Link]
Summarize any webpage, ask contextual questions, and get the answers without ever leaving or reading the page [Link]
Kaiber lets you restyle music videos using AI [Link]. They also have a vid2vid tool [Link]
Create query boxes with text descriptions of any object in a photo, then SAM will segment anything in the boxes [Link]
People are giving agents access to their terminals and letting them browse the web [Link]
Go from text to image to 3d mesh to video to animation [Link]
Use SAM with spatial data [Link]
Someone asked autogpt to stalk them on the internet.. [Link]
Use SAM in the browser [Link]
robot dentitsts anyone?? [Link]
Access thousands of webflow components from a chrome extension using ai [Link]
AI generating designs in real time [Link]
How to use Langchain with Supabase [Link]
Iris - chat about anything on your screen with AI [Link]
There are lots of prompt engineering jobs being advertised now lol [Link]. Just search in google
5 latest open source LLMs [Link]
Superpower ChatGPT - A chrome extension that adds folders and search to ChatGPT [Link]
Terence Tao the best mathematician alive used gpt4 and it saved him a significant amount of tedious work [Link]
This lad created an AI coding assistant using Langchain for free in notebooks. Looks great and is open source [Link]
Someone got autogpt running on an iPhone lol [Link]
Run over 150,000 open-source models in your games using a new Hugging Face and Unity game engine integration. Use SD in a unity game now [Link]
Not sure if I’ve posted here before but nat.dev lets you race AI models against each other [Link]
A quick way to build LLM apps - an open source UI visual tool for Langchain [Link]
A plugin that gets your location and lets you ask questions based on where you are [Link]
The plugin OpenAI was using to assess the security of other plugins is interesting [Link]
Breakdown of the team that built gpt4 [Link]
This PR attempts to give autogpt access to gradio apps [Link]

News

Stanford/Google researchers basically created a mini westworld. They simulated a game society with agents that were able to have memories, relationships and make reflections. When they analysed the behaviour, they measured to be ‘more human’ than actual humans. Absolutely wild shit. The architecture is so simple too. I wrote about this in my newsletter yday and man the applications and use cases for this in like gaming or VR and basically creating virtual worlds is going to be insane (nsfw use cases are scary to even think about). Someone said they cant wait to add capitalism and a sense of eventual death or finite time and.. that would be very interesting to see. Link to watching the game [Link] Link to the paper [Link]
OpenAI released an implementation of Consistency Models. We could actually see real time image generation with these (from my understanding, correct me if im wrong). Link to github [Link]. Link to paper [Link]
Andrew Ng (cofounder of Google Brain) & Yann LeCun (Chief AI scientist at Meta) had a very interesting conversation about the 6 month AI pause. They both don’t agree with it. A great watch [Link]. This is a good twitter thread summarising the convo [Link]
LAION proposes to openly create ai models like gpt4. They want to build a publicly funded supercomputer with ~100k gpus to create open source models that can rival gpt4. If you’re wondering who they are - the director of LAION is a research group leader at a centre with one of the largest high performance computing clusters in Europe. These guys are legit [Link]
AI clones girls voice and demands ransom from mum. She doesnt doubt the voice for a second. This is just the beginning for this type of stuff happening. I have no idea how we’re gona solve this problem [Link]
Stability AI, creators of stable diffusion are burning through a lot of cash. Perhaps they’ll be bought by some other company [Link]. They just released SDXL, you can try it here [Link] and here [Link]
Harvey is a legalAI startup making waves in the legal scene. They’ve partnered with PWC and are backed by OpenAI’s startup fund. This thread has a good breakdown [Link]
Langchain released their chatgpt plugin. People are gona build insane things with this. Basically you can create chains or agents that will then interact with chatgpt or other agents [Link]
Former US treasury secretary said that ChatGPT has "a great opportunity to level a lot of playing fields" and will shake up the white collar workforce. I actually think its very possible that AI causes the rift between rich and poor to grow even further. Guess we’ll find out soon enough [Link]
Perplexity AI is getting an upgrade with login, threads, better search and more [Link]
A thread explaining the updated US copyright laws in AI art [Link]
Anthropic plans to build a model 10X more powerful than todays AI by spending over 1 billion over the next 18 months [Link]
Roblox is adding AI to 3D creation. A great thread breaking it down [Link]
So snapchat released their My AI and it had problems. Was saying very inappropriate things to young kids [Link]. Turns out they didn’t even implement OpenAI’s moderation tech which is free and has been there this whole time. Morons [Link]
A freelance writer talks about losing their biggest client to chatgpt [Link]
Poe lets you create custom chatbots using prompts now [Link]
Stack Overflow traffic has reportedly dropped 13% on average since chatgpt got released [Link]
Sam Altman was at MIT and he said "We are not currently training GPT-5. We're working on doing more things with GPT-4." [Link]
Amazon is getting in on AI, letting companies fine tune models on their own data [Link]. They also released CodeWhisperer which is like Githubs Copilot [Link]
Google released Med-PaLM 2 to some healthcare customers [Link]
Meta open sourced Animated Drawings, bringing sketches to life [Link]
Elon Musk has purchased 10k gpus after alrdy hiring 2 ex Deepmind engineers [Link]
OpenAI released a bug bounty program [Link]
AI is already taking video game illustrators’ jobs in China. Two people could potentially do the work that used to be done by 10 [Link]
ChatGPT might be coming to windows 11 [Link]
Someone is using AI and selling nude photos online.. [Link]
Australian mayor is suing chatgpt for saying false info lol. aussie politicians smh [Link]
Donald Glover is hiring prompt engineers for his creative studios [Link]
Cooling ChatGPT takes a lot of water [Link]

Research Papers

OpenAI released a paper showcasing what gpt4 looked like before they released it and added guard rails. It would answer anything and had incredibly unhinged responses. Link to paper [Link]
Create 3D worlds with only 2d images. Crazy stuff and you can test it on HuggingFace [Link]
NeRF’s are looking so real its absolutely insane. Just look at the video [Link]
Expressive Text-to-Image Generation. I dont even know how to describe this except like the holodeck from Star Trek? [Link]
Deepmind released a paper on transformers. Good read if you want to understand LM’s [Link]
Real time rendering of NeRF’s across devices. Render NeRF’s in real time which can run on AR, VR or mobile devices. Crazy [Link]
What does ChatGPT return about human values? Exploring value bias in ChatGPT [Link]. Interestingly it suggests that text generated by chatgpt doesnt show clear signs of bias
A new technique for recreating 3D scenes from images. The video looks crazy [Link]
Big AI models will use small AI models as domain experts [Link]
A great thread talking about 5 cool biomedical vision language models [Link]
Teaching LLMs to self debug [Link]
Fashion image to video with SD [Link]
ChatGPT Can Convert Natural Language Instructions Into Executable Robot Actions [Link]
Old but interesting paper I found on using LLMs to measure public opinion like during election times [Link]. Got me thinking how messed up the next US election is going to be with how easy it is going to be to spread misinformation. It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens

For one coffee a month, I'll send you 2 newsletters a week with all of the most important & interesting stories like these written in a digestible way. You can sub here
I'm kinda sad I wrote about like 3-4 of these stories in detailed in my newsletter on thursday but most won't read it because it's part of the paid sub. I'm gona start making videos to cover all the content in a more digestible way. You can sub on youtube to see when I start posting [Link]
You can read the free newsletter here
If you'd like to tip you can buy me a coffee or sub on patreon. No pressure to do so, appreciate all the comments and support 🙏
(I'm not associated with any tool or company. Written and collated entirely by me, no chatgpt used. I tried, it doesn't work with how I gather the info trust me. Also a great way for me to basically know everything thats going on)

If you ever wanted to play pinball in 3D on a portable device and not have to wear headgear... you'll probably want to grab these games now. Zen doesn't do physical cart/disc releases so when the eShop is shut down these will be gone forever.
You will still be able to download your purchases after the 3DS eShop closes on March 27.
You can not add funds directly to your 3DS account anymore. If you have a Nintendo Switch then you likely already have a Nintendo Network ID. Log onto your Nintendo account (https://accounts.nintendo.com/login) and link your 3DS account to it. Add funds to the Nintendo ID account, then purchase content from the 3DS eShop.
Here's what's on the 3DS eShop now:
Zen Pinball 3D ($7)

Earth Defense
Shaman
Excalibur
El Dorado

Star Wars Pinball ($7)

Empire Strikes Back
Boba Fett
Clone Wars

Marvel Pinball ($8)

Iron Man
Blade
Captain America
Fantastic Four

Kirby's Pinball Land ($4)
Pinball: Revenge of the Gator ($3)

Both of these are from the Game Boy. They were a lot of fun when I was a kid. Floaty physics and monochrome graphics. Ahh the classics. I still have these on the GB and I don't own the 3DS ports so I'm not sure if they're actually in 3D.

Pinball Breaker ($7)

I've never played these. There seem to be 5 of them in separate downloads. Anyone know anything about these?

Are there any pinball games on the 3DS I missed?

My old Switch has 4 user profiles, mine is the only one with a Nintendo account and an online membership. My user profile is not the main resident on ACNH on the old Switch. I had purchased HHP DLC and MarioKart DLC on the old Switch on my account. All was good until my family got addicted to MarioKart leaving me no time for ACNH. So hubby bought me a new OLED Switch. I was told I could use the new OLED switch and my Nintendo to login on the new one and the old one. Thus making the OLED the non-primary account. So I started a new ACNH island on the new OLED. A fresh start to a new island, but I was using local play to visit my new island with my old switch user profile to drop items off on the new island. This was working well for the last few weeks. Then I downloaded HHP DLC to the new OLED Switch and then local play stopped working for all users across both switches even with 2 physical copies of the game.
I spent 2.5 hours on with support. All options leave me with purchasing more DLC games, adding Nintendo accounts under different users on the old switch or I could delete the DLC and only have it on one device and all should work again. So I tried deleting the DLC on both devices, but it doesn't remove it from either.
The instructions support gave me (below), I think is only for digital copies, not physical copies. >>How to Remove Previously Downloaded DLC https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/47795/kw/How%20to%20Remove%20Previously%20Downloaded%20DLC/track/APOsZQr1Dv8W~fobGvse~yL15JYq0i75Mv_q~zj~PP9j
When I try Step 4, it tells me it can't do it with the physical card in. So I removed the card and then hit delete. I proceeded with each step normally through step 8 while holding down L. But I never get the message in Step 9, it just automatically downloads > "Select OK when a message appears that only the software will be redownloaded. The download will begin." And it never tells you when to put the physical card back in.
Looking for any advice on how to do this. I would like to be able to visit my daughter's island (old Switch) via online play but I can't until I delete one DLC. Ideally we would both want HHP DLC in the future, but for now I'd just like to be able to use local play to grab the last of my items. And now she wants to restart her island so she'd ideally like to drop off her favorites and bells to my new island before she restarts. Neither island has "island backup". Can anyone help?

^Last ^updated ^December ^20th ²⁰²² ^- ^v1.2.0
Happy holidays! Hope you all are doing well!
Welcome to the 1.2.0 version of this thread! This post is a comprehensive guide on how to download most of the delisted Asphalt games! This will include everything from the basics of file formatting to emulators and mods!

A quick disclaimer before I start this post:

Though these are all safe sources to download from (unless otherwise stated), I am not responsible for anything that goes wrong.

File Formats:

For those of you that do not know the file formats associated with these Asphalt games, this list will have everything you need to know:
•Appx is for Windows
•Apk is for Android
•ROM is for Nintendo DS or 3DS
•ISO is for Sony PSP
•SELF is for PS Vita
Please note that some of these games require additional files to be played on some devices. They are included in this post.

Games:

Please note that most of the android games below will have specific versions, so please pick the most recent one if you plan on playing multiplayer through LAN-like networks (eg: Hamachi)
Additionally, you will need to download the OBBs for the android versions. This is one of the most common reasons that many of these games won’t launch! The OBBs can be found at the end of this section or here.
•Asphalt 7 appx; results may vary depending on which methods you use and the version of windows that you have.
A possible fix if there is an issue for A7 on Windows 10 (credit to u/ikitogaming):

I just wiped everything and installed it again. … [The] game did launch now on the 2nd attempt. On the 1st launch it crashed … but launching it again did the trick.

I should probably add that if you use your computer for work/school or you just don’t want to wipe everything from your PC, it might be a good idea to install a Windows 10 virtual machine instead. My personal favorite is VMware, which can be used for free, provided you will use it for non-commercial purposes. You do have to sign up to get a license, however.
•Asphalt 7 apk
•Asphalt 6 apk
•Asphalt 6 for Mac - unsure if this is safe or if it works, so please proceed with caution. (Credit to u/ishayya184)
•Asphalt 5 apk
•Asphalt 2 ROM
•Asphalt 2 ISO
•Asphalt Urban GT ROM
•Asphalt 3D ROM
•Asphalt Injection SELF
•Asphalt Injection APK
•~~Asphalt Overdrive apk~~
Some of these games will need additional files. For example, Asphalt games on android will need OBB files which can be found in this folder
This folder contains not only Asphalt games, but a few other classic Gameloft games as well.
Also, if you want a different region version of some of the ISO and ROM formatted games, go here.

Other games similar to delisted Asphalt games by pre-Vivendi Gameloft

•GT Racing: Motor Academy Free+ apk
•GT Racing Motor Academy apk
•Fast Five
Again both of these games need OBB files; these are in the same folder as the APKs.

Emulators:

•Bluestacks Android emulator for Intel Mac/Windows
•DS emulators for iOS/Android (Not the direct link. You have to find a DS emulator on the Ignition store. The best one is iNDS)
•DeSmuME DS emulator for Mac/Windows
•Citra 3DS emulator Mac/Windows
•PPSSPP PSP emulator (works on most platforms)
•Vita 3k (experimental)

Online services and events in these games

To play multiplayer on A5, you must have a Gameloft Live! account and login on the app.
As of December 2022, there are no workarounds for getting a new GLL account. The website, in-game sign-up methods, and GLL app no longer work. (GLL was killed in November of 2022 for most games - here is a video explanation)
Multiplayer in A7 and A6 can still be organized however. All that is needed is for said players to have the same versions, some level of coordination, and a LAN-like network
Additionally, A7 has special events which will allow you to unlock certain cars. Currently, the Nissan Juke Nismo SE is running, and looks as if it will not be replaced since it has been there for quite some time. The only ways to get these cars are by chance (new events sometimes randomly appear - this hasn’t happened to me, but some have reported it), renting the aforementioned cars, or mods (more on this later).
GT Racing Free+ has events that I believe are still running. The event still running is the Red Bull event which features the Redbull Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Redbull Chevrolet Camaro SS, and the Redbull F1 RB1. Cannot confirm as of December 2022.

Mods available in these games

To my knowledge, the only modding community (with good intentions) in any of these games is the A7 Android modding community.
Though I have seen various videos of these mods working, I have not downloaded them myself, and therefore do not know if there is a risk associated with downloading them. I am not responsible for anything that goes wrong. Proceed with caution.
Max cash, stars, and all cars mod. This is one of the only ways to obtain SE cars besides the Juke Nismo.
Asphalt 7 GFX pack and a video on how to install it.

Reasons you may not be able to download these games

•Though there are methods to get the old Asphalt games on iOS, it is somewhat complex and requires jailbreaking.
•iOS versions of A7, A6, A5, and A4 cannot be downloaded unless you previously bought them, since the only way to obtain them is by buying them in the App Store. If you do have them, you must use a device that supports the app and software that supports the app since iOS 11 and above only allows apps with 64-bit architecture to be downloaded. A7-A4 are 32-bit so they cannot be downloaded on anything iOS 11 or above. iOS 10 or earlier will allow you to download these Asphalt games.
•Some but not all of the earlier asphalt games also have versions such as the HD and regular versions of the game. Some of these games will not work on certain devices. For example, regular versions of the game will not display properly on an iPad.
•Additionally, some of the older asphalt games may not work properly on iOS 10, so it is suggested that you use iOS 7 if you plan to play all available 32-bit asphalt games on iOS
•Asphalt 6 for Mac cannot be played on the current Mac software since it does not support 32-bit architecture. You must have a Mac that has MacOS 10.14: Mojave or earlier to play A6 for Mac.
•If you plan to play any of the Android games on Bluestacks, they can only be played on a version of Bluestacks that supports 32-bit architecture (Such as Nougat-32).
•BS4 for Intel Mac doesn’t let you map controls, so it’s pointless to even try to play old asphalt games on BS4 Mac.
•Some users have reported that the A7 appx crashes upon launch on Windows 10. Other users have no problem with it. It could or could not work on your computer with Windows 10. Please refer to the “games”section of this post for more info.
•DS emulators are somewhat difficult to download on iOS and require certain methods to download them.

Games I did not include

•Java, N-gage, Symbian, Samsung Gear, DSi, and other older mobile operating systems of these games are pretty hard to come by so they were not included in this list.
•Asphalt 4 on DSi, Symbian, and Java could not be found so I did not include them.
Note: Though you can emulate A4 on DSi, you need to dump the files of an actual DSi with A4 on it and use MelonDS (this is the legal way to do it at least)
•Asphalt 3 was only on N-gage and Java so I have not included it.
•Asphalt 6 on Samsung Gear was not included in this list.
•Asphalt Overdrive can no longer be played past the loading screen since the servers don’t work.
•All of the lite versions of these games were not included since they could not be found and are inferior to the normal versions of the game.
•HD versions of games that are compatible with most devices regardless of their edition were not included.

Final notes and condtributions

Thanks to all who contributed to this post. Your names are listed by your respective contributions above.
Also, I should probably add that ClassicAsphaltGamer made the Google drive which holds many of the games within this post. I don’t know his reddit username, so I can’t properly credit him unfortunately.
If you found this post useful, please join this subreddit and/or subscribe to my YouTube channel where I talk about retro Asphalt games in more depth. Thanks for reading and please don't be afraid to ask questions!

Hi! I've posted about this a few times a long time ago, but I've been working on more updates for ImageShare, my free and open-source replacement for Nintendo's Image Share Service. You can open it from the 3DS web browser to upload screenshots and photos, which can then be easily shared to a smartphone (much like the hotspot sharing mode on the Switch).
Features:

Much faster than the Nintendo 3DS Image Share and doesn't require a social media login (or any accounts)
Uploads images to Imgur with the game title as the post title (example)
Images can be deleted after they are downloaded to another device, if you don't want them to remain accessible on Imgur
Displays a QR code to quickly open the screenshot on any device with a camera (the built-in camera apps on iPhone and most Android devices can scan QR codes)
The code is open-source

You can try it out by opening theimageshare.com on your 3DS :)

What is a Discord group?

A group of people who play the same game as you and can help you get what you want.

How do I get Discord app?

Windows PC: https://discordapp.com/
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/discord/id985746746
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.discord&hl=en_US

Is it free to use?

The Discord app itself is free to use but some Discord group like PokeXperience and Pokedex100 will charge a monthly fee based on what tier you need to get certain Pokemon coordinates. Almost all Discord groups will provide some kind of free limited coordinates.

Why should you join?

This is the best way to join weather boosted raids with more than 1 person. You can easily get a full 20 people raid lobby by being part of one of the many Discord group. People in Discord groups are more likely to help you with your raid or gym, and they are willing to get stuck in your area for 2 hours.
You can keep up with event news faster than waiting for someone to post it on here.
It offers better communication for friending, trading, PvP battles, and coordinating raids.
Discord groups are one of the best way to get Pokemon IV, Rare, Regional, Unown, Legendary, or whatever Pokemon coords.

YOU NEED TO READ AND FOLLOW THEIR STRICT RULES !!!
When you break their rules and get banned, it is impossible for you to rejoin the group because your ban appeal request will be ignored. I am not partners with any Discord group, so I cannot help you.
How to bypass a Discord group ban?
You cannot use a VPN to bypass the ban because many of the IP addresses are already flagged as spam. As soon as you create a new account with a VPN, you will be asked to do a captcha when you login. The captcha is impossible to complete. If you check your email, you will get an email from Discord letting you know your account was terminated.
You will need a new phone/tablet, new IP address, new sim card (phone number), and new email address in order to bypass the Discord group ban.

You need a new device because Discord mobile app does mac address/hardware/device ID bans. When you create a new account and attempt to rejoin a group, you cannot join. If you have a rooted Android device, you can change your mac address, but it might not work on all devices.
You need a new IP address because your old IP address on a ban list. As soon as your connect to your home WiFi or old IP address, your Discord account will automatically be banned before you open your app.
You need a new sim card (phone number) because some groups require you to verify your phone number in order to see coordinates or join their group. Your old phone number is on the ban list. Any new accounts using the old phone number are automatically banned.
You need a new email address because you are starting fresh again.

How does my Discord group get added to this list?

You must be the owner or one of the admins of the Discord group with an unlimited invite link.
Provide a short description of your group.

Discord Invite Link Responsibility:

It is the Discord group's responsibility to maintain their invite link. If they change it or it expires, they must message me to get it updated. It is not my job to contact these groups to make sure their invite link is still good.

Trades and Services within a Discord group disclaimer:

I am not liable if you participate in these and get scammed or become a victim of identity theft.
You must press on the trader's Pokemon in the trade window to see the move set before you confirm the trade.
You no longer need to buy an Nintendo Switch to get the Mystery Box to catch a Shiny Meltan. You download "Pokemon Home" from the Google Play Store and link it to your Pokemon Go account. Then, you transfer 1 trash Pokemon to Pokemon Home. Open the Home app and complete the transfer. You will get access to the Mystery Box that spawns Meltan. You must wait for a special event where they allow Shiny Meltan to spawn. You can also get a Shiny Meltan from trade too.

How do I join a Discord group?

You press/click on the link that is in blue color with a line then your Discord app should open to join it. You must have the Discord app installed onto your phone, tablet, or computer.
You can also press the "+" by opening the Discord's settings then typing in the character like "VhzfGzz" (for PokeXperience).
You may need to select which team you are in like Mystic, Instinct, or Valor before you can see all the channels within a Discord group.

Discord Group Annoyance
Some Discord groups below will have a plugin that will see which groups you are in. You can join as many as you want, but they may prevent you from seeing coords or hosted events simply because you are in a competing group they do not like. If you want to see coords/event info, you are forced into leaving that specific group.
Android Apps with special features:

Pokemod (rooted devices) - https://discord.com/invite/hW4djSw
Enhancer (rooted devices) - https://discord.gg/MC3vAH9
Polygon Bot (rooted devices) - https://discord.gg/pc6gYXJ2vG
Pgsharp (no root devices) - https://www.pgsharp.com/discord (This is their unofficial hang out group. They do not offer customer service or tech support for the Pgsharp app. If you need help or have problems with the app, you must go to their main website.)
iPogo (no root & rooted devices) - https://discord.com/invite/zAfwRG7 (They have an Android app.)

Discord Groups (each name is an invite link): last checked March 14, 2023

PokeXperience - https://discord.gg/VHzfGzz
- The best place for perfect 100 IV Pokémon coordinates, organized raids, useful information and great community!
Pokedex100 - https://discord.gg/Pokedex100
- The largest Discord community that offers free 100iv Pokémon, 24/7 Raids, confirmed news and information, helpful atmosphere & much more! (If you are banned from this group, the coordinates for Pokemon, Nests, and Event/Field Task Quests will be wrong. If you follow the rules, you will receive the correct coordinates and be able to use their GPX request bot.)
PoGo Hub - https://discord.gg/Sg3RCgc
- A resourceful server with top coordinates, candy/100iv bots, speed raids, shiny hunts, giveaways and more...for free! Contact u/frannycore
Rocket HQ - https://discord.gg/NkXfeTS
- Our Discord is a free community for Pokémon Go spoofers to connect, trade, battle and make friends. We host lure parties, shiny hunts, giveaways and PvP tournaments. Whether you are a seasoned player or just starting out, this is the place for you! Contact u/XcIusive
PoGo CDC (Cool Down Club) - https://discord.gg/VSYY7pb
- We are a new spoofing discord server and we just want to help out people who are in need of help with spoofing.
Shiny Party - https://discord.gg/ERvu8Bg
- Returning of Shiny Party. We have Articuno, PokeSearch, info for member on PvP and PvE, Raiding and Event help, Always up to date guides and information on metas and on-goings of PoGo. Just a big group of friends, who love to help each other and make more friends. ○ New staff team to right the ship and get everything back on track! Contact u/a7xrox.
RAID - https://discordapp.com/invite/nCRA34e
- RAID is a Fresh Discord Community for spoofers and legits both .We have many coordinates per day for all different Pokemon, Ex-Raids ,quests ,nests and events . we also have mudae/anime bot and dragonball legends minigame . join now. Contact u/Luicasandy
Shiny Quest - https://discord.gg/XhRq5vw
- We are a spoofing discord made for the sole purpose of hunting those SHINYs!!! - We provide the best spoofing / shiny hunting tips and provide amazing information on events and anything pogo related. Let’s catch those SHINYs together! Contact u/Abazabafoo23
The G Spot - https://discordapp.com/invite/Qmn4RKu
- This server is a collection of Pokémon Go News /information as well as a great place to battle raid bosses - get instant Pokémon coords - challenge another user to a PvP battle - and make new friends. Everyone Knows The Gspot Is The Best Spot. Contact u/AmeliaPond94
Pokemon Global Family - https://discord.gg/TUu3Q3p
- One of the largest Pokemon GO Community worldwide .we have an awesome and super helpful staff for all your needs.Great place to find coords for 100iv Pokemon .we have a Music Bot in here, you can listen to your favorite music, and chill! and much more. Contact u/Hiro_001
Pokemon Trainer Association - https://discord.gg/gTYT4hy
- Come Join The Pokemon Trainer Association Our Server where you can find all the up to date info on everything going on on pogo. Post your friend codes and show off your shiny collection. Also we have plenty of help channels and giveaways. Come and join our growing community Now! Soon we will have free coords for those looking for a specific pokemon! We have a 100iv channel that posts coords regularly open right now!! Contact u/Wretchedbeachs
Pokemon Go Coordinates - https://discord.gg/jme4kjz
- Pokemon Go Coordinates is a worldwide community with thousands of players sharing rare coordinates. We have hundreds of members online at any given time for activies such as chatting, trading or raiding. Thousands of messages every single day and a stable growth makes our community one of the most active all across the platform. Contact u/YSiNMusic
Pokemon Go Coordinates - https://discord.com/invite/pokemongocoordinates
- Join The Best Pokemon Go Discord Server To Enjoy Amazing Services Like Coordinates, Shiny Hunts, Giveaways & More !! Contact u/PokemonGoDiscord

Useful stuff as always:

These are links you can click with your mouse or press with your finger to open.

If you need anything else, be sure to check out: [Click/Press Here] MEGA POST #4: Everything You Need for Android Spoofing 2022 - Guides for No Root Spoofing, Rooted Spoofing, and Botting - GPX Routes, Poke Maps, Nests, Discord Groups, and Frequently Asked Questions

This thread is outdated; please refer to the newest thread!

Welcome to the 1.1.0 version of this post! This post is a comprehensive guide on how to download most of the delisted Asphalt games! This will include everything from the basics of file formatting to emulators and mods!
A quick disclaimer before I start this post: Though these are all safe sources to download from (unless otherwise stated), I am not responsible for anything that goes wrong.
File Formats:
For those of you that do not know the file formats associated with these Asphalt games, this list will have everything you need to know:
•Appx is for Windows
•Apk is for Android
•ROM is for Nintendo DS or 3DS
•ISO is for Sony PSP
•SELF is for PS Vita
Please note that some of these games require additional files to be played on some devices. They are included in this post.

Games:

Please note that most of the android games below will have specific versions, so please pick the most recent one if you plan on playing multiplayer.
Additionally, you will need to download the OBBs for the android versions.
~~Asphalt 7 appx~~; results may vary depending on which methods you use and the version of windows that you have.
Asphalt 7 apk
Asphalt 6 apk
Asphalt 5 apk
Asphalt 2 ROM
Asphalt 2 ISO
Asphalt Urban GT ROM
Asphalt 3D ROM
Asphalt Injection SELF
Asphalt Injection APK
~~Asphalt Overdrive apk~~
Some of these games will need additional files. For example, Asphalt games on android will need OBB files which can be found in this folder
This folder contains not only Asphalt games, but a few other classic Gameloft games as well.
Also, if you want a different region version of some of the ISO and ROM formatted games, go here.

Other games similar to delisted Asphalt games by pre-Vivendi Gameloft

GT Racing: Motor Academy Free+ apk
GT Racing Motor Academy apk
Again both of these games need OBB files; these are in the same folder as the APKs

Emulators:

Bluestacks Android emulator for Intel Mac/Windows
DS emulators for iOS/Android (Not the direct link. You have to find a DS emulator on the Ignition store. The best one is iNDS)
DeSmuME DS emulator for Mac/Windows
Citra 3DS emulator Mac/Windows
PPSSPP PSP emulator (works on most platforms)
Vita 3k (experimental)

Online services and events in these games

To play multiplayer on A7-A5, you must have a Gameloft Live! account and login on the said app. ~~Sign up or log in here.~~
To get a Gameloft Live! account, you will need to use the GLL app since the website and in-game sign-up methods no longer work. Download here
A7 has special events which will allow you to unlock certain cars. Currently, the Nissan Juke Nismo SE is running, and looks as if it will not be replaced since it has been there for quite some time. The only ways to get these cars are by chance (new events sometimes randomly appear - this hasn’t happened to me, but some have reported it), renting the aforementioned cars, or mods (more on this later).
A7 has Asphalt Academy, an event where players compete against each other for the best time in the same car on the same track. This event changes very frequently and has about 20 players competing in every event. Though it is suspected that there are hackers with unrealistic times, they are not abundant in this event.
A7 also has a leaderboard of who has the best time on each track, and what car they use. The leaderboard is divided by car tiers so if you are using a car from a certain tier, you will only compete with cars in the same tier. Currently, the 599xx seems to be the best car to dominate the leaderboard with as it is at the top of most of the leaderboards in tier 4. Most of the other tier’s top cars are inconsistent and it seems as if there is no one best car.
GT Racing Free+ has events that I believe are still running. The event still running is the Red Bull event which features the Redbull Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Redbull Chevrolet Camaro SS, and the Redbull F1 RB1. Cannot confirm as of December 2022.

Mods available in these games

To my knowledge, the only modding community (with good intentions) in any of these games is the A7 Android modding community.
Though I have seen various videos of these mods working, I have not downloaded them myself and therefore do not know if there is a risk associated with downloading them. I am not responsible for anything that goes wrong. Proceed with caution.
Max cash, stars, and all cars mod. This is also the only way to obtain SE cars besides the Juke Nismo unless you acquired the other SE cars when their events were running.
Asphalt 7 GFX pack and a video on how to install it.

Reasons you may not be able to download these games

Though there are methods to get the old Asphalt games on iOS, it is somewhat complex and requires jailbreaking. iOS versions of A7, A6, A5, and A4 cannot be downloaded unless you previously bought them, since the only way to obtain them is by buying them in the App Store. If you do have them, you must use a device that supports the app and software that supports the app since iOS 11 and above only allows apps with 64-bit architecture to be downloaded. A7-A4 are 32-bit so they cannot be downloaded on anything iOS 11 or above. iOS 10 or earlier will allow you to download these Asphalt games. Some but not all of the earlier asphalt games also have versions such as the HD and regular versions of the game. Some of these games will not work on certain devices. For example, regular versions of the game will not display properly on an iPad. Additionally, some of the older asphalt games may not work properly on iOS 10, so it is suggested that you use iOS 7 if you plan to play all available 32-bit asphalt games on iOS
Asphalt 6 for Mac cannot be played on the current Mac software since it does not support 32-bit architecture. You must have a Mac that has MacOS 10.14: Mojave or earlier to play A6 for Mac.
If you plan to play any of the Android games on Bluestacks, they can only be played on a version of Bluestacks that supports 32-bit architecture. Mac Bluestacks users only have access to 64-bit Bluestacks since the current version of mac, just like the current version of iOS, only supports 64-bit. Therefore Bluestacks on Mac cannot play the android versions of the games. Having older Mac software will not give you the ability to get Bluestacks that supports 32-bit. When you download Bluestacks from its website it will only give you one option to download which is 64-bit. BS4 for Mac doesn’t let you map controls either so it’s pointless to even try to play old asphalt games on BS4 Mac.
Some users have reported that the A7 appx crashes upon launch on Windows 10. Other users have no problem with it. It could or could not work on your computer with Windows 10.
DS emulators are somewhat difficult to download on iOS and require certain methods to download them.

Games I did not include

Java, N-gage, Symbian, Samsung Gear, DSi, and other older mobile operating systems of these games are pretty hard to come by so they were not included in this list.
Asphalt 4 on DSi, Symbian, and Java could not be found so I did not include them. Though you can emulate A4 on DSi, you need to dump the files of an actual DSi with A4 on it and use MelonDS (this is the legal way to do it at least)
Asphalt 3 was only on N-gage and Java so I have not included it.
Asphalt 6 on Samsung Gear was not included in this list.
Asphalt Overdrive can no longer be played past the loading screen since the servers don’t work.
Though the Mac version of A6 exists somewhere on the internet, I cannot find it at the moment.
All of the lite versions of these games were not included since they could not be found and are inferior to the normal versions of the game.
HD versions of games that are compatible with most devices regardless of their edition were not included.
If you found this post useful, please join this subreddit and/or subscribe to my YouTube channel where I talk about retro Asphalt games in more depth. Thanks for reading and please don't be afraid to ask questions!

aka.ms/remoteconnect allows users to play the Minecraft game at home with other people with devices such as a computer, PSP other than their own. With the help of Theaka.ms/remoteconnectwebsite. Users can easily run Minecraft on the PS4, Nintendo Switch for the best playing experience without any error if the Individual does not have any Microsoft systems. Then the user can play on a non- Microsoft system by register and login in with a free Microsoft account to play in arcade mode with other players.
Microsoft enables the Minecraft player to access the game on various devices such as PS4, Windows, ios, mac with their friends online.

HOW TO SETUP HTTPS //AKA.MS/REMOTECONNECT BY USING XBOX SMARTPHONE APP ON XBOX

Visit https //aka.ms/xboxsetup (only for phone user)
Sign in to your Microsoft free account
Open your Microsoft account
At last, Follow the instruction which appears on the screen.

HOW DO I FIND AKA MS REMOTECONNECT CODE?

You’ll need to sign into your Microsoft account to be able to access Minecraft on your computer. Navigate towards Minecraft’s main menu. Minecraft games main menu, and select ‘Sign in with a Microsoft account. On your screen, you’ll see 8 digits code. You can then go to aka.ms/remoteconnect which will prompt you to enter the code. You’ll be able to login to the account of your Microsoft accounts after entering that code.
HOW DO I ADD MY FRIENDS WITH MICROSOFT ACCOUNT?

After you have successfully logged to the Microsoft account, select play to open your Minecraft Game home screen.
Switch towards the right to open the tab ‘Friends.
Click on ‘Add Friend’.
Find your acquaintances through their Microsoft gamer tags one at a time, one by one.

LINK YOUR MICROSOFT ACCOUNT USING HTTPS AKA MS REMOTECONNECT

You must start by visiting the Minecraft game’s home screen.
Click Sign in with your Microsoft account.
The screen will provide you with an 8-digit number.
To enter the code, go to the https://aka.ms/remoteconnect web page.
When you’ve entered your code in box then click next.
Connect to the Microsoft accounts, you can start playing Minecraft with PlayStation4

STEPS TO SETUP REMOTECONNECT FOR NINTENDO SWITCH

Open Switch eShop on Nintendo Switch.
Search for Minecraft using the search bar .
Install the game (or purchase it if haven’t yet).
After the game has been downloaded, launch the game.
Click on sign in with the Microsoft account available at the bottom left of the screen at aka.ms/remoteconnect Nintendo Switch.
Enter the code then click Next.
Remote connect will then log in to your account that is available on Nintendo Switch.

HOW TO SETUP CROSS- PLAY ENGINE XBOX BY USING AKA.MS/REMOTECONNECT

First of all, Open your 360 or Xbox one, then visit the Microsoft Store on your device.
Now, click on the download application option
Then search for Minecraft for Xbox one
If you have a Minecraft Xbox One version, then it can be free to download.
Start the Minecraft game.
At last, the user must follow the given instructions to configure the cross-play with the other users.

HOW TO SET UP AKA.MS/REMOTECONNECT ON PS4 OR NINTENDO SWITCH?

Open the Sony PlayStation or PS4 consoles at the Nintendo shop.
Then, search for Minecraft and click on the Minecraft from Switch download button.
If you have PS4, then enter “Minecraft PS4” and go ahead with download Minecraft for PS4
Register for the Microsoft user account.
Then, on your home screen, click on Minecraft and press the sign-in button.
Click on the link, and then it will guide you through establishing a remote connection from its signin tab.
Activation code must be in eight digits.
Visit https //aka.ms/remoteconnect and open the web browser.
Insert the code number on your computer screen
Click on the “Next” button.
At last, follow the on-screen instructions and complete the login process.

HOW TO DELETE SAVED AND CORRUPTED MINECRAFT GAME DATA

Firstly, open Minecraft (Aka.ms/Remoteconnect).
Visit the “Settings.”
Then, click on the “System settings” option.
Press the storage button. Then go to game storage
From There, you can delete all the Minecraft Saved data.

Do major issues occur when you connect to http://aka.ms/remoteconnect?

Antivirus/ Firewall installed on the device.
Corrupted data or files in use.

METHODS TO FIX THE ISSUES THAT ARISE WHILE USING HTTPS //AKA.MS/REMOTECONNECT?

If you are login with many devices, firstly, you have to log out from the other connected devices.
Make sure you Delete the corrupted documents
Use the new Microsoft Account.
Reinstall Minecraft.

If you are working at the office there could be a special direct network cable shaped differently at the connector to jack in to a domain or office network so that its policies and filtered internet and crippled windows OS functionality are shared to your PC..
if you MUST work remotely vpn into work from home then you require a special dummy terminal thats keyed to your office. PERIOD. If you own your own personal computer your office cannot force their restrictions or settings onto your device in any way legally as they often restrict websites or block content they feel isnt needed for work and disable windows features and menus and functionality.
My windows home isnt supposed to allow active directory or to have GPedit.msc But the service is there and its running and i cant disable it or delete the service. As a mentally ill unemployed disability pensioner I havent had a job or a boss in decades.. I bought the home version of windows.
This is the equivalent of me wanting an 80's petrol car that isnt a 'smart self driving car' but for some reason the car microsoft sold me is driving itself and I have zero control over it and the air con and other "cool features" are completely absent or non functional when i bought the device because it had those features. previously i was able to use third party software apps to delete the gpsvc registry and service files or modify them. because when forced delete in powershell fails and other methods certain file shredders which in themselves are viruses im guessing would maybe work for a time till after it worked it would be patched so it no longer could be deleted.
I've had to reinstall windows so many times. Also every antivirus company on earth is a fake. they sell u progress bars. Windows defender is dumb why would microsoft waste money on fake antivirus software when its the militarys job to secure our communications? like half the USB devices online and in stores have had their firmware flashed with payloads or been swapped out.. even the USB cables and HDMI cables have like a cheap mini wifi chip added to them to let hackers into your PC from in your street. these things could have all been blocked or disabled or security patched to make them not possible extroadinarily easy but no.. Why the hell doesnt microsoft just call the army and say our businesses and people are eternally poor because of these criminal loser retards. Go fix it all then beat them up.
There is no such thing as government spyware if the government wants to see whats on your computer as they suspect you've done a crime they send people over there to enter your house and take the PC to a crime lab where it gets investigated and you go to the police station with the computer and get a receipt of them receiving it so you can claim it back once they're done investigating unless the PC was stolen goods. the police and military can sit in at the telecommunications carrier level and see what IP address goes to what website there and monitor for certain types of traffic and see who you call in call logs or who you chat with by IP address or the connections and content type. They dont need to see conversation but certain illegal words or terms or sites may need to be filtered by an AI or something but they cant ever delete the content they allow it through with it strikeout strikethrough asterix censored. They're not allowed to block or disrupt communications but they are allowed to censor unsafe or harmful content or prevent access to dangerous information like mixing chemicals at home from fake websites that say for kids to grow beautiful crystals but it makes poison gas that kills them in minutes. if they suspect a group of individuals are involved in a crime or a family or house hold not an individual or they have a reason to suspect a crime would occur or is happening they can request a warrant to for up to a couple weeks observe conversations of the individual when using the phone or the internet chat or whatever. But they shouldnt be turning the planet into letsplay live streamers watching them all day like they're some sorta vtuber.
having said that the entire microsoft OS has its registry full of OS crippling things put there by almost every app or game you run as every registry entry applies and runs to the entire computer. It must be trimmed back and require microsofts permission for any app to write to registry. Users can but thats their own local PC like "install all the viruses you want on your own PC by yourself" if its something distributed or over a network then it must be controlled or monitored. Your user or registry changes that arent stock standard defaults must appear in a separate registry section with different colours to the OS stock.
All 16bit DOS decades old 60's slow cash register software garbage made for simple alarm clocks and casio digital watches or microwave ovens MUST BE COMPLETELY removed and disabled from windows. all file names for windows 11 must not have any overlap with different versions. the ancient long dead C++ that haunts and plagues us is still an industry standard for your microwaves and cash registers and alarm clocks and cheap calculators.. but Imagine your windows 11 has some security that windows 10 didnt, or windows 98 is easier to hack so they just paste the old version in instead? suddenly you're gaming on windows 98 dos against your will. modern code and true 64bit directx12 is mathematically MILLIONS of times faster. So having the slightest hint a single line of ancient atari st 2000 game code in there absolutely cripples your modern super computer. If you need DOS or 16bit stuff it must be completely different custom OS of windows called windows xp or windows vista go use that instead losers. or some sort of business virtualization custom OS version of windows that is entirely separate from modern windows 10 or 11. otherwise every one of directx12's feature list doesnt exist as you've never even used it before. ALL modern OS like win10 or win 11 that are millions of times faster shouldnt be running and performing remotely close to windows xp or 98. I dont care how fake intel and nvidia hardware are and if they've not managed to make any directx12 hardware yet.. AMD has had it for decades.
If i install an AMD computer and AMD64build of windows.. WHY THE FLYING HECK does every second word in registry and the OS files and drivers say intel or nvidia when i do not have that cheap fake nasty nonsense? its crippling the performance of my true super computer. Why should i wait ages when i need to reinstall my OS every 2 days or so because hackerfags to copy and install all this fake intel nvidia drivers and nonsense i will never need or use in my AMD ONLY WINDOWS BUILD and its a PRECOMPILED CUSTOM AMD release of windows? WHAT THE HELL?
If i install microsoft gamepass and install say disneys avengers game then check registry you can see its created a heap of registry entries for graphics which are all enabled all the time for terrible nasty stuff like DLSS and i have an AMD graphics card a 5700XT so its capable of true reality true simulation and simulating reality for your photos and netflix and it ray traces unbelievably better since AMD has been ray tracing since the first radeon card the ps3 games look fantastic when you ray trace them.. sort of like how they looked using unreal engine in the early days and promo ads for the console or the e3 reveal trailers. i dont care how many years it took them to take the playstation 3 and make it look like turds so they could fake them on like a nintendo switch or nvidia titan. I also dont care how many years it took them to ban all the AMD games and software off the market so we could finally have playstation 3 quality graphics with the ps3 dev kit renamed to "nvidia gameworks" that theyve finally been allowing people to pretend to use AMD software settings in upcoming titles like baldurs gate 3 that hackerfags wont ever let me play since each time i do they cripple my graphics and PC performance?
I am furious with the criminal retards at microsoft for being accomplices to all these other criminal retards. I have to sign into windows with a microsoft account for gamepass or other windows services.. is it their group policy screwing over my computer? even my file system is corrupted explorer wont list directory file sizes or sort by them. And heaps of folders and files arent visible unless i run old dos installers or apps like winrar or linux file managers which then still cant delete any of the unusual stuff they find like folders named "?????????"
Also if you've ever tried to create a unattend xml file in the full proper correct comprehensive way it takes days of studying and pages and pages of steps involved just to customize your OS installation. Its the most convoluted absurd process ever that some caveman retard wouldnt even pretend to pretend is the industry standard way. Why the heck when we select cloud install doesnt it let us customize it via our windows account login on the internet so we can say this app i dont want or need this one i do.. and customize the packages or maybe the services preinstallation and save it to your windows account. and home users would then be given special set number of custom windows installs they could select from and professionals with maybe different clients or a huge network number of computers might need a large number of different custom images so the windows when you reinstall it will reinstall quickly and with the settings you always have to repeatedly type in being already entered. So you arent cloud downloading the ENTIRE OS when you dont NEED the ENTIRE OS and can quickly select it? why should i do the following guide when it should be a simple click through menu on the windows account.
Create media for automated unattended install of Windows 10 Tutorials (tenforums.com)
also services that were added by apps should have the app that added them visible and displayed obviously and clearly. and non stock install added after that arent part of the OS services should be listed in a separate area with services.msc being colour coded for "wont boot if this is turned off" to "this isnt important get rid of it" colours.. Why isnt there an option to blow away files from say steam games verification or windows SFC or DISM that lets you wipe out all third party files in the windows directory that for say games arent in the MODS directory. or for the OS arent in a directory of your choosing?
also why the heck does one drive just randomly back up your entire hard drive and steam games library slowing down your whole internet and then you're like NO its supposed to just the documents folder.. so u uninstall it and its still complaining about all your documents and screenshots not existing as it cant find them in one drive but you can see them in hdd but it wont let you open them as its got some strange onedrive directory url to their location or mountpoint when they supposed to just be sitting in the amd relive captures folder in videos. I had to uninstall and reinstall the photos app and reset it which partly helped allow me to view stuff. but even with onedrive uninstalled it would then when i go to play a steam game say onedrive notification of files restored and it replaces my steam games saves with ones from weeks ago! and i dont even have one drive installed! because i specifically wanted it to stop trying to onedrive my entire C:\.i bet some youtuber fag is all swagger "heres my hero i just levelled up, its interesting how i play 6000 hours of gameplay each week to post my endgame content videos every 2nd day on thousands of games that are often 120hours long each of campaign."
what do you do when DISM and SFC and reinstall dont actually verify or fix your OS at all?

I have seen this topic come up a couple times but I want to input my ideal digital theft protection would be.
I know with the switch there's been at least one case of the switch mysteriously going missing through the tsa check. I know there's a work around for the switch with setting parental controls to a max of zero hours before needing the password. The typical response I see to the question of theft is you can remotely remove your account from the deck (I'm assuming this needs an internet connection for this, the rest of the post is made using this assumption). But I don't want to just remove the account, I want to also remotely brick the deck so it can't be used either.
The first thing would be a login screen. The only other option from the login screen besides logging in would be to connect to the internet. For the login screen, too many incorrect login attempts, the switch is bricked until the correct stream guard code is put in (still have the option to connect to the internet). On the steam app have a tab to report the device as stolen, once this goes through on the deck have a big "this device has been reported as stolen" on the screen at all times with the option where, if you get your deck back, can input the steam guard code to get back in.
What I mean when I say brick the deck. Make it where if you connect the deck to the computer have it where you need to enter a password to add, remove, or change any files. On iPhones, when you connect one to a computer nothing shows up until on the phone you click allow on the "allow this device access" popup. This can also be added to the deck. This would be to prevent someone being able to connect the deck to a computer to wipe it that way (I'm sure there is a way, but for the more computer savvy people, and it would be more difficult than someone just logging out of their account and then having full access). The goal would be to prevent someone from using the device itself and to prevent them from connecting the device to a computer to reset it that way.
I'm not computer savvy, so I'm sure these people can point out the flaws. I would like to hear this input.
Edit: for viewing the steam deck when connecting it to a computer, having the option where by default you need a password to add, remove, or change files. The default password being your steam account login.

After four years with one Switch, I've bought a second Switch for our household: a Switch Lite. This was so our kids could play the games in our library at the same time. With the added benefit that I could also play when one of them is gaming.
For this, it is important to know that I have bought all our games digitally in the eShop, through my account.
I did not intend the new Switch for either child or myself specifically. My intention was that everyone could pick up their game on the second Switch, using their own profile, when someone else was playing our first Switch on the TV. I was going to use cloud saves using a Nintendo Online Family subscription, so that the children's save files and mine would sync up between systems.
I understood we would not be able to play the same digital game simultaneously, but I did expect us to be able to play different digital games in our library at the same time on the two systems. And I meant for us to be able to continue playing our save files from our profiles, at any time, on either system.
I did my research by going to Nintendo's webpage
The one with the headline: How to Play Your Games Across Multiple Systems. In summary: that page clearly states that it is possible, as long as you use the same account on both systems. 'That's great!', I thought; since the three profiles on my existing Switch are part of one account (I'll get back to that).
But then I ran into trouble, setting up our new second Switch.
So I started setting up the Switch. After choosing the language and such things, the option came to set up a profile. I could create a new profile, or log into my Nintendo Account. So I did that and choose the option to scan a QR code and input my login details on my smartphone. After login, I was asked on my phone which username within my account I wanted to connect to the new device: my username, my daughter's username or my sons's username. I went through this process three times, to set up three profiles on our new Switch Lite.
So far so good, but then I wanted to start a game.
And then I found out that my profile was the only profile capable of playing a game on both devices. On the secondary device, my kids' profiles gave an error message that they didn't have access to the game. And as I later found out: I wasn't doing anything wrong. This was as intended by Nintendo.
And here's the rub: the two child accounts are part of my account.
The child accounts are only accessible through my login information. In order to get access them, I need only to input one e-mailaddress and one password. After logging in to my account, I am presented with three usernames. In short: this is one account, with three usernames that I have connected to three profiles on a Nintendo Switch console. But no dice: I could not set up the second Switch as I intended to.
And so, I've now spent 209 euros on a device that is useless to me.
Earlier this evening, I went to the helpful people over at nintendo, to find out what I was doing wrong. It was then that I found out I wasn't doing anything wrong: it's a feature. (And later one of the friendly mods pointed out to me that technical questions belong here, on nintendohelp, and removed my post. That's alright, it was my mistake.)
What do you kind folks think of this?

Is Nintendo's webpage about playing games across systems incorrect?
And/or is the entire way they've set this up really confusing?
And/or am I the problem, and should I learn how to read? :)

Anyway, I would love your input on this.
P.S. I really wish I hadn't written "the Nintendo" in the headline. I only picked up on that after posting. Perhaps I should learn how to write, too? Please be kind, with other potential errors as well: English is a second language for me.

EDIT: THIS GUIDE IS NO LONGER UNBIASED. WINDSCRIBE VPN GAVE ME A JOB. I'm basically a glorified discord moderator but it's important to mention this now that I'm working for them.
I've made a guide here to help people get online and play as I know just how hard it is. I also made a Rookie Mistakes guide for /shanghai which is a bit dated but still handy and soon to be updated.
TL;DR: How to play video games online while you're in China & what to expect with VPNs.
Fully detailed version with observations & ping tests etc here due to Reddit character limit. Unlike the review sites I have zero affiliate links here and will earn absolutely nothing from you clicking here or buying something. If you feel like doing something on my behalf, don't. It's really unnecessary I just like making guides for shit I do.
Additionally, if you're technically savvy but need a starting point this guide is worth a read. Just remember that the data is logged and it is only really handy for an access point outside of China and not for torrenting/streaming/whatever shame wank material you want to watch. If you're worried about a VPN in general...well idk you're already pissing away your data to everyone as it is. Might as well choose a camp and protect yourself.
EDIT: The original that I posted to my blog & /shanghai has been updated to reflect the nature of these companies too. It has been pointed out that a handful of companies own most VPNs and VPN review sites. BE AWARE THERE ARE MANY SCUMMY PRACTICES HAPPENING IN THIS INDUSTRY RIGHT NOW.
If you have problems still after reading this please DM and I'll try and help you out. I don't promise anything but I will try my best! So let's get started.
This post covers:

1. PLAYING MULTIPLAYER GAMES ONLINE
2. PLAYING MULTIPLAYER GAMES VIA VLAN
3. PLAYING SINGLE-PLAYER GAMES THAT REQUIRE ONLINE AUTHENTICATION
4. OFFLINE GAMES
5. LOCAL OPTIONS (Shanghai) ^{^I} ^{^would} ^{^love} ^{^more} ^{^for} ^{^other} ^{^cities} ^{^too.}
6. LAN PARTIES, ARCADES, & BARS (Shanghai)

1. PLAYING MULTIPLAYER GAMES ONLINE

Netease UU Game Booster - A gaming-specific VPN for heavy/addicted players. $7.99 USD a month.

My Experience:
While I mainly play FPSs it more or less covers any given game on the market as that's what they specialise in. I could also play FFXIV, CIV, Total War, and Stellaris acceptably with it in all regions. My primary advice however is still to play JP or KR servers where possible. Taiwanese and Hong Kong servers have been getting rather bad of late and I suspect that's due to added policing of internet traffic in general for those locations.
I can't comment on their privacy but with it based in China, I'd take anything they say with an Atlantic ocean's worth of salt. They also have free mobile apps that will allow you to connect your mobile games if you're having issues.
The Good:

Massive game library support including games that are in beta.
Customer service that will eventually get back to you within 1–2 days with a solution (Usually to the tune of change your node, reinstall, or just restart your computer).
[censored]/Paypal* (Which means Visa/Mastercard)* payment options.
Regional server selection options for specific games (There are some rare but not unheard of days some coverage is not available but they're usually back within 24 hours).
Best latency on average compared to any other service here. Check the blog post if

The Bad:

English version of the application is…janky. It may cut out in the background without alerting you then needing a restart to get it working again.
You won't know if you can play that day unless you manually select server after server until you find one that works.
Lag spikes/disconnects are common the further you play from your location.
No sharing. This account works with only one device at a time.
Requires your [censored] ID to be registered with them to use the service and soon will require Real ID (Chinese).

奇游加速器 / Qiyou - Gaming specific VPN for heavy usage. 10/20RMB a month.

I have not used this service but in the /Shanghai thread IMPERIALWRIT swears by it for Apex.

Average ping by ms to different regions for me (from Shanghai, on China Telecom internet)
Other things I like about Qiyou is it has an Origin cache cleaner, and the mobile version has a Google Play installation tool. It also works in conjunction with Astrill for Discord login, etc.

Tencent Accelerator 腾讯网游加速器 - Gaming specific VPN for heavy gaming. 300RMB annually.

lostinchina1 recommends it.

I've had a good experience with playing Warzone, PUBG, Tarkov, and Starcraft 2 online. I believe it costs around 300 RMB a year or less. They also have extensions for mobile and console games, though I haven't tried those.

Xunyou - A gaming-specific VPN for heavy usage. $3.99 USD a month.

This is how the Chinese community can play PUBG outside of China. Another game accelerator is purely for gaming use. You can't use it to browse the web. It's touted to simply speed up your game connection but it'll route you through their servers and allow you to connect to game services that are usually blocked.
EDIT: jhelton808 refutes their effectiveness and stands by Netease UU being superior for playing outside of China.

Uhh depends on what server. The best server to play is honestly the Chinese servers which don’t need one, but if you want to play a riot server the only real playable one is Japan and to play there you’d use UU

It deserves a mention either way. They're apparently anti-account sharing and requires your [censored] ID. It doesn't require a real ID just yet.

Windscribe General purpose VPN for windows/mac/android/ios+ with router support. 10GB FREE / $4.08 a month. /windscribe

My Experience:
The performance here is good for most games if you play on EAS/SEAS. If you play further afield I'd hope you're playing something slow-paced. I struggled while playing with my U.S friends but you've probably figured out at this point trying to play low-latency games with a VPN is a battle at the best of times. You can happily play FFXIV on it however if you use the Wireguard protocol. I recommend you try this because it's free and the Hong Kong server is pretty fast.
The only difference between Free/Pro is the servers you can access and the data limit for free users + some cool extras for privacy they throw-in. They do not pay for any advertising and ethically I'm pretty aligned with their views and proactiveness on privacy.
The Good:

Lots of servers to choose from in regions that will allow your game to connect including a super fucking handy ping tester so you don't have to manually test each server. Looking at you Astrill...
Tokyo server Bosozoku & Kaiju gave me comparable ping and performance to Netease UU booster on JP servers. (These are pro version servers fyi)
It's fucking free, mate. Windscribe Pro is also only $4.08 a month
It provides many different protocols, but the ROBERT feature is something the others don't have. Kicks the shit out of Adblock Plus for making sure you don't see adverts.
Owned by privacy advocates and doesn't appear to spend absolutely anything on marketing. Only found out about them via a recommendation because someone wanted an extra 5GB data you get on their referral thing for the free plan.
Based in Canada where VPNs can actually operate a no-logging policy and you can register anonymously providing you're even slightly savvy. While this is a 5-eyes country consider the fact that it is way better to be in a country where there are laws protecting our data than those without any. Don't forget about all those server seizures that have occurred overseas regardless of being ouT OF theIR jurRisticTIOn. If a VPN is based in a tax haven...it's for the money. Not your safety.

The Bad:

Like with any commercial VPN it suffers from the whack-a-mole situation.
Taiwanese servers are slow for me on China Telecom (I would assume this is an issue with Chinese ISPs in general idk I'm advanced user level, not a technical powerhouse).
It's still designed for general purpose and not gaming in mind - which means some server locations are less than ideal.
TechRadar reported that servers were seized. It's rather sensationalised as the authorities would need incredibly specific conditions to make use of it and would only allow impersonation of non-HTTPS traffic.

Mullvad - General purpose VPN for windows/mac/android/ios+ with router support. $5.57 a month. /mullvadvpn

My Experience
Heads up! I don't have much experience of using this in China itself. I just already had VPNs a plenty to try out (plus my own custom solutions from when I'm not at my workstation). But it worked fine enough. The kicker is that I can only give you a bit of information about them in general as my subscription ran out before I opted to start testing these in detail. As a company though I'd trust them as they operate in Sweden where data privacy laws are very focused on protecting citizens.
Not sure if they'll go through with their "We will close before we respond to data requests" but I wouldn't bet against it.
A user in their subreddit while initially having issues had this to say:

OpenVPN is slower, I tried but, it was a bad experiment. However I saw a considerable improvement (up to 20 times faser) using openVPN and shadowSOCKS , that is the bridge.
While testing only WireGuard ,I saw that the speed increased at least by a factor of 3 as compared to a bridge. That is 60x that openVPN. The test consisted on measuring the download speed in 3 different websites , 3 times in each site. Results were consistent.

The Good:

Partnered with Mozilla and Malwarebytes (So, like the opposite of Express/PIA/Ghost)
You will get online. They've got the whole usual kit with protocols to mess around with.
They're cheap.
Up to 5 different devices
You can see server options right here
Owned by people who give a shit about your privacy. Windscribe & Mullvad are the only two I've seen on this list that as a VPN company do seem to give a shit and are at least honest that VPNs don't protect you from everything.
Don't/Won't respond to any governmental requests for your data and are in a country where that is believable.

The Bad:

Server performance is whack. Some times good, sometimes bad.
They don't own any physical servers only that they lease virtual ones. So performance will vary but that's the case with any VPN in China anyway.
That's it. They're pretty decent tbh.

Astrill General purpose VPN for windows/mac/android/ios+ with router support. $10.00-$20.00 USD a month. /Astrill

My Experience:
The results here aren't as great. Any games that required low latency responses such as movement or firing were hampered heavily outside of EAS. If I needed Steam to just log in so I could play games offline though it would work fine for that. Doesn't work well on 5G but OK with WIFI for some reason.
On the upside, I can't help but give them rave reviews for server reliability. In China, you're hard-pressed to find servers on other VPNs that will just work. I recommend you run through a few servers that are good for you, favourite them, then run a speed test before you start playing. It'll help you figure out just what your best server for that day will be. Especially if you plan to torrent.
The Good:

Very easy to use with a large list of servers to choose from.
Router support works pretty well.
You can use it on up to 5 devices simultaneously which means you can share this account.
Speed test functionality will save you a lot of time and headaches when preparing to play (I just wish it would just ping the server like Windscribe as I'm lazy but here it's still very handy as this will give you bandwidth estimates too).
You will eventually find a working server in your location if you keep changing/trying different servers (unlike you Express VPN…)
There are always discount codes to be found! Always. So have a search before you pay for anything.
Undisputed champion of consumer VPNs for actually being able to fucking connect while in China. If you want better though fork out for a business licence and get a business VPN or look into your own private solutions.

The Bad:

Poor gaming performance compared to Netease Game Booster. More likely to suffer disconnections/latency issues. If you disconnect you're not going to make it back in time for the current or maybe even next round.
Customer support hasn't a clue how to help you in China beyond outdated Q&A links on their site.
They have a slightly off security history and will comply with requests made of them in China.
No way to anonymously register with them.

Nord VPN Gaming & general purpose VPN for all platforms. $12.22 a month. /nordvpn

My Experience:
I used Nord for a while as my friend allowed me to share their account. General web stuff when it connected was pretty good. The downtime was more a result of me running out of servers to find that would work rather than a lack of availability of functioning servers.
It's not that bad really. It is just not fit for purpose if you want to play online.
Good:

SO. MANY. SERVERS. Honestly here you're going to have access to more servers than you're going to need.
You can have up to 6 devices under one account. That's nice to have.
Clean UI and very simple to use & supports every platform.
Customer service is fast & fairly knowledgeable about what tips and tricks to use in China (though a few Google searches can probably achieve the same result)
Idiot proof. They're all pretty easy to use to be fair but Nord holds your hand and strokes your head lovingly as you go through the steps.
Easy to get set up on your router.

Bad:

Suffers almost the same issues Express VPN despite having more servers than there are wumao on Quora ^{^and} ^{^here.} It doesn't matter how many servers you have if most of them are blocked imo.
Expensive, almost as much as Express VPN.
Has insufferable adverts all over the place that I can't stand (bar Internet Historian's cinematic adverse) touting things it can do in China that in practice it cannot.
Misleading statements about the level of protection you get. No VPN can offer complete anonymity. You need to use a secure DNS, a browser that doesn't give up your hardware, mac address spoofing...the list goes on. DO NOT TRUST ANY VPN THAT TELLS YOU THEY HIDE YOU COMPLETELY.

Express VPN General-purpose VPN for windows/mac/android/ios $12.95 a month. /Express_VPN

EDIT: In light of Edward Snowden saying not to use Express, I probably would give it a miss Their parent company made Malware (Crossrider) and they hired a hacker who spied on protestors, activists, and American citizens for the UAE.
My Experience:
It's probably great outside of China but I can't say I'm taken with it. I have wasted an ungodly amount of time trying to connect to servers only to find that for the day the ones I want won't work. It also has an annoying bug on iOS which it'll fail to connect occasionally without warning. To fix this you have to go to your VPN settings and disable then enable connect on demand then try to connect. If that didn't fix it - try it again until it does.
Other than expats in certain apps complaining about Express not working during any given holiday I don't hear much about it and if I do it's not very positive. Shoutout to Marina-5 Singapore server for being semi-OK when I first arrived though.
Good:

Very easy to use UI & lots of payment options
Can use up to 5 devices for use simultaneously.

Bad:

Not suitable for gaming other than being able to connect to your game's authentication server. Even then it has dire performance.
Expensive for the limited amount of servers (that work in China) it offers compared to other services.
I can barely believe it's the "best gaming VPN!" outside of China. Inside of China, however, it's my least favourite VPN to use because of how long you have to spend manually checking to see which servers work. Even the "suggested" 5 servers for China don't work as advertised.
Good-fucking-luck getting online when it's the Trade Expo, Lianghui, or Golden Week. Or any big holiday where there's added scrutiny. Astrill can be bad but Express is horrific here.

Private Internet Access - General purpose VPN. - $11.20 a month. /PrivateInternetAccess

My Experience:
I had PIA for a few years before coming to China. It's great and easy to use when you're anywhere else. But in China, it's just not fit for purpose. As a result despite the fact I had about a year remaining on my plan I didn't bother using this at all during my time in China.
Good:

Easy to set up and install.
Decent server options.
Incredibly cheap if you snag a deal. (That's it. That's all I've got.)

Bad:

They appear to have zero interest in operating in China as the servers rarely connect.
When it does connect it's not exactly quick.

VPNs that…exist.
PureVPN: In 2018 someone was arrested due to those logs they "Don't keep".

Further, records from PureVPN show that the same email accounts–Lin's Gmail account and the teleportfx gmail account–were accessed from the same WANSecurity IP address. Significantly, PureVPN was able to determine that their service was accessed by the same customer from two originating IP addresses: the RCN IP address from the home Lin was living in at the time and the software company where Lin was employed at the time.

Never tried it off the back of that as it doesn't speak well for its security.
SurfShark: /surfshark
Tried a friend's account but didn't work for most of the day so gave up. Might be a conflicting issue with an adapter but I can't comment on its usage. Wouldn't be useful for consoles due to the lack of port forwarding support. Reddit user "Ethan" enquired to whether they use Cloudflare in their VPNs (that allowed for limited tracking) and they state they do not except for their website now. Which is a massive step up for their privacy as before they were practically full of holes. Well done them.
The deals page though has one of those bullshit "81% OFF ONLY TODAY!" with a timer that resets when it hits the bottom. Lame peer pressure tactics turn me off.
Cyber Ghost:
Bought by Kape, the company that I mentioned before that produced malware and viruses. The company hired a hacker who spied on activists, protestors, and American citizens on behalf of the UAE He's facing a $1.6M fine. The company that owns all the VPN review sites. Their community seem upset about the sale, I don't blame them.
Tunnel Bear
I don't know anything about them other than that they exist. They're in Canada and are probably OK.
SwitchVPN: I know only a single person who uses this and reports similar issues as Astrill/Express now and again. Otherwise, I've not heard anything particularly good or bad about it.
Browser Plugin VPNs:
These free VPNs like Hotspot Shield should be avoided on the general principle that these services are slow, insecure, and a minefield for privacy concerns. Absolutely ANY of the above services are better than these. If you simply must use a plugin use one from one of the above-paid services.
The Good:

thEY'rE frEE!

The Bad:

Most don't provide an effective traffic kill switch. So if you're browsing and it cuts out you've essentially bared yourself to the world. Imagine you're outside in public and someone whips off your clothes for a few moments. You stand there awkwardly waiting for your clothes to reappear. They may or may not reappear. That's essentially what you're doing.
They survive and profit by making money off your data. Which is counter-intuitive to using a VPN. They use logs, most likely are backdoored heavily, and can expose you to unnecessary risks.

That's the free browser plugin experience for you. Just don't do it.

PLAYING MULTIPLAYER GAMES VIA VLAN

If your game is older (or your game's publisher isn't anti-consumer) it may have the option to play via a local network. AoE2, Divinity Original Sin, Quake, Unreal Tournament, Stardew Valley, etc have the option to play via LAN.
This means with VLAN software you'd be able to play with a friend without having to physically be on their network. Latency depends entirely on you and your friend's connection to one another. So this is certainly a case where you will have to try these methods to see if they'll work.
Parsec - Gaming VLAN - $96.00 Annually
Primarily this is a remote gaming option similar to Nvidia shield but its LAN co-op feature is why it's here. That will create a VLAN between you and your friend…but this would require you both to have an account. Hands down the best solution if you're willing to pay for it. I borrowed a work account from time to time and I had no issues with playing Condition Zero on a VLAN with mates. It's just a shame about the price tag as with living in China one day it may not work and you might be out of pocket.
GameRanger - Gaming VLAN - Free
Very easy to use with over 1000 classic games supported. This typically will yield better overall performance compared to any other solution listed here bar Parsec for older games. It also has a pretty active community (depending on what you play) so finding others to play with you isn't a chore. But…sometimes it just doesn't work. I've no idea why but there have been days where it just wouldn't play ball with me.
Voobly - Gaming VLAN - Free
Fit for purpose gaming VLAN that allows you to play older games such as Warcraft 3, Age of Empires 2/Mythology/3. Install it, signup, play. It's pretty simple to use but the downside is that it only supports a few games. If you speak Chinese and want to play someone at those games though the community is top-notch and will happily curb-stomp you. Actually found this installed in a few Shanghai gaming hubs.
TeamViewer - VLAN & Remote Desktop Software - Free
Supported in China (Rare, I know. The CCP may have learned from when they decided to block Github and chaos ensued). It's free, too. That's a win in my book as you have little to lose here. You and your friend simply connect to one another via your IDs and go. Just make sure you're not allowing anyone full/remote access to your desktop while you're doing so. This is primarily a remote desktop application so don't expect peerless results for your gaming experience.
SoftEther - Open Source VLAN software- Free
Requires more know-how to get set up but if you run it through port 443 it'll work. It's open-source so it's free to use. I'd recommend that you take the time to watch a YouTube video to help you get set up if you're not comfortable with scary-looking GUIs
FREELAN - VLAN Software - Free
Works…kinda? Hit & miss results were most likely due to my inept friend not following simple instructions. That said you may struggle to get this working so I'd advise exhausting other options before you give it a crack.
There are some handy resources on Github I used to eventually get it to work in a workable state though that probably just says more about me than anything.
Tungle, ZeroTier, Radmin, LogMeIn, & Hamachi
Unfortunately, these services are outright blocked or aren't reliable enough for me to write about here. They suffer from a ton of issues the average reader of this won't be able to overcome. Tungle is discontinued (RIP) so this won't change even if you have the legacy application and the know-how. This is a shame because outside of China they're really handy.

PLAYING SINGLE-PLAYER GAMES THAT REQUIRE ONLINE AUTHENTICATION

This is pretty easy to solve by and large. Your game may require you to log in to a server or be online due to some DRM. While this is annoying you can use practically any of the VPN solutions to connect. If a game has DRM though you may want to try and avoid it as a rule as to when the company drops support for your game it may just stop working altogether.
Here are some general tips to try if you're still unable to connect:

Change your VPN protocol and ensure "local traffic/smart mode/don't filter local sites" isn't enabled. They can mess with your game trying to connect to game services (As it does with R6 Siege for me).
Check your game config file (usually in My Documents/Games/GAME FOLDER) and change whatever the default server connections are. They may be set to whatever you used to play on before you got to China. Some services even have support for China if you have a quick search.

Run CMD in windows under administrator and type:

"ipconfig /release" this will tell your computer to get rid of your current configuration for all adapters such as the assigned IP or DNS servers. "ipconfig /renew" this will tell your DHCP server to get fresh settings. "ipconfig /flushdns" this will just clear your DNS cache. It'll do this from time to time anyway but you may as well clear it out if you've done the above.

As a last resort find a cracked version of the launcher or download an alternative version of your game from a site like "fitgirl repacks" etc. I don't advocate piracy in general but if you already own the game, where's the harm? Just realise that these sites/versions may contain malware and that's on you if you can't figure out what's safe and what isn't.

OFFLINE GAMES

…I don't know how you're having problems here but let's have a crack at it.
First things first, does your game management client (Steam / Origin / Battlenet / etc) have offline functionality?
Typically you can set your client to allow you to play offline but these will require setup beforehand with a working internet connection. Such as downloading the game completely, testing it to see if it works, then choosing in settings the option that will allow you to do this. So don't forget to do that before you leave.
Consoles tend to be a little easier as you can set them up before you go then just take them with you. Just be aware that if you get a new game it may force you to go online and may then cause problems with your existing library. If for whatever reason you disable that or it just starts up one day and requires you to login/go online…go back up to an earlier section or DM me.
Does your game launch at all?
This is probably not a China thing. It's probably more of a hardware compatibility issue. I can't help with that.
Does your game have some elements missing?
Banners or headers in games sometimes look odd simply because they're there to pull in from an external feed that is currently blocked by the Chinese firewall. These in-game announcements/adverts when blocked may just simply appear as big black/white gaps in your menus. If you can play the core game without any issues this is certainly a blessing you shouldn't try and fix.
Does your game hang in a loading screen?
It may actually not be a game you can play offline and you need to do the steps in the above section to make it work. Even if it has no obviously online functionality and is solely a single-player game it may have some DRM that requires you to connect at least once to make sure you bought the game legally.

LOCAL OPTIONS

COMMUNITY (can't use a certain word because even though I'm an approved user automod fucking hates that word:

Expat Gamers - find berkansonmez as he'll add you to whichever gaming-related thing you need. The man knows his shit.
Movin- App where people sell preowned items they no longer need. Typically it's filled with laowai who are getting the boot and need to leave so prices can be a bloody steal.

INDEPENDENT TRADERS:

These are places I shop in Shanghai but they're going to rely on you to do a little detective work regarding getting there.
Taiping @ Xuhui
Go behind the Bainaohui towards the Kung Fu restaurant past Makan. It's an older off-white building about 4–5 floors tall. On the first floor, you'll find some Dell/Alienware PC stores. Ignore them and ascend to the second floor packed with independent trader stalls. You can find almost anything there just keep in mind these are Shanghainese traders and they'll be difficult at times.
Prices aren't as competitive as online but there's a massive selection of preowned games and consoles. Not to mention jailbroken Chinese consoles galore.
Play Station @ 1601 Beijing Xi Lu
Alex, an acquaintance of mine, described this as a "mixed experience". Which is true. There's a giant cat loafing around so if you have allergies pop some meds. The owner is a little pushy and her husband just seems to be suffering simply by existing. Alex used the word "henpecked" which to be honest is an apt description. They remind me of my Chinese grandmother and English grandfather a little, to be honest.
They have a bizarre selection. Alex found the Sonic Mania Collectors bundle which included a model replica of a Genesis but no game. I found a really nicely looked after Neo-Geo when I popped down which wasn't worth the price. It was really tempting though as they also had KoF '98. Oh! I did grab a copy of Legend of the Dragoon for next to nothing. Absolute bargain.

GAMING CENTERS & INTERNET CAFES

Firstly, NEVER LOGIN TO YOUR OWN PERSONAL/GAMING ACCOUNTS. Don't even use their WIFI. You have no idea what kind of security they use if any, and they may cause you to lose your account.
You may even get it banned as I'm aware that Wanyoo gaming hotels/centres sometimes have cheats pre-installed on their machines and running by default. They can easily be disabled but I'd recommend you ask the staff to "check". Some may deny that it's a cheat client but most just pop over and turn them off. The cheating situation with games is fairly normalised and even with experience, I can't adequately begin to explain why. That's not why you're here though.
If you want to play a game they will often provide you with an account or just have ones logged in for you to play. Some with max-level characters or max rank accounts. Takes a lot of the fun out of things for yourself but OK for hopping on with some friends and playing some games. These gaming cafes have excellent services that are quite frankly tiers above anything I've seen elsewhere. They're clean, the equipment is fantastic, and the hourly prices are insanely cheap. The community requires a bit of effort to crack but it's far from impossible.
Search for "网鱼网咖" or "internet bars" near your area. You'll have to look around but it's worth the wandering about.
I personally recommend in Shanghai the gaming centre on Yichuan Lu near Luochuan. You can't miss it as on the ground floor by the elevator that will take you up are massive game-related posters and banners. They'll set you up on the sly without needing to use a Chinese ID to get online. They may want a photo of your passport just in case but that's life here.
If you see anyone playing a game you recognise that can be basis enough for a firm friendship. You'll probably get challenged at some point to Counter-Strike GO/1.6/Source. At 33 I wasn't the oldest person there but I had some pride in maintaining a barely positive K/D. The local RTS scene is absolutely booming so if you're into League of Legends or Dota 2 you want to check these spots out.

LAN PARTIES, ARCADES, & BARS

Code Bunker @ Agora Space
If you're in Shanghai I'd recommend the LAN party events by CodeBunker at Agora Space. They do them regularly, everyone there is wonderfully welcoming, and they have the fastest co-working space internet in Shanghai according to SmartShanghai. It's in a dope underground bunker too.
Games provided or available to play are CS 1.6, Quake III, Starcraft, Age of Empires, Minecraft, Call of Duty, Pro Evo Soccer, and Tekken. There's some VR stuff and other games too but that's the bulk of it. If you can't bring your own machine there are limited ones around for use too but be prepared to swap out or wait long times depending on how busy it is. The people that operate it are absolutely lovely and have all the time in the world to help you with whatever you need.
Liehuo @ 4F 77 Jiangning Lu
A hardcore arcade gamer's dream as this is where the real meaty competition goes down. Everyone I've played here is a God and I've found new ways to embarrass myself I didn't know could exist.
If you see someone holding the joystick inverted…don't play them. Radii did a sick piece detailing the culture there I'd recommend you read. They cover it better than I ever could. They also have interviews with some of the best players down there.
It's not all just for pros and the hardcore crowd. Everyone's welcome and the atmosphere is akin to the late 90s arcade boom if you remember that. If you never had an arcade phase this is probably your last chance to get a taste so go down there and check it out.
Party King & Fengyun Zaiqi @ People's Square
You've got archery, bowling, axe throwing, pool, and arcade games. With Beat Saber and various VR games set up on multiple consoles. There are also a few jailbroken consoles with a plethora of games dumped on them. Did I mention it's also a bar? The vibe here is rather relaxed and it runs till as late as 2 am some nights. It's 150rmb for all-night access with one free drink. Absolute bargain. It isn't very well supervised I must admit. I would absolutely love to see their accident book based on the number of drunk people I see trying the archery or axe throwing.
Fengyun Zaiqi is located next door and has a large selection of different arcade cabinets. The most popular ones revolve around fighting games but there's a few classics and multi-cabinets there in case you want to get your Golden Axe or Gauntlet fix. It's no Leihuo but if you prefer a more chilled environment this might be it for you.
Jaga @ Yueda 889 plaza (underground)
Fucking massive arcade space with tons of classic & new arcade games. Fairly busy most of the time but the sheer size of it means you're never waiting for anything. A lot of the games have ID cards you can use to track your process for when you come back.
The Senjō no Kizuna (Gundam mech game) is no longer there as I think the game servers were closed down. Hopefully, when the new one comes out they'll get it again but it didn't seem as popular as I'd imagine it to be.
…I thought it was pretty cool anyway. There's also guaranteed to be a college DDR crowd around weekends.
The Hai (Previously Kangaroo) @ Yonjia Lu
Pretty sure this used to be a spot for prostitutes. Pre-kangaroo days anyway. Occasionally an older laowai would turn up, squint around and make weird comments, then awkwardly leave. The people who work there are absolute darlings so don't be like those dudes.
Recently renovated the owners' Dan & Tim are Shanghai local living legends. Tim also owns Meatballers on Yongkang lu and they're the best subs in town. Absolutely flawless.
Anyway, the reason you might want to go there is there's a massive screen with a switch set up for Smash Bros & Mario cart. It's dog friendly and a nice place just for a pint either way.
Spectres Bar @ 753 Yuyuan Lu
Now I know what you're thinking. This grungy, sticky-floored, party spot where people pass out drunk outside? The one where a bartender is rumoured to have hospitalised a punter? Well on the off chance for whatever reason you can't go to any of the above…they have a couple of working cabinets dotted about. Sure beats the wonky pool table with perpetually missing balls.
Your last resort but it's not as bad as some people say it is. They're multi-cabinets but free to use. Press and hold the start button on player one to reset and go to the game selection menu. They have Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom, King of Fighters, 1942/44 and a thousand other things.
They even have a really cool Romance of the Three Kingdoms co-op game that now thinking about it I should find a port somewhere.
So that's it.
I've exhausted the little I know about gaming in China and I hope for anyone just turning up this helps. I remember when I first arrived I absolutely struggled to get online and that everywhere there was simply outdated or conflicting information.
Additionally, until I wrote this and then delved deeper I had no idea that so many VPNs are owned by a handful of companies. Do your research. If you're in China you should know you have to be very careful of what you're up to. I considered myself fairly pro-privacy but now I'm doubling down on my efforts to get further educated. If anyone wants a study by UMC on how these services are gaming YouTube adverts and YouTuber's to push their agenda get in touch and I'll link you up when it is released (the authors are in the process of having it published so ETA is unknown but I will get back to you)
If you have anything to add for your area please share because you never know who this could help.
Game on, everybody. Game on.
P.S: Got questions? Ask them in the comments and I'll get back to you when I see them. I might not be able to help but I'll at least try. I helped 300+ people up their game in Rainbow 6 for /SiegeAcademy so I promise you I won't ignore you.
Addtional Suggestions from comments:
Black_Phoenix_JP

Let me add a point:
Nintendo Switch Online:
If you own a non Tencent Switch, so a WW Switch being a EU, US or JPN and have an active subscription of Nintendo Switch Online you will be able to play online without any limitations in terms of traffic or ping or VPN needs, being the only limitation the service provider reliability/quality of service. Back in 2018 for a while was impossible to use them after Nintendo changed the servers to Google infrastructure, but after the agreement with Tencent for distribution all started working again.
I say a non Tencent Switch since the Official Nintendo Switch's sold in China Officially (denoted by a Tencent Tape on the cardboard opening latch and a blue and white icon on the box) will be blocked to China only. Only CENSORED accounts can be used on that models (they don't accept another type of account) even if they are used outside of China they will only connect to China's Tencent Servers and they aren't any know ways (yet) to change the firmware to the WW one.

More info here because character limit

This post lays out the steps that RC and the new GameStop team have taken in the past few months to achieve their strategic objectives. It also identifies where the company is likely going, based on some key subdomains that went live in the past few months.
A quick note: there's a lot of derivative information here. If you see a link or concept that you mentioned months ago, please accept my appreciation, even if you're not mentioned. Feel free to claim recognition in the comments.
I published another post about a week ago (linked further down), explaining the various subdomains that GameStop uses. If I did my job right, you now understand that GameStop subdomains clearly describe the software, services, and technologies that they use to deliver value and delight customers.
This post builds on that understanding and expands into old and new GameStop operations. I had to leave a lot of content out to keep this focused, but it's long anyway.
While this post is forward-looking, it could always be wrong. First, never take (financial) advice from internet strangers. Second, as the old Danish aphorism goes, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” Feel free to make corrections in comments.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

CHEWY VS. GAMESTOP, KEEPING SCORE

We could measure success of the GameStop strategy if we had a measuring stick to use for comparison. Since the current strategy has Ryan Cohen as the Chairman of the Board and the chair of GameStop’s Strategic Planning & Allocation Committee, it seems fair to measure GameStop’s transformation against RC’s other great accomplishment: Chewy.
[Mobile users scroll right for second column]

CHEWY Chronology	GAMESTOP Chronology
Miami Beach 18th Annual Antique Jewelry & Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010	RC Ventures acquires 13% stake in GameStop, 17 December 2020
MrChewy internet domain launched 9 May 2011	GameStop & RC Ventures reach deal to appoint Ryan Cohen, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to BOD; 11 January 2021
RC, Michael Day, and Alan Attal for the first couple of years	Care subdomain goes live 17 January 2021
Chewy.com domain established not earlier than 30 August 2012	Matt Francis becomes GME CTO; Kelli Durkin becomes SVP for Customer Care; Josh Krueger becomes VP for Fulfillment; 3 February 2021
Late 2012, first meeting with Larry Cheng of Volition Capital	Jim Bell steps down as CFO; 23 February 2021; reportedly RC wanted this to happen
Volition follow-up in mid-2013	Jenna Owens becomes COO; Neda Pacifico becomes SVP of eCommerce; Ken Suzuki becomes VP for Supply Chain Systems; 23 March 2021
$15MM in A-Round funding from Volition, October 2013	Elliott Wilke becomes CGO; Andrea Wolfe becomes VP for Brand Development; Tom Petersen becomes VP for Merchandising; 30 March 2021
400K sq ft warehouse lease in Mechanicsburg, PA, early 2014	GameStop completes 3.5 million ATM shares offering for $551,000,000 by 26 April 2021
Mechanicsburg warehouse effective by August 2014	GameStop pays off $216.4 million, all long-term debt, before 1 May 2021
Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada from Toys R Us	RC Tweet at Culver City, CA on 13 April 2021
B-Round funding in 2014 for $30MM	QA, Smoke, SFCC subdomains first appear 30 April 2021
C-Round funding in 2014 for $41MM	700,000 sq ft warehouse lease in York, PA; 3 May 2021
2015-2018, recruiting top talent via LinkedIn (including Jim Grube)	Genba, NFT, and PowerPass subdomains goes live; 17 May 2021
2014-2018, $200MM revenue to $3,500MM revenue	AGM; Ryan Cohen becomes COB; Matt Furlong becomes CEO; Mike Recupero becomes CFO; 9 June 2021
PetSmart announces $3,500MM acquisition of Chewy, April 2017	GameStop completes 5 million ATM shares offering for $1,126,000,000 by 22 June 2021
Cohen steps down from Chewy, March 2018	Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada; 530,000 sq ft; 6 July 2021
Chewy IPO on NYSE, 14 June 2019	IPFS NFT subdomain goes live; 20 July 2021
	Newsletter subdomain goes live; 23 July 2021
	EB Games Canada announced rebrand to GameStop Canada; 28 July 2021
	SupplyChainPortal subdomain goes live 12 August 2021

COMPARISONS:
1) Inception

RC decides to go into the pet business after an epiphany following a planned jewelry company that would have launched at the end of 2010, probably around the Miami Beach Antique Jewelry and Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010.
RC Ventures acquires a 13% stake in GameStop on 17 December 2020.

2) Starting the business

Mr. Chewy internet domain launched sometime on or after 9 May 2011.
GameStop board reaches a deal to appoint RC, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to the BOD on 11 January 2021.

3) Re-branding

Chewy.com domain launches not earlier than 30 August 2012.
EB Games Canada announces re-branding to GameStop.ca on 28 July 2021.

4) First-Round Funding

Chewy gains first-round funding of $15 million USD from Larry Cheng with Volition Capital in October 2013.
GameStop gains “first-round funding” of $551 million USD by completing an at-the-market (ATM) share offering by 26 April 2021.

5) First New Warehouse

Chewy leases a 400,000 square foot fulfillment center in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in early 2014. The warehouse was effective by August 2014.
GameStop leases a 700,000 square foot fulfillment center in York, Pennsylvania (almost next door to Mechanicsburg) on 3 May 2021. The warehouse held a hiring fair on 8 July 2021 and is operational.

6) Second New Warehouse

Chewy opened another fulfillment center in McCarran, Nevada in 2014. This was converted from an old Toys R Us warehouse. McCarran is a suburb of greater Reno.
GameStop announced a 530,000 square foot second fulfillment center in Reno, Nevada on 6 July 2021

7) Additional Funding

In 2014, Chewy gained $30 million USD from its second round of VC funding and $41 million USD from its third round of VC funding.
GameStop gained “second round funding” of $1.126 billion USD by completing an ATM share offering by 22 June 2021.

8) Building the Dream Team

Throughout 2015-2018, Ryan Cohen recruited top talent for Chewy by contacting people through LinkedIn and conducting after-hours interviews.
Between January and June 2021, GameStop assembled a strong executive team from leading eCommerce companies around the world.

Key members in the transformation include:

Alan Attal (the third member of Chewy and former COO, now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Jim Grube (brought into Chewy in 2015 as CFO and now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Larry Cheng (Chewy’s first angel investor, now on the GameStop BOD),
Kelli Durkin (brought into Chewy in 2015 as VP of Customer Service, now SVP for Customer Care at GameStop); I think she’s the reason for cards at Chewy and she’s doing the same for GameStop now,
Neda Pacifico (VP of eCommerce for Chewy, now SVP of eCommerce for GameStop),
Andrea Wolfe (VP of Marketing at Chewy, now VP of Brand at GameStop)

Let me break this down a bit more:

Chewy went from concept to implementation in about 7 months. The RC Ventures version of GameStop went from concept to implementation in about 2 months.
Chewy rebranded itself after about 15 months. GameStop rebranded itself after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its first capital injection after about 29 months. The RC GameStop gained its first capital injection in less than 4 months.
Chewy launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 6 months.
Chewy launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its second capital injection after about 36 months. The RC GameStop gained its second capital injection after about 6 months.
Chewy began building a world-class C-suite after about 48 months. The RC GameStop built a world-class C-suite within 5 months.
Chewy began innovating in customer care after about 48 months. The RC GameStop began innovating in customer care within 4 months.

Ryan Cohen has repeated his Chewy success within GameStop already.

With an established international infrastructure, existing brand equity, and faster access to capital for leading projects, he has reduced the time needed to achieve change to only about 6 months compared to 48 months. He is moving 8x faster than he did the first time, using his personal ethics of extreme focus to deliver the kind of service that delights customers and retains them for life. There is still more work needed to cement the gains in supply chain management, customer care, and omni-channel ease-of-use for GameStop customers, but the big parts are already in place. Truly, this transformation is a world-class achievement. On this alone, GameStop shares are currently undervalued, especially if you consider that the Chewy timeline ended with the largest-ever purchase of an eCommerce company for $3.5 billion USD and -- after IPO -- Chewy is valued at $34 billion USD. Even without MOASS, that's what GameStop will look like by 2024.

LET’S PLAY MONOPOLY, VIDEOGAMES EDITION

There’s a great YouTube video from a Stanford lecture series on creating a startup. Peter Thiel, PayPal and Palantir founder, presents a compelling explanation for why “Competition is for Losers.” His point is that a strong company creates value in a unique way – a way that no competitor can replicate. A good company creates a “monopoly” in its industry.
In its 10-K form, filed at the end of the fiscal year, GameStop identifies the companies that It believes are its competitors:

Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Amazon in the U.S.
Sony Microsoft, Nintendo, Media Markt, Saturn, FNAC, Carrefour, Auchan, and Amazon in Europe
Wal-Mart and Best Buy in Canada
JB HiFi, Big W, and Target in Australia

Looking at this list, I don’t see genuine competition. Many of these companies are “we sell everything” companies; videogame sales are a small part of their overall revenue stream. Videogame and console makers – Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo – might sell their own products directly, but they mostly rely on other companies (like GameStop) for sales and distribution. In the U.S., Best Buy is the closest apples-to-apples competitor, because it’s a brick-and-mortar retailer that focuses on electronics and media sales. But even then, videogames are simply not a large enough part of Best Buy’s overall revenue compared to GameStop.
GameStop is a “monopoly” in its market. It is the only major global retailer in its markets that delivers value to customers with a singular focus on videogames and gaming culture.
And GameStop is an important part of the videogames industry. Reggie Fils-Aimé (former President and COO of Nintendo of America) is a somewhat active Twitter user. But when he sat on the GameStop board, he sent only one tweet related to GameStop:

The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant \@GameStop. I look forward to being a part of \@GameStopCorp Board and helping to make this happen. https://t.co/pYWFGZ9XKj

GameStop is a critical part of the videogame industry’s ability to identify potential customers, gather information about trends and preferences, and distribute games and consoles to users worldwide.

EVEN IF I DIDN’T FINISH THE GAME, I LEARNED A LOT ALONG THE WAY

GameStop has acquired a variety of skills throughout its lifetime. These were failed projects, but they gave GameStop insights into key aspects of the market. Since GameStop is less than 20 years old as a corporation (I’m not including Babbage’s or EB Games prior to the GameStop incorporation in 2002), the company still retains institutional memory from these earlier ventures.

Kongregate: GameStop acquired indie game developer Kongregate in 2010. The site hosted a variety of web-based games. It also had a software development kit to help indie developers build games for mobile devices and Steam. GameStop sold Kongregate to Swedish company Modern Times Group in 2017. I will never understand why Reddit forums filled with apes never jumped on the opportunity to have a tagline like, “A Place for GameStop Apes to Kongregate.” Also, this company’s logo features ants. Shoutout to our Korean brethren.
Jolt Online Gaming: GameStop acquired Jolt in 2009. This was another web site that delivered web-based games. It also included game reviews and interviews. The site closed in 2012.
Impulse: This was basically a Steam clone that GameStop acquired in 2011. Customers could purchase, download, and play games from an online digital marketplace. The program was discontinued in 2014, and unfortunately customers no longer have access to any games they purchased on the service. Strangely, GameStop has maintained the “Impulse Store” subdomain and it’s still current.
Spawn Labs: GameStop acquired Spawn Labs and its patent portfolio in 2011 also. Spawn Labs provided technology to stream video games from the cloud to any front-end console or computer. Here’s a good demo with bad production quality.
GS Mobile: GameStop incorporated mobile phone sales into some of its U.S. stores, beginning in May 2012. They partnered with AT&T as the mobile carrier for service. The GameStop mobile phone carrier was branded as Spring Mobile, and it was the single largest AT&T wireless reseller at the time. This part of GameStop was sold off in 2020 so the company could refocus on gaming and gaming culture.

From all of these past failures, here are the skills that may still be resident within the collective consciousness of GameStop:

Web-based gaming
Mobile gaming
Indie game development and distribution
Mobile networks and telephony
Device-agnostic streaming video games
Digital gaming marketplace

There’s are two other key features that GameStop brings to the videogames industry. GameInformer magazine and PowerUp Rewards.
GameInformer, with over 10 million subscribers, is the fifth largest magazine circulation in the United States and (adding other countries) the fourth largest magazine circulation in the world.
PowerUp Rewards, GameStop’s in-store discount purchasing program, has over 60 million members.

There’s a great Freakonomics podcast interview with Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric. Immelt watched GE decline in value from the most profitable company in the world to a current valuation that’s only one quarter what it had when he took over as CEO in 2001. In the interview, Immelt identifies what – for him – is the key driver of success for large companies in today’s markets:

If you think about the conglomerates of today — I’m talking about Amazon and Alphabet — they have a technical foundation. I would say G.E. had, at least in the beginning of my career, our foundation was management practices. It’s not that that’s unimportant. But that wasn’t enduring, really. And I think when you look at Amazon, they are a dominant software company. And in some way, shape, or form, everything they do feeds off that. Google was a dominant A.I. company. Everything they do feeds off that, right? So I think if you want to be a conglomerate today, a technical foundation is a must.

GameStop is the sole “information technology” company for the videogames industry.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paularosenblum/2015/09/14/gamestop-uses-data-and-customer-experience-to-survive-and-thrive-in-stores-and-online/
If you don’t already know, large companies generate a lot of revenue by collecting and selling information about your web surfing habits, purchasing habits, and overall demographic information. This is the Information Technology that Jeff Immelt was talking about that makes Amazon and Alphabet such large companies today. From Alexa and OK Google to your web searches to your subscription deliveries, modern companies benefit from the knowledge they have that other companies want.

More identifying information can simply be purchased. "Facebook is taking offline credit card data and mixing it with their site," Weinberg said, to illustrate the lack of transparency he sees in the data market. "You wouldn't expect that. The bigger the data profile . . . the better you can be targeted. They have incentives to buy and combine extra data." After our interview, it came to light that Google had penned a secret deal with MasterCard for data on offline spending habits.

Now, this article was written for an American audience. Europoors at least benefit from some protection under GDPR.
If you’re offended that your personal information is being harvested, I feel like I’ve just awakened you from the Matrix. This is how all large companies build profiles to develop more popular products, deliver more appealing marketing, and identify more affluent customers. In fact, Target can tell you when your teenage daughter accidentally became pregnant.
Back in fall 2020, u/DeepFuckingValue noted the potential for a GameStop renovation to improve advertising revenue along with a move towards an “omni-channel” marketplace. This was always part of the GameStop transformation. Here’s a single example of his fundamentals-based thesis.
https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1325573568822915077
GameStop uses the company Moveable Ink to deliver a web site experience that is completely unique for each person who visits GameStop’s web sites.
The whole reason for turning GameStop stores into Pokemon Go gyms was so that GameStop could acquire mobile phone identifiers, correlated with Google accounts and Pokemon Go playing statistics, correlated with a customer’s GameStop purchase history, correlated with demographic and spending details that were purchased online for pennies on the dollar. GameStop can use its cloud-based Tableau instance to provide rapid data visualization to infer key trends in customer preferences. They will sell this information to Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft (and perhaps the big game companies like Blizzard-Activision, Sega, or Epic) to create a templated profile for what a top-selling future game might look like. Simultaneously, GameStop can use each Pokemon Go gym visit as a proxy for how many customers are visiting its brick-and-mortar operations. This helps to show that GameStop’s retail storefronts are far from dead (as the Wall Street propagandists would have you believe).

Okay, putting it all together:
GameStop is transitioning from a brick-and-mortar focus towards a digital-first information technology company. It has a variety of skills stored within its institutional memory, including web games, mobile phones, mobile apps, streaming gaming, and digital-download videogame distribution. It has a proprietary database of over 60 million gamers that it combines with other demographic data to create the most valuable database of gamers in the world. This gamer database, along with GameStop’s worldwide supply chain, makes it so indispensable that “The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant GameStop.”

But what if I told you that it’s going to get even better?

NOW, FOR THE MOON SHOT

In my last post, I mentioned a company called Genba Digital. I think they are directly connected to GameStop’s NFT infrastructure.

nft.gamestop.com goes live 17 May 2021
genba.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
powerpass.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
ipfs.nft.gamestop.com goes live 20 July 2021
Ethereum’s London Hard Fork happened 4 August 2021

FIRST, NFT

In the post below, u/schismsaints lays out a great list of possible business uses for NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/of20ou/a_deep_dive_into_nftgamestopcom/

Possible Business Uses

In-store currency - GME Coin can be used as an in-store currency/reward system

Crypto swap/exchange - Partner with an established cryptocurrency company to facilitate listing and conversion/exchange between stablecoins such as USDC or miscellaneous established coins or altcoins, and GME specific tokens. Use a GME app to manage a crypto wallet and exchange between various tokens/coins/currencies.

NFT Collectibles - i.e. CryptoKitties, Gods Unchained, etc. Facilitate in-person trading (either in-store or via app to app trading) of digital items and collectibles between platforms.

Digital game licensing - revolutionize DRM by hosting a record of your game license on the blockchain

In-game item transfeentitlement - Imagine if there was a way to trade/sell your CounterStrike skins in-person for cash, or exchange a cool knife skin for a new CryptoKitty

SECOND, IPFS

In the post below, u/hooper359 explains how IPFS works with the ERC-721 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. From all I've seen, u/hooper359 was the first to identify the new IPFS subdomain for GameStop.
https://www.reddit.com/usehooper359/comments/osr91k/new_ipfs_subdomain_possibly_for_a_digital_games/
There’s also a web site that provides details about what the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) is, how it works, and how to integrate it into existing blockchain systems.
https://docs.ipfs.io/
The key features or proposed uses cases of IPFS that are relevant to this conversation are:

Proof of Ownership
Blockchain-powered online commerce
Distributed package managers (DPM) and content delivery networks (CDN)
Version control
Selling digital files
Serverless online gaming

THIRD, GENBA

Now, let’s take a look at Genba.
My last post was a look at GameStop subdomains.
https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/p2rnqn/a_review_of_gamestop_subdomains/
That post was set up to preface this post by highlighting one key feature of GameStop’s subdomains.
GameStop subdomains describe the branded services or products that GameStop uses in its network infrastructure.
GameStop has a subdomain genba.gamestop.com. It first appeared in early 2020, but it was last refreshed on 17 May 2021 at the same time the NFT subdomain appeared.

The name Genba is fairly unique.

If you’re familiar with “Lean” concepts in manufacturing and supply chain management, Gemba is a fairly well-known term. It roughly translates to the old business cliché of “Management By Walking Around” (MBWA). It requires leaders in organizations to actually “go and see for themselves” what’s happening in the operations center, warehouses, or retail front lines of the company.
But the Lean version of Gemba is always spelled with the letter “M” like in GME, almost never spelled with an “N” like in Naked Shorts. Here’s a blog post by a Lean expert explaining the difference in spelling.
If you search for the Genba-with-an-N spelling, only two companies come up.
One is a Lean consultancy in Washington state. It was incorporated in Delaware, but it doesn’t use the same registered agent that GameStop uses. Also, what does walking around the operations center have to do with videogames?
The second company is Genba Digital.
Genba Digital is a startup in Leamington Spa, outside of Birmingham, England. They have offices in London, England; Eindhoven, Netherlands; and Los Angeles, California. They started in 2015 with investment from UK and EU venture-capital firms.
https://genbadigital.com/
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/158919-13
Here’s how they describe themselves:

Developer of a cloud-based digital logistics platform designed to bridge the gap between publishers and resellers in the gaming industry on a global basis. The company's platform is API driven and fully-automated that eliminates the operational and technical logistics involved with publishing and selling digital content, enabling game publishers to avail automatic, secure delivery of activation keys, official publisher metadata and videos in multiple languages.

Genba Digital lists over 200 partnerships on its web site, including:

Amazon
Ubisoft
Disney
Square Enix
Epic Games
Konami
2K
Sega
Capcom
Take 2 Interactive
Paradox Interactive
Hello Games
Gamesplanet
Games Republic
505 Games
Codemasters
Curve Digital
Team 17
Hello Games
Voidu

Sony created Genba back in 2013. Their DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation) New Media Solutions division hired Kwiboo to develop the initial concept. In their site, they call Genba “the world’s first digital supply chain management platform for the games industry. Linking games publishers with game eTailers, on a global scale, to drive efficiencies in relationship management, content distribution and consistent pricing.”
On 18 May 2021 Genba Digital was acquired by Azerion Holdings. This is exactly one day after GameStop launched its NFT domain and refreshed its Genba domain. According to the UK’s Companies House website, Erol Erturk and Umut Akpinar were appointed as directors of the company. Umut Akpinar is the Founder and CEO of Azerion, a videogames company based out of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Erol Erturk is the Executive Vice President of Content and Strategic Partnerships for Azerion.
https://azerion-investors.com/reports/
https://azerion.com/companies
I don’t want to get lost explaining Azerion, but there’s one last possibility I want to touch on. Azerion is a relatively large European gaming and advertising company. Their gross profit in 2020 was €70 million EUR. If GameStop wanted to acquire Azerion, the company is not too large to be reasonably purchased for a price within the available cash GameStop is holding. This would also be a way to re-enter the northern European markets after closing stores in 2020.
With the Genba subdomain, it’s clear that GameStop has a relationship with Genba Digital, but it’s not clear whether this is a business partnership or a pending acquisition. There's not enough info to clarify, so let’s just keep looking at the potential that Genba Digital brings to GameStop.
Genba Digital’s platform helps to solve some of the major problems with videogame distribution globally.
One challenge that games developers face is grey market key reselling. Users who are finished playing a game resell their game keys online, cutting out the company’s profits for digital distribution. Genba Digital partnered with Ubisoft in May 2019 to implement a process they called “Silent Key Activation,” or SKA. The Genba Digital platform provides the digital license keys silently to the user’s platform, so the user never sees the actual license key and can’t resell it on the grey market.
This is less of an issue in the United States or Europe, where users are playing on their personal devices – consoles, mobile phone, desktop gaming rigs. But in Asia, and especially China, most players access their favorite titles through cyber cafes. In this case, the software developer sells a license to a user based on an account login. This makes grey-market key reselling a bigger issue for these companies to capture revenue.
One last speculation about Genba. Remember when RC tweeted his visit to the GameStop in Culver City, California? Back then, there was a lot of speculation that GameStop might merge with Super League Gaming (SLGG) because they’re based out of Los Angeles. If you notice the Genba description above, they also have offices in Los Angeles. The tweet was on 13 April, just a little over one month before the NFT and Genba domains launched and Azerion acquired Genba Digital. I know I’m speculating, but I wonder whether Azerion is secretly buying up gaming companies on behalf of GameStop, like that scene at the end of Batman Begins when Dr. Michael Burry pulls a fast one on Roy Batty and buys Wayne Enterprises without anyone knowing.

POWERS COMBINED

Let’s bring all of these parts together, to make the big picture clear.

GameStop creates an NFT framework to identify ownership.
GameStop uses IPFS technology to identify unique ownership of videogame licenses, downloadable content, in-game items, in-game currency, and digital collectibles related to gaming and pop culture.
GameStop uses the Genba platform to create a seamless transactional marketplace for all customers.
Customers can move personal transactions back into the White Market, conducting secondary sales through GameStop’s NFT-driven digital marketplace.
Original developers receive transactional royalties in perpetuity from all trades related to their intellectual property; GameStop receives a fractional percent of all revenue generated in its marketplace.
Fans and independent artists create specialty characters, costumes, and items that can be sold in a secondary marketplace, like Etsy for videogames.
Software developers can create limited-edition videogames with inherent value based on rarity, similar to how Wu Tang Clan created a single copy of its “Once In Shaolin” album.
GameStop creates a secondary digital market for “used” digital games and collectibles, exactly how it has done with physical game media and collectibles in its brick-and-mortar stores.
Every transaction will be written publicly to the blockchain. But each account will remain anonymously hidden as a hexadecimal hash code. But by linking the blockchain accounts to GameStop PowerUp Rewards accounts or PowerPass accounts, GameStop will have a monopoly on the true identities of its marketplace users. This will give GameStop a unique advantage in providing customer data to software developers around the world.

It might be better though if GameStop’s Principal Engineer explains how this will work.

GameStop is about to completely change the videogame industry.

THE FINAL BOSS

One of the great challenges of cryptocurrency adoption is that it can take forever to make a transaction. Once you agree with another person to give away your cryptocurrency in exchange for some material object or service, the network still has to validate that you have the currency available and that the exchange properly moved that currency to the correct recipient. This can take several minutes or several hours, depending on the condition of the network at the time.
In contrast, you can flash your mobile phone at a near-field communication (NFC) receiver and buy your Starbucks coffee in seconds. Even if you use your chip-and-pin card to make a purchase, the whole transaction takes less than a minute. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
This is because companies like Visa have built a very large infrastructure to make sure that money moves quickly throughout the world. The speed of the network is measured in “transactions per second” (TPS). Visa, with a 20,000 TPS network speed, is the Goliath against which cryptocurrency developers compare themselves. (People argue about what the true TPS is for Visa, I’m ready for the comments…)
There is an equivalently monolithic goliath for digital videogame transactions.

It’s Steam.

When GameStop was trying to deliver games digitally with its Impulse service at 10% of the U.S. market, Steam was crushing GameStop with 70% of the U.S. market. Steam is the largest and most popular digital game distribution platform worldwide, with over 30,000 titles available for download. Nearly half of all software developers sell their games on Steam.
But developers don’t want to sell on Steam, or Apple’s App Store, or Google Play. These companies take a 30% haircut on every single transaction in their markets. This is why Epic Games took Apple to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Building a cohesive and seamless videogame market that can compete with Steam is the true final boss that GameStop must face. But to achieve success while also giving Power to the Players, Power to the Creators, and Power to the Collectors, without gouging developers with a 30% cut on every transaction – that will be what truly makes GameStop into the clear market dominator.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

Thanks for playing along with me as I entertained this speculative fan-fiction.

-PMNK

This post lays out the steps that RC and the new GameStop team have taken in the past few months to achieve their strategic objectives. It also identifies where the company is likely going, based on some key subdomains that went live in the past few months.
A quick note: there's a lot of derivative information here. If you see a link or concept that you mentioned months ago, please accept my appreciation, even if you're not mentioned. Feel free to claim recognition in the comments.
I published another post about a week ago (linked further down), explaining the various subdomains that GameStop uses. If I did my job right, you now understand that GameStop subdomains clearly describe the software, services, and technologies that they use to deliver value and delight customers.
This post builds on that understanding and expands into old and new GameStop operations. I had to leave a lot of content out to keep this focused, but it's long anyway.
While this post is forward-looking, it could always be wrong. First, never take (financial) advice from internet strangers. Second, as the old Danish aphorism goes, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” Feel free to make corrections in comments.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

CHEWY VS. GAMESTOP, KEEPING SCORE

We could measure success of the GameStop strategy if we had a measuring stick to use for comparison. Since the current strategy has Ryan Cohen as the Chairman of the Board and the chair of GameStop’s Strategic Planning & Allocation Committee, it seems fair to measure GameStop’s transformation against RC’s other great accomplishment: Chewy.
[Mobile users scroll right for second column]

CHEWY Chronology	GAMESTOP Chronology
Miami Beach 18th Annual Antique Jewelry & Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010	RC Ventures acquires 13% stake in GameStop, 17 December 2020
MrChewy internet domain launched 9 May 2011	GameStop & RC Ventures reach deal to appoint Ryan Cohen, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to BOD; 11 January 2021
RC, Michael Day, and Alan Attal for the first couple of years	Care subdomain goes live 17 January 2021
Chewy.com domain established not earlier than 30 August 2012	Matt Francis becomes GME CTO; Kelli Durkin becomes SVP for Customer Care; Josh Krueger becomes VP for Fulfillment; 3 February 2021
Late 2012, first meeting with Larry Cheng of Volition Capital	Jim Bell steps down as CFO; 23 February 2021; reportedly RC wanted this to happen
Volition follow-up in mid-2013	Jenna Owens becomes COO; Neda Pacifico becomes SVP of eCommerce; Ken Suzuki becomes VP for Supply Chain Systems; 23 March 2021
$15MM in A-Round funding from Volition, October 2013	Elliott Wilke becomes CGO; Andrea Wolfe becomes VP for Brand Development; Tom Petersen becomes VP for Merchandising; 30 March 2021
400K sq ft warehouse lease in Mechanicsburg, PA, early 2014	GameStop completes 3.5 million ATM shares offering for $551,000,000 by 26 April 2021
Mechanicsburg warehouse effective by August 2014	GameStop pays off $216.4 million, all long-term debt, before 1 May 2021
Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada from Toys R Us	RC Tweet at Culver City, CA on 13 April 2021
B-Round funding in 2014 for $30MM	QA, Smoke, SFCC subdomains first appear 30 April 2021
C-Round funding in 2014 for $41MM	700,000 sq ft warehouse lease in York, PA; 3 May 2021
2015-2018, recruiting top talent via LinkedIn (including Jim Grube)	Genba, NFT, and PowerPass subdomains goes live; 17 May 2021
2014-2018, $200MM revenue to $3,500MM revenue	AGM; Ryan Cohen becomes COB; Matt Furlong becomes CEO; Mike Recupero becomes CFO; 9 June 2021
PetSmart announces $3,500MM acquisition of Chewy, April 2017	GameStop completes 5 million ATM shares offering for $1,126,000,000 by 22 June 2021
Cohen steps down from Chewy, March 2018	Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada; 530,000 sq ft; 6 July 2021
Chewy IPO on NYSE, 14 June 2019	IPFS NFT subdomain goes live; 20 July 2021
	Newsletter subdomain goes live; 23 July 2021
	EB Games Canada announced rebrand to GameStop Canada; 28 July 2021
	SupplyChainPortal subdomain goes live 12 August 2021

COMPARISONS:
1) Inception

RC decides to go into the pet business after an epiphany following a planned jewelry company that would have launched at the end of 2010, probably around the Miami Beach Antique Jewelry and Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010.
RC Ventures acquires a 13% stake in GameStop on 17 December 2020.

2) Starting the business

Mr. Chewy internet domain launched sometime on or after 9 May 2011.
GameStop board reaches a deal to appoint RC, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to the BOD on 11 January 2021.

3) Re-branding

Chewy.com domain launches not earlier than 30 August 2012.
EB Games Canada announces re-branding to GameStop.ca on 28 July 2021.

4) First-Round Funding

Chewy gains first-round funding of $15 million USD from Larry Cheng with Volition Capital in October 2013.
GameStop gains “first-round funding” of $551 million USD by completing an at-the-market (ATM) share offering by 26 April 2021.

5) First New Warehouse

Chewy leases a 400,000 square foot fulfillment center in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in early 2014. The warehouse was effective by August 2014.
GameStop leases a 700,000 square foot fulfillment center in York, Pennsylvania (almost next door to Mechanicsburg) on 3 May 2021. The warehouse held a hiring fair on 8 July 2021 and is operational.

6) Second New Warehouse

Chewy opened another fulfillment center in McCarran, Nevada in 2014. This was converted from an old Toys R Us warehouse. McCarran is a suburb of greater Reno.
GameStop announced a 530,000 square foot second fulfillment center in Reno, Nevada on 6 July 2021

7) Additional Funding

In 2014, Chewy gained $30 million USD from its second round of VC funding and $41 million USD from its third round of VC funding.
GameStop gained “second round funding” of $1.126 billion USD by completing an ATM share offering by 22 June 2021.

8) Building the Dream Team

Throughout 2015-2018, Ryan Cohen recruited top talent for Chewy by contacting people through LinkedIn and conducting after-hours interviews.
Between January and June 2021, GameStop assembled a strong executive team from leading eCommerce companies around the world.

Key members in the transformation include:

Alan Attal (the third member of Chewy and former COO, now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Jim Grube (brought into Chewy in 2015 as CFO and now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Larry Cheng (Chewy’s first angel investor, now on the GameStop BOD),
Kelli Durkin (brought into Chewy in 2015 as VP of Customer Service, now SVP for Customer Care at GameStop); I think she’s the reason for cards at Chewy and she’s doing the same for GameStop now,
Neda Pacifico (VP of eCommerce for Chewy, now SVP of eCommerce for GameStop),
Andrea Wolfe (VP of Marketing at Chewy, now VP of Brand at GameStop)

Let me break this down a bit more:

Chewy went from concept to implementation in about 7 months. The RC Ventures version of GameStop went from concept to implementation in about 2 months.
Chewy rebranded itself after about 15 months. GameStop rebranded itself after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its first capital injection after about 29 months. The RC GameStop gained its first capital injection in less than 4 months.
Chewy launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 6 months.
Chewy launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its second capital injection after about 36 months. The RC GameStop gained its second capital injection after about 6 months.
Chewy began building a world-class C-suite after about 48 months. The RC GameStop built a world-class C-suite within 5 months.
Chewy began innovating in customer care after about 48 months. The RC GameStop began innovating in customer care within 4 months.

Ryan Cohen has repeated his Chewy success within GameStop already.

With an established international infrastructure, existing brand equity, and faster access to capital for leading projects, he has reduced the time needed to achieve change to only about 6 months compared to 48 months. He is moving 8x faster than he did the first time, using his personal ethics of extreme focus to deliver the kind of service that delights customers and retains them for life. There is still more work needed to cement the gains in supply chain management, customer care, and omni-channel ease-of-use for GameStop customers, but the big parts are already in place. Truly, this transformation is a world-class achievement. On this alone, GameStop shares are currently undervalued, especially if you consider that the Chewy timeline ended with the largest-ever purchase of an eCommerce company for $3.5 billion USD and -- after IPO -- Chewy is valued at $34 billion USD. Even without MOASS, that's what GameStop will look like by 2024.

LET’S PLAY MONOPOLY, VIDEOGAMES EDITION

There’s a great YouTube video from a Stanford lecture series on creating a startup. Peter Thiel, PayPal and Palantir founder, presents a compelling explanation for why “Competition is for Losers.” His point is that a strong company creates value in a unique way – a way that no competitor can replicate. A good company creates a “monopoly” in its industry.
In its 10-K form, filed at the end of the fiscal year, GameStop identifies the companies that It believes are its competitors:

Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Amazon in the U.S.
Sony Microsoft, Nintendo, Media Markt, Saturn, FNAC, Carrefour, Auchan, and Amazon in Europe
Wal-Mart and Best Buy in Canada
JB HiFi, Big W, and Target in Australia

Looking at this list, I don’t see genuine competition. Many of these companies are “we sell everything” companies; videogame sales are a small part of their overall revenue stream. Videogame and console makers – Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo – might sell their own products directly, but they mostly rely on other companies (like GameStop) for sales and distribution. In the U.S., Best Buy is the closest apples-to-apples competitor, because it’s a brick-and-mortar retailer that focuses on electronics and media sales. But even then, videogames are simply not a large enough part of Best Buy’s overall revenue compared to GameStop.
GameStop is a “monopoly” in its market. It is the only major global retailer in its markets that delivers value to customers with a singular focus on videogames and gaming culture.
And GameStop is an important part of the videogames industry. Reggie Fils-Aimé (former President and COO of Nintendo of America) is a somewhat active Twitter user. But when he sat on the GameStop board, he sent only one tweet related to GameStop:

The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant \@GameStop. I look forward to being a part of \@GameStopCorp Board and helping to make this happen. https://t.co/pYWFGZ9XKj

GameStop is a critical part of the videogame industry’s ability to identify potential customers, gather information about trends and preferences, and distribute games and consoles to users worldwide.

EVEN IF I DIDN’T FINISH THE GAME, I LEARNED A LOT ALONG THE WAY

GameStop has acquired a variety of skills throughout its lifetime. These were failed projects, but they gave GameStop insights into key aspects of the market. Since GameStop is less than 20 years old as a corporation (I’m not including Babbage’s or EB Games prior to the GameStop incorporation in 2002), the company still retains institutional memory from these earlier ventures.

Kongregate: GameStop acquired indie game developer Kongregate in 2010. The site hosted a variety of web-based games. It also had a software development kit to help indie developers build games for mobile devices and Steam. GameStop sold Kongregate to Swedish company Modern Times Group in 2017. I will never understand why Reddit forums filled with apes never jumped on the opportunity to have a tagline like, “A Place for GameStop Apes to Kongregate.” Also, this company’s logo features ants. Shoutout to our Korean brethren.
Jolt Online Gaming: GameStop acquired Jolt in 2009. This was another web site that delivered web-based games. It also included game reviews and interviews. The site closed in 2012.
Impulse: This was basically a Steam clone that GameStop acquired in 2011. Customers could purchase, download, and play games from an online digital marketplace. The program was discontinued in 2014, and unfortunately customers no longer have access to any games they purchased on the service. Strangely, GameStop has maintained the “Impulse Store” subdomain and it’s still current.
Spawn Labs: GameStop acquired Spawn Labs and its patent portfolio in 2011 also. Spawn Labs provided technology to stream video games from the cloud to any front-end console or computer. Here’s a good demo with bad production quality.
GS Mobile: GameStop incorporated mobile phone sales into some of its U.S. stores, beginning in May 2012. They partnered with AT&T as the mobile carrier for service. The GameStop mobile phone carrier was branded as Spring Mobile, and it was the single largest AT&T wireless reseller at the time. This part of GameStop was sold off in 2020 so the company could refocus on gaming and gaming culture.

From all of these past failures, here are the skills that may still be resident within the collective consciousness of GameStop:

Web-based gaming
Mobile gaming
Indie game development and distribution
Mobile networks and telephony
Device-agnostic streaming video games
Digital gaming marketplace

There’s are two other key features that GameStop brings to the videogames industry. GameInformer magazine and PowerUp Rewards.
GameInformer, with over 10 million subscribers, is the fifth largest magazine circulation in the United States and (adding other countries) the fourth largest magazine circulation in the world.
PowerUp Rewards, GameStop’s in-store discount purchasing program, has over 60 million members.

There’s a great Freakonomics podcast interview with Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric. Immelt watched GE decline in value from the most profitable company in the world to a current valuation that’s only one quarter what it had when he took over as CEO in 2001. In the interview, Immelt identifies what – for him – is the key driver of success for large companies in today’s markets:

If you think about the conglomerates of today — I’m talking about Amazon and Alphabet — they have a technical foundation. I would say G.E. had, at least in the beginning of my career, our foundation was management practices. It’s not that that’s unimportant. But that wasn’t enduring, really. And I think when you look at Amazon, they are a dominant software company. And in some way, shape, or form, everything they do feeds off that. Google was a dominant A.I. company. Everything they do feeds off that, right? So I think if you want to be a conglomerate today, a technical foundation is a must.

GameStop is the sole “information technology” company for the videogames industry.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paularosenblum/2015/09/14/gamestop-uses-data-and-customer-experience-to-survive-and-thrive-in-stores-and-online/
If you don’t already know, large companies generate a lot of revenue by collecting and selling information about your web surfing habits, purchasing habits, and overall demographic information. This is the Information Technology that Jeff Immelt was talking about that makes Amazon and Alphabet such large companies today. From Alexa and OK Google to your web searches to your subscription deliveries, modern companies benefit from the knowledge they have that other companies want.

More identifying information can simply be purchased. "Facebook is taking offline credit card data and mixing it with their site," Weinberg said, to illustrate the lack of transparency he sees in the data market. "You wouldn't expect that. The bigger the data profile . . . the better you can be targeted. They have incentives to buy and combine extra data." After our interview, it came to light that Google had penned a secret deal with MasterCard for data on offline spending habits.

Now, this article was written for an American audience. Europoors at least benefit from some protection under GDPR.
If you’re offended that your personal information is being harvested, I feel like I’ve just awakened you from the Matrix. This is how all large companies build profiles to develop more popular products, deliver more appealing marketing, and identify more affluent customers. In fact, Target can tell you when your teenage daughter accidentally became pregnant.
Back in fall 2020, u/DeepFuckingValue noted the potential for a GameStop renovation to improve advertising revenue along with a move towards an “omni-channel” marketplace. This was always part of the GameStop transformation. Here’s a single example of his fundamentals-based thesis.
https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1325573568822915077
GameStop uses the company Moveable Ink to deliver a web site experience that is completely unique for each person who visits GameStop’s web sites.
The whole reason for turning GameStop stores into Pokemon Go gyms was so that GameStop could acquire mobile phone identifiers, correlated with Google accounts and Pokemon Go playing statistics, correlated with a customer’s GameStop purchase history, correlated with demographic and spending details that were purchased online for pennies on the dollar. GameStop can use its cloud-based Tableau instance to provide rapid data visualization to infer key trends in customer preferences. They will sell this information to Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft (and perhaps the big game companies like Blizzard-Activision, Sega, or Epic) to create a templated profile for what a top-selling future game might look like. Simultaneously, GameStop can use each Pokemon Go gym visit as a proxy for how many customers are visiting its brick-and-mortar operations. This helps to show that GameStop’s retail storefronts are far from dead (as the Wall Street propagandists would have you believe).

Okay, putting it all together:
GameStop is transitioning from a brick-and-mortar focus towards a digital-first information technology company. It has a variety of skills stored within its institutional memory, including web games, mobile phones, mobile apps, streaming gaming, and digital-download videogame distribution. It has a proprietary database of over 60 million gamers that it combines with other demographic data to create the most valuable database of gamers in the world. This gamer database, along with GameStop’s worldwide supply chain, makes it so indispensable that “The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant GameStop.”

But what if I told you that it’s going to get even better?

NOW, FOR THE MOON SHOT

In my last post, I mentioned a company called Genba Digital. I think they are directly connected to GameStop’s NFT infrastructure.

nft.gamestop.com goes live 17 May 2021
genba.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
powerpass.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
ipfs.nft.gamestop.com goes live 20 July 2021
Ethereum’s London Hard Fork happened 4 August 2021

FIRST, NFT

In the post below, u/schismsaints lays out a great list of possible business uses for NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/of20ou/a_deep_dive_into_nftgamestopcom/

Possible Business Uses

In-store currency - GME Coin can be used as an in-store currency/reward system

Crypto swap/exchange - Partner with an established cryptocurrency company to facilitate listing and conversion/exchange between stablecoins such as USDC or miscellaneous established coins or altcoins, and GME specific tokens. Use a GME app to manage a crypto wallet and exchange between various tokens/coins/currencies.

NFT Collectibles - i.e. CryptoKitties, Gods Unchained, etc. Facilitate in-person trading (either in-store or via app to app trading) of digital items and collectibles between platforms.

Digital game licensing - revolutionize DRM by hosting a record of your game license on the blockchain

In-game item transfeentitlement - Imagine if there was a way to trade/sell your CounterStrike skins in-person for cash, or exchange a cool knife skin for a new CryptoKitty

SECOND, IPFS

In the post below, u/hooper359 explains how IPFS works with the ERC-721 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. From all I've seen, u/hooper359 was the first to identify the new IPFS subdomain for GameStop.
https://www.reddit.com/usehooper359/comments/osr91k/new_ipfs_subdomain_possibly_for_a_digital_games/
There’s also a web site that provides details about what the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) is, how it works, and how to integrate it into existing blockchain systems.
https://docs.ipfs.io/
The key features or proposed uses cases of IPFS that are relevant to this conversation are:

Proof of Ownership
Blockchain-powered online commerce
Distributed package managers (DPM) and content delivery networks (CDN)
Version control
Selling digital files
Serverless online gaming

THIRD, GENBA

Now, let’s take a look at Genba.
My last post was a look at GameStop subdomains.
https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/p2rnqn/a_review_of_gamestop_subdomains/
That post was set up to preface this post by highlighting one key feature of GameStop’s subdomains.
GameStop subdomains describe the branded services or products that GameStop uses in its network infrastructure.
GameStop has a subdomain genba.gamestop.com. It first appeared in early 2020, but it was last refreshed on 17 May 2021 at the same time the NFT subdomain appeared.

The name Genba is fairly unique.

If you’re familiar with “Lean” concepts in manufacturing and supply chain management, Gemba is a fairly well-known term. It roughly translates to the old business cliché of “Management By Walking Around” (MBWA). It requires leaders in organizations to actually “go and see for themselves” what’s happening in the operations center, warehouses, or retail front lines of the company.
But the Lean version of Gemba is always spelled with the letter “M” like in GME, almost never spelled with an “N” like in Naked Shorts. Here’s a blog post by a Lean expert explaining the difference in spelling.
If you search for the Genba-with-an-N spelling, only two companies come up.
One is a Lean consultancy in Washington state. It was incorporated in Delaware, but it doesn’t use the same registered agent that GameStop uses. Also, what does walking around the operations center have to do with videogames?
The second company is Genba Digital.
Genba Digital is a startup in Leamington Spa, outside of Birmingham, England. They have offices in London, England; Eindhoven, Netherlands; and Los Angeles, California. They started in 2015 with investment from UK and EU venture-capital firms.
https://genbadigital.com/
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/158919-13
Here’s how they describe themselves:

Developer of a cloud-based digital logistics platform designed to bridge the gap between publishers and resellers in the gaming industry on a global basis. The company's platform is API driven and fully-automated that eliminates the operational and technical logistics involved with publishing and selling digital content, enabling game publishers to avail automatic, secure delivery of activation keys, official publisher metadata and videos in multiple languages.

Genba Digital lists over 200 partnerships on its web site, including:

Amazon
Ubisoft
Disney
Square Enix
Epic Games
Konami
2K
Sega
Capcom
Take 2 Interactive
Paradox Interactive
Hello Games
Gamesplanet
Games Republic
505 Games
Codemasters
Curve Digital
Team 17
Hello Games
Voidu

Sony created Genba back in 2013. Their DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation) New Media Solutions division hired Kwiboo to develop the initial concept. In their site, they call Genba “the world’s first digital supply chain management platform for the games industry. Linking games publishers with game eTailers, on a global scale, to drive efficiencies in relationship management, content distribution and consistent pricing.”
On 18 May 2021 Genba Digital was acquired by Azerion Holdings. This is exactly one day after GameStop launched its NFT domain and refreshed its Genba domain. According to the UK’s Companies House website, Erol Erturk and Umut Akpinar were appointed as directors of the company. Umut Akpinar is the Founder and CEO of Azerion, a videogames company based out of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Erol Erturk is the Executive Vice President of Content and Strategic Partnerships for Azerion.
https://azerion-investors.com/reports/
https://azerion.com/companies
I don’t want to get lost explaining Azerion, but there’s one last possibility I want to touch on. Azerion is a relatively large European gaming and advertising company. Their gross profit in 2020 was €70 million EUR. If GameStop wanted to acquire Azerion, the company is not too large to be reasonably purchased for a price within the available cash GameStop is holding. This would also be a way to re-enter the northern European markets after closing stores in 2020.
With the Genba subdomain, it’s clear that GameStop has a relationship with Genba Digital, but it’s not clear whether this is a business partnership or a pending acquisition. There's not enough info to clarify, so let’s just keep looking at the potential that Genba Digital brings to GameStop.
Genba Digital’s platform helps to solve some of the major problems with videogame distribution globally.
One challenge that games developers face is grey market key reselling. Users who are finished playing a game resell their game keys online, cutting out the company’s profits for digital distribution. Genba Digital partnered with Ubisoft in May 2019 to implement a process they called “Silent Key Activation,” or SKA. The Genba Digital platform provides the digital license keys silently to the user’s platform, so the user never sees the actual license key and can’t resell it on the grey market.
This is less of an issue in the United States or Europe, where users are playing on their personal devices – consoles, mobile phone, desktop gaming rigs. But in Asia, and especially China, most players access their favorite titles through cyber cafes. In this case, the software developer sells a license to a user based on an account login. This makes grey-market key reselling a bigger issue for these companies to capture revenue.
One last speculation about Genba. Remember when RC tweeted his visit to the GameStop in Culver City, California? Back then, there was a lot of speculation that GameStop might merge with Super League Gaming (SLGG) because they’re based out of Los Angeles. If you notice the Genba description above, they also have offices in Los Angeles. The tweet was on 13 April, just a little over one month before the NFT and Genba domains launched and Azerion acquired Genba Digital. I know I’m speculating, but I wonder whether Azerion is secretly buying up gaming companies on behalf of GameStop, like that scene at the end of Batman Begins when Dr. Michael Burry pulls a fast one on Roy Batty and buys Wayne Enterprises without anyone knowing.

POWERS COMBINED

Let’s bring all of these parts together, to make the big picture clear.

GameStop creates an NFT framework to identify ownership.
GameStop uses IPFS technology to identify unique ownership of videogame licenses, downloadable content, in-game items, in-game currency, and digital collectibles related to gaming and pop culture.
GameStop uses the Genba platform to create a seamless transactional marketplace for all customers.
Customers can move personal transactions back into the White Market, conducting secondary sales through GameStop’s NFT-driven digital marketplace.
Original developers receive transactional royalties in perpetuity from all trades related to their intellectual property; GameStop receives a fractional percent of all revenue generated in its marketplace.
Fans and independent artists create specialty characters, costumes, and items that can be sold in a secondary marketplace, like Etsy for videogames.
Software developers can create limited-edition videogames with inherent value based on rarity, similar to how Wu Tang Clan created a single copy of its “Once In Shaolin” album.
GameStop creates a secondary digital market for “used” digital games and collectibles, exactly how it has done with physical game media and collectibles in its brick-and-mortar stores.
Every transaction will be written publicly to the blockchain. But each account will remain anonymously hidden as a hexadecimal hash code. But by linking the blockchain accounts to GameStop PowerUp Rewards accounts or PowerPass accounts, GameStop will have a monopoly on the true identities of its marketplace users. This will give GameStop a unique advantage in providing customer data to software developers around the world.

It might be better though if GameStop’s Principal Engineer explains how this will work.

GameStop is about to completely change the videogame industry.

THE FINAL BOSS

One of the great challenges of cryptocurrency adoption is that it can take forever to make a transaction. Once you agree with another person to give away your cryptocurrency in exchange for some material object or service, the network still has to validate that you have the currency available and that the exchange properly moved that currency to the correct recipient. This can take several minutes or several hours, depending on the condition of the network at the time.
In contrast, you can flash your mobile phone at a near-field communication (NFC) receiver and buy your Starbucks coffee in seconds. Even if you use your chip-and-pin card to make a purchase, the whole transaction takes less than a minute. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
This is because companies like Visa have built a very large infrastructure to make sure that money moves quickly throughout the world. The speed of the network is measured in “transactions per second” (TPS). Visa, with a 20,000 TPS network speed, is the Goliath against which cryptocurrency developers compare themselves. (People argue about what the true TPS is for Visa, I’m ready for the comments…)
There is an equivalently monolithic goliath for digital videogame transactions.

It’s Steam.

When GameStop was trying to deliver games digitally with its Impulse service at 10% of the U.S. market, Steam was crushing GameStop with 70% of the U.S. market. Steam is the largest and most popular digital game distribution platform worldwide, with over 30,000 titles available for download. Nearly half of all software developers sell their games on Steam.
But developers don’t want to sell on Steam, or Apple’s App Store, or Google Play. These companies take a 30% haircut on every single transaction in their markets. This is why Epic Games took Apple to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Building a cohesive and seamless videogame market that can compete with Steam is the true final boss that GameStop must face. But to achieve success while also giving Power to the Players, Power to the Creators, and Power to the Collectors, without gouging developers with a 30% cut on every transaction – that will be what truly makes GameStop into the clear market dominator.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

Thanks for playing along with me as I entertained this speculative fan-fiction.

-PMNK

This post lays out the steps that RC and the new GameStop team have taken in the past few months to achieve their strategic objectives. It also identifies where the company is likely going, based on some key subdomains that went live in the past few months.
A quick note: there's a lot of derivative information here. If you see a link or concept that you mentioned months ago, please accept my appreciation, even if you're not mentioned. Feel free to claim recognition in the comments.
I published another post about a week ago (linked further down), explaining the various subdomains that GameStop uses. If I did my job right, you now understand that GameStop subdomains clearly describe the software, services, and technologies that they use to deliver value and delight customers.
This post builds on that understanding and expands into old and new GameStop operations. I had to leave a lot of content out to keep this focused, but it's long anyway.
While this post is forward-looking, it could always be wrong. First, never take (financial) advice from internet strangers. Second, as the old Danish aphorism goes, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” Feel free to make corrections in comments.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

CHEWY VS. GAMESTOP, KEEPING SCORE

We could measure success of the GameStop strategy if we had a measuring stick to use for comparison. Since the current strategy has Ryan Cohen as the Chairman of the Board and the chair of GameStop’s Strategic Planning & Allocation Committee, it seems fair to measure GameStop’s transformation against RC’s other great accomplishment: Chewy.
[Mobile users scroll right for second column]

CHEWY Chronology	GAMESTOP Chronology
Miami Beach 18th Annual Antique Jewelry & Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010	RC Ventures acquires 13% stake in GameStop, 17 December 2020
MrChewy internet domain launched 9 May 2011	GameStop & RC Ventures reach deal to appoint Ryan Cohen, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to BOD; 11 January 2021
RC, Michael Day, and Alan Attal for the first couple of years	Care subdomain goes live 17 January 2021
Chewy.com domain established not earlier than 30 August 2012	Matt Francis becomes GME CTO; Kelli Durkin becomes SVP for Customer Care; Josh Krueger becomes VP for Fulfillment; 3 February 2021
Late 2012, first meeting with Larry Cheng of Volition Capital	Jim Bell steps down as CFO; 23 February 2021; reportedly RC wanted this to happen
Volition follow-up in mid-2013	Jenna Owens becomes COO; Neda Pacifico becomes SVP of eCommerce; Ken Suzuki becomes VP for Supply Chain Systems; 23 March 2021
$15MM in A-Round funding from Volition, October 2013	Elliott Wilke becomes CGO; Andrea Wolfe becomes VP for Brand Development; Tom Petersen becomes VP for Merchandising; 30 March 2021
400K sq ft warehouse lease in Mechanicsburg, PA, early 2014	GameStop completes 3.5 million ATM shares offering for $551,000,000 by 26 April 2021
Mechanicsburg warehouse effective by August 2014	GameStop pays off $216.4 million, all long-term debt, before 1 May 2021
Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada from Toys R Us	RC Tweet at Culver City, CA on 13 April 2021
B-Round funding in 2014 for $30MM	QA, Smoke, SFCC subdomains first appear 30 April 2021
C-Round funding in 2014 for $41MM	700,000 sq ft warehouse lease in York, PA; 3 May 2021
2015-2018, recruiting top talent via LinkedIn (including Jim Grube)	Genba, NFT, and PowerPass subdomains goes live; 17 May 2021
2014-2018, $200MM revenue to $3,500MM revenue	AGM; Ryan Cohen becomes COB; Matt Furlong becomes CEO; Mike Recupero becomes CFO; 9 June 2021
PetSmart announces $3,500MM acquisition of Chewy, April 2017	GameStop completes 5 million ATM shares offering for $1,126,000,000 by 22 June 2021
Cohen steps down from Chewy, March 2018	Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada; 530,000 sq ft; 6 July 2021
Chewy IPO on NYSE, 14 June 2019	IPFS NFT subdomain goes live; 20 July 2021
	Newsletter subdomain goes live; 23 July 2021
	EB Games Canada announced rebrand to GameStop Canada; 28 July 2021
	SupplyChainPortal subdomain goes live 12 August 2021

COMPARISONS:
1) Inception

RC decides to go into the pet business after an epiphany following a planned jewelry company that would have launched at the end of 2010, probably around the Miami Beach Antique Jewelry and Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010.
RC Ventures acquires a 13% stake in GameStop on 17 December 2020.

2) Starting the business

Mr. Chewy internet domain launched sometime on or after 9 May 2011.
GameStop board reaches a deal to appoint RC, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to the BOD on 11 January 2021.

3) Re-branding

Chewy.com domain launches not earlier than 30 August 2012.
EB Games Canada announces re-branding to GameStop.ca on 28 July 2021.

4) First-Round Funding

Chewy gains first-round funding of $15 million USD from Larry Cheng with Volition Capital in October 2013.
GameStop gains “first-round funding” of $551 million USD by completing an at-the-market (ATM) share offering by 26 April 2021.

5) First New Warehouse

Chewy leases a 400,000 square foot fulfillment center in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in early 2014. The warehouse was effective by August 2014.
GameStop leases a 700,000 square foot fulfillment center in York, Pennsylvania (almost next door to Mechanicsburg) on 3 May 2021. The warehouse held a hiring fair on 8 July 2021 and is operational.

6) Second New Warehouse

Chewy opened another fulfillment center in McCarran, Nevada in 2014. This was converted from an old Toys R Us warehouse. McCarran is a suburb of greater Reno.
GameStop announced a 530,000 square foot second fulfillment center in Reno, Nevada on 6 July 2021

7) Additional Funding

In 2014, Chewy gained $30 million USD from its second round of VC funding and $41 million USD from its third round of VC funding.
GameStop gained “second round funding” of $1.126 billion USD by completing an ATM share offering by 22 June 2021.

8) Building the Dream Team

Throughout 2015-2018, Ryan Cohen recruited top talent for Chewy by contacting people through LinkedIn and conducting after-hours interviews.
Between January and June 2021, GameStop assembled a strong executive team from leading eCommerce companies around the world.

Key members in the transformation include:

Alan Attal (the third member of Chewy and former COO, now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Jim Grube (brought into Chewy in 2015 as CFO and now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Larry Cheng (Chewy’s first angel investor, now on the GameStop BOD),
Kelli Durkin (brought into Chewy in 2015 as VP of Customer Service, now SVP for Customer Care at GameStop); I think she’s the reason for cards at Chewy and she’s doing the same for GameStop now,
Neda Pacifico (VP of eCommerce for Chewy, now SVP of eCommerce for GameStop),
Andrea Wolfe (VP of Marketing at Chewy, now VP of Brand at GameStop)

Let me break this down a bit more:

Chewy went from concept to implementation in about 7 months. The RC Ventures version of GameStop went from concept to implementation in about 2 months.
Chewy rebranded itself after about 15 months. GameStop rebranded itself after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its first capital injection after about 29 months. The RC GameStop gained its first capital injection in less than 4 months.
Chewy launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 6 months.
Chewy launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its second capital injection after about 36 months. The RC GameStop gained its second capital injection after about 6 months.
Chewy began building a world-class C-suite after about 48 months. The RC GameStop built a world-class C-suite within 5 months.
Chewy began innovating in customer care after about 48 months. The RC GameStop began innovating in customer care within 4 months.

Ryan Cohen has repeated his Chewy success within GameStop already.

With an established international infrastructure, existing brand equity, and faster access to capital for leading projects, he has reduced the time needed to achieve change to only about 6 months compared to 48 months. He is moving 8x faster than he did the first time, using his personal ethics of extreme focus to deliver the kind of service that delights customers and retains them for life. There is still more work needed to cement the gains in supply chain management, customer care, and omni-channel ease-of-use for GameStop customers, but the big parts are already in place. Truly, this transformation is a world-class achievement. On this alone, GameStop shares are currently undervalued, especially if you consider that the Chewy timeline ended with the largest-ever purchase of an eCommerce company for $3.5 billion USD and -- after IPO -- Chewy is valued at $34 billion USD. Even without MOASS, that's what GameStop will look like by 2024.

LET’S PLAY MONOPOLY, VIDEOGAMES EDITION

There’s a great YouTube video from a Stanford lecture series on creating a startup. Peter Thiel, PayPal and Palantir founder, presents a compelling explanation for why “Competition is for Losers.” His point is that a strong company creates value in a unique way – a way that no competitor can replicate. A good company creates a “monopoly” in its industry.
In its 10-K form, filed at the end of the fiscal year, GameStop identifies the companies that It believes are its competitors:

Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Amazon in the U.S.
Sony Microsoft, Nintendo, Media Markt, Saturn, FNAC, Carrefour, Auchan, and Amazon in Europe
Wal-Mart and Best Buy in Canada
JB HiFi, Big W, and Target in Australia

Looking at this list, I don’t see genuine competition. Many of these companies are “we sell everything” companies; videogame sales are a small part of their overall revenue stream. Videogame and console makers – Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo – might sell their own products directly, but they mostly rely on other companies (like GameStop) for sales and distribution. In the U.S., Best Buy is the closest apples-to-apples competitor, because it’s a brick-and-mortar retailer that focuses on electronics and media sales. But even then, videogames are simply not a large enough part of Best Buy’s overall revenue compared to GameStop.
GameStop is a “monopoly” in its market. It is the only major global retailer in its markets that delivers value to customers with a singular focus on videogames and gaming culture.
And GameStop is an important part of the videogames industry. Reggie Fils-Aimé (former President and COO of Nintendo of America) is a somewhat active Twitter user. But when he sat on the GameStop board, he sent only one tweet related to GameStop:

The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant \@GameStop. I look forward to being a part of \@GameStopCorp Board and helping to make this happen. https://t.co/pYWFGZ9XKj

GameStop is a critical part of the videogame industry’s ability to identify potential customers, gather information about trends and preferences, and distribute games and consoles to users worldwide.

EVEN IF I DIDN’T FINISH THE GAME, I LEARNED A LOT ALONG THE WAY

GameStop has acquired a variety of skills throughout its lifetime. These were failed projects, but they gave GameStop insights into key aspects of the market. Since GameStop is less than 20 years old as a corporation (I’m not including Babbage’s or EB Games prior to the GameStop incorporation in 2002), the company still retains institutional memory from these earlier ventures.

Kongregate: GameStop acquired indie game developer Kongregate in 2010. The site hosted a variety of web-based games. It also had a software development kit to help indie developers build games for mobile devices and Steam. GameStop sold Kongregate to Swedish company Modern Times Group in 2017. I will never understand why Reddit forums filled with apes never jumped on the opportunity to have a tagline like, “A Place for GameStop Apes to Kongregate.” Also, this company’s logo features ants. Shoutout to our Korean brethren.
Jolt Online Gaming: GameStop acquired Jolt in 2009. This was another web site that delivered web-based games. It also included game reviews and interviews. The site closed in 2012.
Impulse: This was basically a Steam clone that GameStop acquired in 2011. Customers could purchase, download, and play games from an online digital marketplace. The program was discontinued in 2014, and unfortunately customers no longer have access to any games they purchased on the service. Strangely, GameStop has maintained the “Impulse Store” subdomain and it’s still current.
Spawn Labs: GameStop acquired Spawn Labs and its patent portfolio in 2011 also. Spawn Labs provided technology to stream video games from the cloud to any front-end console or computer. Here’s a good demo with bad production quality.
GS Mobile: GameStop incorporated mobile phone sales into some of its U.S. stores, beginning in May 2012. They partnered with AT&T as the mobile carrier for service. The GameStop mobile phone carrier was branded as Spring Mobile, and it was the single largest AT&T wireless reseller at the time. This part of GameStop was sold off in 2020 so the company could refocus on gaming and gaming culture.

From all of these past failures, here are the skills that may still be resident within the collective consciousness of GameStop:

Web-based gaming
Mobile gaming
Indie game development and distribution
Mobile networks and telephony
Device-agnostic streaming video games
Digital gaming marketplace

There’s are two other key features that GameStop brings to the videogames industry. GameInformer magazine and PowerUp Rewards.
GameInformer, with over 10 million subscribers, is the fifth largest magazine circulation in the United States and (adding other countries) the fourth largest magazine circulation in the world.
PowerUp Rewards, GameStop’s in-store discount purchasing program, has over 60 million members.

There’s a great Freakonomics podcast interview with Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric. Immelt watched GE decline in value from the most profitable company in the world to a current valuation that’s only one quarter what it had when he took over as CEO in 2001. In the interview, Immelt identifies what – for him – is the key driver of success for large companies in today’s markets:

If you think about the conglomerates of today — I’m talking about Amazon and Alphabet — they have a technical foundation. I would say G.E. had, at least in the beginning of my career, our foundation was management practices. It’s not that that’s unimportant. But that wasn’t enduring, really. And I think when you look at Amazon, they are a dominant software company. And in some way, shape, or form, everything they do feeds off that. Google was a dominant A.I. company. Everything they do feeds off that, right? So I think if you want to be a conglomerate today, a technical foundation is a must.

GameStop is the sole “information technology” company for the videogames industry.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paularosenblum/2015/09/14/gamestop-uses-data-and-customer-experience-to-survive-and-thrive-in-stores-and-online/
If you don’t already know, large companies generate a lot of revenue by collecting and selling information about your web surfing habits, purchasing habits, and overall demographic information. This is the Information Technology that Jeff Immelt was talking about that makes Amazon and Alphabet such large companies today. From Alexa and OK Google to your web searches to your subscription deliveries, modern companies benefit from the knowledge they have that other companies want.

More identifying information can simply be purchased. "Facebook is taking offline credit card data and mixing it with their site," Weinberg said, to illustrate the lack of transparency he sees in the data market. "You wouldn't expect that. The bigger the data profile . . . the better you can be targeted. They have incentives to buy and combine extra data." After our interview, it came to light that Google had penned a secret deal with MasterCard for data on offline spending habits.

Now, this article was written for an American audience. Europoors at least benefit from some protection under GDPR.
If you’re offended that your personal information is being harvested, I feel like I’ve just awakened you from the Matrix. This is how all large companies build profiles to develop more popular products, deliver more appealing marketing, and identify more affluent customers. In fact, Target can tell you when your teenage daughter accidentally became pregnant.
Back in fall 2020, u/DeepFuckingValue noted the potential for a GameStop renovation to improve advertising revenue along with a move towards an “omni-channel” marketplace. This was always part of the GameStop transformation. Here’s a single example of his fundamentals-based thesis.
https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1325573568822915077
GameStop uses the company Moveable Ink to deliver a web site experience that is completely unique for each person who visits GameStop’s web sites.
The whole reason for turning GameStop stores into Pokemon Go gyms was so that GameStop could acquire mobile phone identifiers, correlated with Google accounts and Pokemon Go playing statistics, correlated with a customer’s GameStop purchase history, correlated with demographic and spending details that were purchased online for pennies on the dollar. GameStop can use its cloud-based Tableau instance to provide rapid data visualization to infer key trends in customer preferences. They will sell this information to Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft (and perhaps the big game companies like Blizzard-Activision, Sega, or Epic) to create a templated profile for what a top-selling future game might look like. Simultaneously, GameStop can use each Pokemon Go gym visit as a proxy for how many customers are visiting its brick-and-mortar operations. This helps to show that GameStop’s retail storefronts are far from dead (as the Wall Street propagandists would have you believe).

Okay, putting it all together:
GameStop is transitioning from a brick-and-mortar focus towards a digital-first information technology company. It has a variety of skills stored within its institutional memory, including web games, mobile phones, mobile apps, streaming gaming, and digital-download videogame distribution. It has a proprietary database of over 60 million gamers that it combines with other demographic data to create the most valuable database of gamers in the world. This gamer database, along with GameStop’s worldwide supply chain, makes it so indispensable that “The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant GameStop.”

But what if I told you that it’s going to get even better?

NOW, FOR THE MOON SHOT

In my last post, I mentioned a company called Genba Digital. I think they are directly connected to GameStop’s NFT infrastructure.

nft.gamestop.com goes live 17 May 2021
genba.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
powerpass.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
ipfs.nft.gamestop.com goes live 20 July 2021
Ethereum’s London Hard Fork happened 4 August 2021

FIRST, NFT

In the post below, u/schismsaints lays out a great list of possible business uses for NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/of20ou/a_deep_dive_into_nftgamestopcom/

Possible Business Uses

In-store currency - GME Coin can be used as an in-store currency/reward system

Crypto swap/exchange - Partner with an established cryptocurrency company to facilitate listing and conversion/exchange between stablecoins such as USDC or miscellaneous established coins or altcoins, and GME specific tokens. Use a GME app to manage a crypto wallet and exchange between various tokens/coins/currencies.

NFT Collectibles - i.e. CryptoKitties, Gods Unchained, etc. Facilitate in-person trading (either in-store or via app to app trading) of digital items and collectibles between platforms.

Digital game licensing - revolutionize DRM by hosting a record of your game license on the blockchain

In-game item transfeentitlement - Imagine if there was a way to trade/sell your CounterStrike skins in-person for cash, or exchange a cool knife skin for a new CryptoKitty

SECOND, IPFS

In the post below, u/hooper359 explains how IPFS works with the ERC-721 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. From all I've seen, u/hooper359 was the first to identify the new IPFS subdomain for GameStop.
https://www.reddit.com/usehooper359/comments/osr91k/new_ipfs_subdomain_possibly_for_a_digital_games/
There’s also a web site that provides details about what the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) is, how it works, and how to integrate it into existing blockchain systems.
https://docs.ipfs.io/
The key features or proposed uses cases of IPFS that are relevant to this conversation are:

Proof of Ownership
Blockchain-powered online commerce
Distributed package managers (DPM) and content delivery networks (CDN)
Version control
Selling digital files
Serverless online gaming

THIRD, GENBA

Now, let’s take a look at Genba.
My last post was a look at GameStop subdomains.
https://www.reddit.com/GMEJungle/comments/p2rodz/a_review_of_gamestop_subdomains/
That post was set up to preface this post by highlighting one key feature of GameStop’s subdomains.
GameStop subdomains describe the branded services or products that GameStop uses in its network infrastructure.
GameStop has a subdomain genba.gamestop.com. It first appeared in early 2020, but it was last refreshed on 17 May 2021 at the same time the NFT subdomain appeared.

The name Genba is fairly unique.

If you’re familiar with “Lean” concepts in manufacturing and supply chain management, Gemba is a fairly well-known term. It roughly translates to the old business cliché of “Management By Walking Around” (MBWA). It requires leaders in organizations to actually “go and see for themselves” what’s happening in the operations center, warehouses, or retail front lines of the company.
But the Lean version of Gemba is always spelled with the letter “M” like in GME, almost never spelled with an “N” like in Naked Shorts. Here’s a blog post by a Lean expert explaining the difference in spelling.
If you search for the Genba-with-an-N spelling, only two companies come up.
One is a Lean consultancy in Washington state. It was incorporated in Delaware, but it doesn’t use the same registered agent that GameStop uses. Also, what does walking around the operations center have to do with videogames?
The second company is Genba Digital.
Genba Digital is a startup in Leamington Spa, outside of Birmingham, England. They have offices in London, England; Eindhoven, Netherlands; and Los Angeles, California. They started in 2015 with investment from UK and EU venture-capital firms.
https://genbadigital.com/
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/158919-13
Here’s how they describe themselves:

Developer of a cloud-based digital logistics platform designed to bridge the gap between publishers and resellers in the gaming industry on a global basis. The company's platform is API driven and fully-automated that eliminates the operational and technical logistics involved with publishing and selling digital content, enabling game publishers to avail automatic, secure delivery of activation keys, official publisher metadata and videos in multiple languages.

Genba Digital lists over 200 partnerships on its web site, including:

Amazon
Ubisoft
Disney
Square Enix
Epic Games
Konami
2K
Sega
Capcom
Take 2 Interactive
Paradox Interactive
Hello Games
Gamesplanet
Games Republic
505 Games
Codemasters
Curve Digital
Team 17
Hello Games
Voidu

Sony created Genba back in 2013. Their DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation) New Media Solutions division hired Kwiboo to develop the initial concept. In their site, they call Genba “the world’s first digital supply chain management platform for the games industry. Linking games publishers with game eTailers, on a global scale, to drive efficiencies in relationship management, content distribution and consistent pricing.”
On 18 May 2021 Genba Digital was acquired by Azerion Holdings. This is exactly one day after GameStop launched its NFT domain and refreshed its Genba domain. According to the UK’s Companies House website, Erol Erturk and Umut Akpinar were appointed as directors of the company. Umut Akpinar is the Founder and CEO of Azerion, a videogames company based out of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Erol Erturk is the Executive Vice President of Content and Strategic Partnerships for Azerion.
https://azerion-investors.com/reports/
https://azerion.com/companies
I don’t want to get lost explaining Azerion, but there’s one last possibility I want to touch on. Azerion is a relatively large European gaming and advertising company. Their gross profit in 2020 was €70 million EUR. If GameStop wanted to acquire Azerion, the company is not too large to be reasonably purchased for a price within the available cash GameStop is holding. This would also be a way to re-enter the northern European markets after closing stores in 2020.
With the Genba subdomain, it’s clear that GameStop has a relationship with Genba Digital, but it’s not clear whether this is a business partnership or a pending acquisition. There's not enough info to clarify, so let’s just keep looking at the potential that Genba Digital brings to GameStop.
Genba Digital’s platform helps to solve some of the major problems with videogame distribution globally.
One challenge that games developers face is grey market key reselling. Users who are finished playing a game resell their game keys online, cutting out the company’s profits for digital distribution. Genba Digital partnered with Ubisoft in May 2019 to implement a process they called “Silent Key Activation,” or SKA. The Genba Digital platform provides the digital license keys silently to the user’s platform, so the user never sees the actual license key and can’t resell it on the grey market.
This is less of an issue in the United States or Europe, where users are playing on their personal devices – consoles, mobile phone, desktop gaming rigs. But in Asia, and especially China, most players access their favorite titles through cyber cafes. In this case, the software developer sells a license to a user based on an account login. This makes grey-market key reselling a bigger issue for these companies to capture revenue.
One last speculation about Genba. Remember when RC tweeted his visit to the GameStop in Culver City, California? Back then, there was a lot of speculation that GameStop might merge with Super League Gaming (SLGG) because they’re based out of Los Angeles. If you notice the Genba description above, they also have offices in Los Angeles. The tweet was on 13 April, just a little over one month before the NFT and Genba domains launched and Azerion acquired Genba Digital. I know I’m speculating, but I wonder whether Azerion is secretly buying up gaming companies on behalf of GameStop, like that scene at the end of Batman Begins when Dr. Michael Burry pulls a fast one on Roy Batty and buys Wayne Enterprises without anyone knowing.

POWERS COMBINED

Let’s bring all of these parts together, to make the big picture clear.

GameStop creates an NFT framework to identify ownership.
GameStop uses IPFS technology to identify unique ownership of videogame licenses, downloadable content, in-game items, in-game currency, and digital collectibles related to gaming and pop culture.
GameStop uses the Genba platform to create a seamless transactional marketplace for all customers.
Customers can move personal transactions back into the White Market, conducting secondary sales through GameStop’s NFT-driven digital marketplace.
Original developers receive transactional royalties in perpetuity from all trades related to their intellectual property; GameStop receives a fractional percent of all revenue generated in its marketplace.
Fans and independent artists create specialty characters, costumes, and items that can be sold in a secondary marketplace, like Etsy for videogames.
Software developers can create limited-edition videogames with inherent value based on rarity, similar to how Wu Tang Clan created a single copy of its “Once In Shaolin” album.
GameStop creates a secondary digital market for “used” digital games and collectibles, exactly how it has done with physical game media and collectibles in its brick-and-mortar stores.
Every transaction will be written publicly to the blockchain. But each account will remain anonymously hidden as a hexadecimal hash code. But by linking the blockchain accounts to GameStop PowerUp Rewards accounts or PowerPass accounts, GameStop will have a monopoly on the true identities of its marketplace users. This will give GameStop a unique advantage in providing customer data to software developers around the world.

It might be better though if GameStop’s Principal Engineer explains how this will work.

GameStop is about to completely change the videogame industry.

THE FINAL BOSS

One of the great challenges of cryptocurrency adoption is that it can take forever to make a transaction. Once you agree with another person to give away your cryptocurrency in exchange for some material object or service, the network still has to validate that you have the currency available and that the exchange properly moved that currency to the correct recipient. This can take several minutes or several hours, depending on the condition of the network at the time.
In contrast, you can flash your mobile phone at a near-field communication (NFC) receiver and buy your Starbucks coffee in seconds. Even if you use your chip-and-pin card to make a purchase, the whole transaction takes less than a minute. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
This is because companies like Visa have built a very large infrastructure to make sure that money moves quickly throughout the world. The speed of the network is measured in “transactions per second” (TPS). Visa, with a 20,000 TPS network speed, is the Goliath against which cryptocurrency developers compare themselves. (People argue about what the true TPS is for Visa, I’m ready for the comments…)
There is an equivalently monolithic goliath for digital videogame transactions.

It’s Steam.

When GameStop was trying to deliver games digitally with its Impulse service at 10% of the U.S. market, Steam was crushing GameStop with 70% of the U.S. market. Steam is the largest and most popular digital game distribution platform worldwide, with over 30,000 titles available for download. Nearly half of all software developers sell their games on Steam.
But developers don’t want to sell on Steam, or Apple’s App Store, or Google Play. These companies take a 30% haircut on every single transaction in their markets. This is why Epic Games took Apple to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Building a cohesive and seamless videogame market that can compete with Steam is the true final boss that GameStop must face. But to achieve success while also giving Power to the Players, Power to the Creators, and Power to the Collectors, without gouging developers with a 30% cut on every transaction – that will be what truly makes GameStop into the clear market dominator.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

Thanks for playing along with me as I entertained this speculative fan-fiction.

-PMNK

This post lays out the steps that RC and the new GameStop team have taken in the past few months to achieve their strategic objectives. It also identifies where the company is likely going, based on some key subdomains that went live in the past few months.
A quick note: there's a lot of derivative information here. If you see a link or concept that you mentioned months ago, please accept my appreciation, even if you're not mentioned. Feel free to claim recognition in the comments.
I published another post about a week ago (linked further down), explaining the various subdomains that GameStop uses. If I did my job right, you now understand that GameStop subdomains clearly describe the software, services, and technologies that they use to deliver value and delight customers.
This post builds on that understanding and expands into old and new GameStop operations. I had to leave a lot of content out to keep this focused, but it's long anyway.
While this post is forward-looking, it could always be wrong. First, never take (financial) advice from internet strangers. Second, as the old Danish aphorism goes, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” Feel free to make corrections in comments.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

CHEWY VS. GAMESTOP, KEEPING SCORE

We could measure success of the GameStop strategy if we had a measuring stick to use for comparison. Since the current strategy has Ryan Cohen as the Chairman of the Board and the chair of GameStop’s Strategic Planning & Allocation Committee, it seems fair to measure GameStop’s transformation against RC’s other great accomplishment: Chewy.
[Mobile users scroll right for second column]

CHEWY Chronology	GAMESTOP Chronology
Miami Beach 18th Annual Antique Jewelry & Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010	RC Ventures acquires 13% stake in GameStop, 17 December 2020
MrChewy internet domain launched 9 May 2011	GameStop & RC Ventures reach deal to appoint Ryan Cohen, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to BOD; 11 January 2021
RC, Michael Day, and Alan Attal for the first couple of years	Care subdomain goes live 17 January 2021
Chewy.com domain established not earlier than 30 August 2012	Matt Francis becomes GME CTO; Kelli Durkin becomes SVP for Customer Care; Josh Krueger becomes VP for Fulfillment; 3 February 2021
Late 2012, first meeting with Larry Cheng of Volition Capital	Jim Bell steps down as CFO; 23 February 2021; reportedly RC wanted this to happen
Volition follow-up in mid-2013	Jenna Owens becomes COO; Neda Pacifico becomes SVP of eCommerce; Ken Suzuki becomes VP for Supply Chain Systems; 23 March 2021
$15MM in A-Round funding from Volition, October 2013	Elliott Wilke becomes CGO; Andrea Wolfe becomes VP for Brand Development; Tom Petersen becomes VP for Merchandising; 30 March 2021
400K sq ft warehouse lease in Mechanicsburg, PA, early 2014	GameStop completes 3.5 million ATM shares offering for $551,000,000 by 26 April 2021
Mechanicsburg warehouse effective by August 2014	GameStop pays off $216.4 million, all long-term debt, before 1 May 2021
Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada from Toys R Us	RC Tweet at Culver City, CA on 13 April 2021
B-Round funding in 2014 for $30MM	QA, Smoke, SFCC subdomains first appear 30 April 2021
C-Round funding in 2014 for $41MM	700,000 sq ft warehouse lease in York, PA; 3 May 2021
2015-2018, recruiting top talent via LinkedIn (including Jim Grube)	Genba, NFT, and PowerPass subdomains goes live; 17 May 2021
2014-2018, $200MM revenue to $3,500MM revenue	AGM; Ryan Cohen becomes COB; Matt Furlong becomes CEO; Mike Recupero becomes CFO; 9 June 2021
PetSmart announces $3,500MM acquisition of Chewy, April 2017	GameStop completes 5 million ATM shares offering for $1,126,000,000 by 22 June 2021
Cohen steps down from Chewy, March 2018	Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada; 530,000 sq ft; 6 July 2021
Chewy IPO on NYSE, 14 June 2019	IPFS NFT subdomain goes live; 20 July 2021
	Newsletter subdomain goes live; 23 July 2021
	EB Games Canada announced rebrand to GameStop Canada; 28 July 2021
	SupplyChainPortal subdomain goes live 12 August 2021

COMPARISONS:
1) Inception

RC decides to go into the pet business after an epiphany following a planned jewelry company that would have launched at the end of 2010, probably around the Miami Beach Antique Jewelry and Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010.
RC Ventures acquires a 13% stake in GameStop on 17 December 2020.

2) Starting the business

Mr. Chewy internet domain launched sometime on or after 9 May 2011.
GameStop board reaches a deal to appoint RC, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to the BOD on 11 January 2021.

3) Re-branding

Chewy.com domain launches not earlier than 30 August 2012.
EB Games Canada announces re-branding to GameStop.ca on 28 July 2021.

4) First-Round Funding

Chewy gains first-round funding of $15 million USD from Larry Cheng with Volition Capital in October 2013.
GameStop gains “first-round funding” of $551 million USD by completing an at-the-market (ATM) share offering by 26 April 2021.

5) First New Warehouse

Chewy leases a 400,000 square foot fulfillment center in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in early 2014. The warehouse was effective by August 2014.
GameStop leases a 700,000 square foot fulfillment center in York, Pennsylvania (almost next door to Mechanicsburg) on 3 May 2021. The warehouse held a hiring fair on 8 July 2021 and is operational.

6) Second New Warehouse

Chewy opened another fulfillment center in McCarran, Nevada in 2014. This was converted from an old Toys R Us warehouse. McCarran is a suburb of greater Reno.
GameStop announced a 530,000 square foot second fulfillment center in Reno, Nevada on 6 July 2021

7) Additional Funding

In 2014, Chewy gained $30 million USD from its second round of VC funding and $41 million USD from its third round of VC funding.
GameStop gained “second round funding” of $1.126 billion USD by completing an ATM share offering by 22 June 2021.

8) Building the Dream Team

Throughout 2015-2018, Ryan Cohen recruited top talent for Chewy by contacting people through LinkedIn and conducting after-hours interviews.
Between January and June 2021, GameStop assembled a strong executive team from leading eCommerce companies around the world.

Key members in the transformation include:

Alan Attal (the third member of Chewy and former COO, now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Jim Grube (brought into Chewy in 2015 as CFO and now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Larry Cheng (Chewy’s first angel investor, now on the GameStop BOD),
Kelli Durkin (brought into Chewy in 2015 as VP of Customer Service, now SVP for Customer Care at GameStop); I think she’s the reason for cards at Chewy and she’s doing the same for GameStop now,
Neda Pacifico (VP of eCommerce for Chewy, now SVP of eCommerce for GameStop),
Andrea Wolfe (VP of Marketing at Chewy, now VP of Brand at GameStop)

Let me break this down a bit more:

Chewy went from concept to implementation in about 7 months. The RC Ventures version of GameStop went from concept to implementation in about 2 months.
Chewy rebranded itself after about 15 months. GameStop rebranded itself after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its first capital injection after about 29 months. The RC GameStop gained its first capital injection in less than 4 months.
Chewy launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 6 months.
Chewy launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its second capital injection after about 36 months. The RC GameStop gained its second capital injection after about 6 months.
Chewy began building a world-class C-suite after about 48 months. The RC GameStop built a world-class C-suite within 5 months.
Chewy began innovating in customer care after about 48 months. The RC GameStop began innovating in customer care within 4 months.

Ryan Cohen has repeated his Chewy success within GameStop already.

With an established international infrastructure, existing brand equity, and faster access to capital for leading projects, he has reduced the time needed to achieve change to only about 6 months compared to 48 months. He is moving 8x faster than he did the first time, using his personal ethics of extreme focus to deliver the kind of service that delights customers and retains them for life. There is still more work needed to cement the gains in supply chain management, customer care, and omni-channel ease-of-use for GameStop customers, but the big parts are already in place. Truly, this transformation is a world-class achievement. On this alone, GameStop shares are currently undervalued, especially if you consider that the Chewy timeline ended with the largest-ever purchase of an eCommerce company for $3.5 billion USD and -- after IPO -- Chewy is valued at $34 billion USD. Even without MOASS, that's what GameStop will look like by 2024.

LET’S PLAY MONOPOLY, VIDEOGAMES EDITION

There’s a great YouTube video from a Stanford lecture series on creating a startup. Peter Thiel, PayPal and Palantir founder, presents a compelling explanation for why “Competition is for Losers.” His point is that a strong company creates value in a unique way – a way that no competitor can replicate. A good company creates a “monopoly” in its industry.
In its 10-K form, filed at the end of the fiscal year, GameStop identifies the companies that It believes are its competitors:

Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Amazon in the U.S.
Sony Microsoft, Nintendo, Media Markt, Saturn, FNAC, Carrefour, Auchan, and Amazon in Europe
Wal-Mart and Best Buy in Canada
JB HiFi, Big W, and Target in Australia

Looking at this list, I don’t see genuine competition. Many of these companies are “we sell everything” companies; videogame sales are a small part of their overall revenue stream. Videogame and console makers – Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo – might sell their own products directly, but they mostly rely on other companies (like GameStop) for sales and distribution. In the U.S., Best Buy is the closest apples-to-apples competitor, because it’s a brick-and-mortar retailer that focuses on electronics and media sales. But even then, videogames are simply not a large enough part of Best Buy’s overall revenue compared to GameStop.
GameStop is a “monopoly” in its market. It is the only major global retailer in its markets that delivers value to customers with a singular focus on videogames and gaming culture.
And GameStop is an important part of the videogames industry. Reggie Fils-Aimé (former President and COO of Nintendo of America) is a somewhat active Twitter user. But when he sat on the GameStop board, he sent only one tweet related to GameStop:

The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant \@GameStop. I look forward to being a part of \@GameStopCorp Board and helping to make this happen. https://t.co/pYWFGZ9XKj

GameStop is a critical part of the videogame industry’s ability to identify potential customers, gather information about trends and preferences, and distribute games and consoles to users worldwide.

EVEN IF I DIDN’T FINISH THE GAME, I LEARNED A LOT ALONG THE WAY

GameStop has acquired a variety of skills throughout its lifetime. These were failed projects, but they gave GameStop insights into key aspects of the market. Since GameStop is less than 20 years old as a corporation (I’m not including Babbage’s or EB Games prior to the GameStop incorporation in 2002), the company still retains institutional memory from these earlier ventures.

Kongregate: GameStop acquired indie game developer Kongregate in 2010. The site hosted a variety of web-based games. It also had a software development kit to help indie developers build games for mobile devices and Steam. GameStop sold Kongregate to Swedish company Modern Times Group in 2017. I will never understand why Reddit forums filled with apes never jumped on the opportunity to have a tagline like, “A Place for GameStop Apes to Kongregate.” Also, this company’s logo features ants. Shoutout to our Korean brethren.
Jolt Online Gaming: GameStop acquired Jolt in 2009. This was another web site that delivered web-based games. It also included game reviews and interviews. The site closed in 2012.
Impulse: This was basically a Steam clone that GameStop acquired in 2011. Customers could purchase, download, and play games from an online digital marketplace. The program was discontinued in 2014, and unfortunately customers no longer have access to any games they purchased on the service. Strangely, GameStop has maintained the “Impulse Store” subdomain and it’s still current.
Spawn Labs: GameStop acquired Spawn Labs and its patent portfolio in 2011 also. Spawn Labs provided technology to stream video games from the cloud to any front-end console or computer. Here’s a good demo with bad production quality.
GS Mobile: GameStop incorporated mobile phone sales into some of its U.S. stores, beginning in May 2012. They partnered with AT&T as the mobile carrier for service. The GameStop mobile phone carrier was branded as Spring Mobile, and it was the single largest AT&T wireless reseller at the time. This part of GameStop was sold off in 2020 so the company could refocus on gaming and gaming culture.

From all of these past failures, here are the skills that may still be resident within the collective consciousness of GameStop:

Web-based gaming
Mobile gaming
Indie game development and distribution
Mobile networks and telephony
Device-agnostic streaming video games
Digital gaming marketplace

There’s are two other key features that GameStop brings to the videogames industry. GameInformer magazine and PowerUp Rewards.
GameInformer, with over 10 million subscribers, is the fifth largest magazine circulation in the United States and (adding other countries) the fourth largest magazine circulation in the world.
PowerUp Rewards, GameStop’s in-store discount purchasing program, has over 60 million members.

There’s a great Freakonomics podcast interview with Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric. Immelt watched GE decline in value from the most profitable company in the world to a current valuation that’s only one quarter what it had when he took over as CEO in 2001. In the interview, Immelt identifies what – for him – is the key driver of success for large companies in today’s markets:

If you think about the conglomerates of today — I’m talking about Amazon and Alphabet — they have a technical foundation. I would say G.E. had, at least in the beginning of my career, our foundation was management practices. It’s not that that’s unimportant. But that wasn’t enduring, really. And I think when you look at Amazon, they are a dominant software company. And in some way, shape, or form, everything they do feeds off that. Google was a dominant A.I. company. Everything they do feeds off that, right? So I think if you want to be a conglomerate today, a technical foundation is a must.

GameStop is the sole “information technology” company for the videogames industry.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paularosenblum/2015/09/14/gamestop-uses-data-and-customer-experience-to-survive-and-thrive-in-stores-and-online/
If you don’t already know, large companies generate a lot of revenue by collecting and selling information about your web surfing habits, purchasing habits, and overall demographic information. This is the Information Technology that Jeff Immelt was talking about that makes Amazon and Alphabet such large companies today. From Alexa and OK Google to your web searches to your subscription deliveries, modern companies benefit from the knowledge they have that other companies want.

More identifying information can simply be purchased. "Facebook is taking offline credit card data and mixing it with their site," Weinberg said, to illustrate the lack of transparency he sees in the data market. "You wouldn't expect that. The bigger the data profile . . . the better you can be targeted. They have incentives to buy and combine extra data." After our interview, it came to light that Google had penned a secret deal with MasterCard for data on offline spending habits.

Now, this article was written for an American audience. Europoors at least benefit from some protection under GDPR.
If you’re offended that your personal information is being harvested, I feel like I’ve just awakened you from the Matrix. This is how all large companies build profiles to develop more popular products, deliver more appealing marketing, and identify more affluent customers. In fact, Target can tell you when your teenage daughter accidentally became pregnant.
Back in fall 2020, u/DeepFuckingValue noted the potential for a GameStop renovation to improve advertising revenue along with a move towards an “omni-channel” marketplace. This was always part of the GameStop transformation. Here’s a single example of his fundamentals-based thesis.
https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1325573568822915077
GameStop uses the company Moveable Ink to deliver a web site experience that is completely unique for each person who visits GameStop’s web sites.
The whole reason for turning GameStop stores into Pokemon Go gyms was so that GameStop could acquire mobile phone identifiers, correlated with Google accounts and Pokemon Go playing statistics, correlated with a customer’s GameStop purchase history, correlated with demographic and spending details that were purchased online for pennies on the dollar. GameStop can use its cloud-based Tableau instance to provide rapid data visualization to infer key trends in customer preferences. They will sell this information to Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft (and perhaps the big game companies like Blizzard-Activision, Sega, or Epic) to create a templated profile for what a top-selling future game might look like. Simultaneously, GameStop can use each Pokemon Go gym visit as a proxy for how many customers are visiting its brick-and-mortar operations. This helps to show that GameStop’s retail storefronts are far from dead (as the Wall Street propagandists would have you believe).

Okay, putting it all together:
GameStop is transitioning from a brick-and-mortar focus towards a digital-first information technology company. It has a variety of skills stored within its institutional memory, including web games, mobile phones, mobile apps, streaming gaming, and digital-download videogame distribution. It has a proprietary database of over 60 million gamers that it combines with other demographic data to create the most valuable database of gamers in the world. This gamer database, along with GameStop’s worldwide supply chain, makes it so indispensable that “The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant GameStop.”

But what if I told you that it’s going to get even better?

NOW, FOR THE MOON SHOT

In my last post, I mentioned a company called Genba Digital. I think they are directly connected to GameStop’s NFT infrastructure.

nft.gamestop.com goes live 17 May 2021
genba.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
powerpass.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
ipfs.nft.gamestop.com goes live 20 July 2021
Ethereum’s London Hard Fork happened 4 August 2021

FIRST, NFT

In the post below, u/schismsaints lays out a great list of possible business uses for NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/of20ou/a_deep_dive_into_nftgamestopcom/

Possible Business Uses

In-store currency - GME Coin can be used as an in-store currency/reward system

Crypto swap/exchange - Partner with an established cryptocurrency company to facilitate listing and conversion/exchange between stablecoins such as USDC or miscellaneous established coins or altcoins, and GME specific tokens. Use a GME app to manage a crypto wallet and exchange between various tokens/coins/currencies.

NFT Collectibles - i.e. CryptoKitties, Gods Unchained, etc. Facilitate in-person trading (either in-store or via app to app trading) of digital items and collectibles between platforms.

Digital game licensing - revolutionize DRM by hosting a record of your game license on the blockchain

In-game item transfeentitlement - Imagine if there was a way to trade/sell your CounterStrike skins in-person for cash, or exchange a cool knife skin for a new CryptoKitty

SECOND, IPFS

In the post below, u/hooper359 explains how IPFS works with the ERC-721 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. From all I've seen, u/hooper359 was the first to identify the new IPFS subdomain for GameStop.
https://www.reddit.com/usehooper359/comments/osr91k/new_ipfs_subdomain_possibly_for_a_digital_games/
There’s also a web site that provides details about what the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) is, how it works, and how to integrate it into existing blockchain systems.
https://docs.ipfs.io/
The key features or proposed uses cases of IPFS that are relevant to this conversation are:

Proof of Ownership
Blockchain-powered online commerce
Distributed package managers (DPM) and content delivery networks (CDN)
Version control
Selling digital files
Serverless online gaming

THIRD, GENBA

Now, let’s take a look at Genba.
My last post was a look at GameStop subdomains.
https://www.reddit.com/GME/comments/p2rpe0/a_review_of_gamestop_subdomains/
That post was set up to preface this post by highlighting one key feature of GameStop’s subdomains.
GameStop subdomains describe the branded services or products that GameStop uses in its network infrastructure.
GameStop has a subdomain genba.gamestop.com. It first appeared in early 2020, but it was last refreshed on 17 May 2021 at the same time the NFT subdomain appeared.

The name Genba is fairly unique.

If you’re familiar with “Lean” concepts in manufacturing and supply chain management, Gemba is a fairly well-known term. It roughly translates to the old business cliché of “Management By Walking Around” (MBWA). It requires leaders in organizations to actually “go and see for themselves” what’s happening in the operations center, warehouses, or retail front lines of the company.
But the Lean version of Gemba is always spelled with the letter “M” like in GME, almost never spelled with an “N” like in Naked Shorts. Here’s a blog post by a Lean expert explaining the difference in spelling.
If you search for the Genba-with-an-N spelling, only two companies come up.
One is a Lean consultancy in Washington state. It was incorporated in Delaware, but it doesn’t use the same registered agent that GameStop uses. Also, what does walking around the operations center have to do with videogames?
The second company is Genba Digital.
Genba Digital is a startup in Leamington Spa, outside of Birmingham, England. They have offices in London, England; Eindhoven, Netherlands; and Los Angeles, California. They started in 2015 with investment from UK and EU venture-capital firms.
https://genbadigital.com/
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/158919-13
Here’s how they describe themselves:

Developer of a cloud-based digital logistics platform designed to bridge the gap between publishers and resellers in the gaming industry on a global basis. The company's platform is API driven and fully-automated that eliminates the operational and technical logistics involved with publishing and selling digital content, enabling game publishers to avail automatic, secure delivery of activation keys, official publisher metadata and videos in multiple languages.

Genba Digital lists over 200 partnerships on its web site, including:

Amazon
Ubisoft
Disney
Square Enix
Epic Games
Konami
2K
Sega
Capcom
Take 2 Interactive
Paradox Interactive
Hello Games
Gamesplanet
Games Republic
505 Games
Codemasters
Curve Digital
Team 17
Hello Games
Voidu

Sony created Genba back in 2013. Their DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation) New Media Solutions division hired Kwiboo to develop the initial concept. In their site, they call Genba “the world’s first digital supply chain management platform for the games industry. Linking games publishers with game eTailers, on a global scale, to drive efficiencies in relationship management, content distribution and consistent pricing.”
On 18 May 2021 Genba Digital was acquired by Azerion Holdings. This is exactly one day after GameStop launched its NFT domain and refreshed its Genba domain. According to the UK’s Companies House website, Erol Erturk and Umut Akpinar were appointed as directors of the company. Umut Akpinar is the Founder and CEO of Azerion, a videogames company based out of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Erol Erturk is the Executive Vice President of Content and Strategic Partnerships for Azerion.
https://azerion-investors.com/reports/
https://azerion.com/companies
I don’t want to get lost explaining Azerion, but there’s one last possibility I want to touch on. Azerion is a relatively large European gaming and advertising company. Their gross profit in 2020 was €70 million EUR. If GameStop wanted to acquire Azerion, the company is not too large to be reasonably purchased for a price within the available cash GameStop is holding. This would also be a way to re-enter the northern European markets after closing stores in 2020.
With the Genba subdomain, it’s clear that GameStop has a relationship with Genba Digital, but it’s not clear whether this is a business partnership or a pending acquisition. There's not enough info to clarify, so let’s just keep looking at the potential that Genba Digital brings to GameStop.
Genba Digital’s platform helps to solve some of the major problems with videogame distribution globally.
One challenge that games developers face is grey market key reselling. Users who are finished playing a game resell their game keys online, cutting out the company’s profits for digital distribution. Genba Digital partnered with Ubisoft in May 2019 to implement a process they called “Silent Key Activation,” or SKA. The Genba Digital platform provides the digital license keys silently to the user’s platform, so the user never sees the actual license key and can’t resell it on the grey market.
This is less of an issue in the United States or Europe, where users are playing on their personal devices – consoles, mobile phone, desktop gaming rigs. But in Asia, and especially China, most players access their favorite titles through cyber cafes. In this case, the software developer sells a license to a user based on an account login. This makes grey-market key reselling a bigger issue for these companies to capture revenue.
One last speculation about Genba. Remember when RC tweeted his visit to the GameStop in Culver City, California? Back then, there was a lot of speculation that GameStop might merge with Super League Gaming (SLGG) because they’re based out of Los Angeles. If you notice the Genba description above, they also have offices in Los Angeles. The tweet was on 13 April, just a little over one month before the NFT and Genba domains launched and Azerion acquired Genba Digital. I know I’m speculating, but I wonder whether Azerion is secretly buying up gaming companies on behalf of GameStop, like that scene at the end of Batman Begins when Dr. Michael Burry pulls a fast one on Roy Batty and buys Wayne Enterprises without anyone knowing.

POWERS COMBINED

Let’s bring all of these parts together, to make the big picture clear.

GameStop creates an NFT framework to identify ownership.
GameStop uses IPFS technology to identify unique ownership of videogame licenses, downloadable content, in-game items, in-game currency, and digital collectibles related to gaming and pop culture.
GameStop uses the Genba platform to create a seamless transactional marketplace for all customers.
Customers can move personal transactions back into the White Market, conducting secondary sales through GameStop’s NFT-driven digital marketplace.
Original developers receive transactional royalties in perpetuity from all trades related to their intellectual property; GameStop receives a fractional percent of all revenue generated in its marketplace.
Fans and independent artists create specialty characters, costumes, and items that can be sold in a secondary marketplace, like Etsy for videogames.
Software developers can create limited-edition videogames with inherent value based on rarity, similar to how Wu Tang Clan created a single copy of its “Once In Shaolin” album.
GameStop creates a secondary digital market for “used” digital games and collectibles, exactly how it has done with physical game media and collectibles in its brick-and-mortar stores.
Every transaction will be written publicly to the blockchain. But each account will remain anonymously hidden as a hexadecimal hash code. But by linking the blockchain accounts to GameStop PowerUp Rewards accounts or PowerPass accounts, GameStop will have a monopoly on the true identities of its marketplace users. This will give GameStop a unique advantage in providing customer data to software developers around the world.

It might be better though if GameStop’s Principal Engineer explains how this will work.

GameStop is about to completely change the videogame industry.

THE FINAL BOSS

One of the great challenges of cryptocurrency adoption is that it can take forever to make a transaction. Once you agree with another person to give away your cryptocurrency in exchange for some material object or service, the network still has to validate that you have the currency available and that the exchange properly moved that currency to the correct recipient. This can take several minutes or several hours, depending on the condition of the network at the time.
In contrast, you can flash your mobile phone at a near-field communication (NFC) receiver and buy your Starbucks coffee in seconds. Even if you use your chip-and-pin card to make a purchase, the whole transaction takes less than a minute. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
This is because companies like Visa have built a very large infrastructure to make sure that money moves quickly throughout the world. The speed of the network is measured in “transactions per second” (TPS). Visa, with a 20,000 TPS network speed, is the Goliath against which cryptocurrency developers compare themselves. (People argue about what the true TPS is for Visa, I’m ready for the comments…)
There is an equivalently monolithic goliath for digital videogame transactions.

It’s Steam.

When GameStop was trying to deliver games digitally with its Impulse service at 10% of the U.S. market, Steam was crushing GameStop with 70% of the U.S. market. Steam is the largest and most popular digital game distribution platform worldwide, with over 30,000 titles available for download. Nearly half of all software developers sell their games on Steam.
But developers don’t want to sell on Steam, or Apple’s App Store, or Google Play. These companies take a 30% haircut on every single transaction in their markets. This is why Epic Games took Apple to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Building a cohesive and seamless videogame market that can compete with Steam is the true final boss that GameStop must face. But to achieve success while also giving Power to the Players, Power to the Creators, and Power to the Collectors, without gouging developers with a 30% cut on every transaction – that will be what truly makes GameStop into the clear market dominator.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

Thanks for playing along with me as I entertained this speculative fan-fiction.

-PMNK

This post lays out the steps that RC and the new GameStop team have taken in the past few months to achieve their strategic objectives. It also identifies where the company is likely going, based on some key subdomains that went live in the past few months.
A quick note: there's a lot of derivative information here. If you see a link or concept that you mentioned months ago, please accept my appreciation, even if you're not mentioned. Feel free to claim recognition in the comments.
I published another post about a week ago (linked further down), explaining the various subdomains that GameStop uses. If I did my job right, you now understand that GameStop subdomains clearly describe the software, services, and technologies that they use to deliver value and delight customers.
This post builds on that understanding and expands into old and new GameStop operations. I had to leave a lot of content out to keep this focused, but it's long anyway.
While this post is forward-looking, it could always be wrong. First, never take (financial) advice from internet strangers. Second, as the old Danish aphorism goes, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” Feel free to make corrections in comments.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

CHEWY VS. GAMESTOP, KEEPING SCORE

We could measure success of the GameStop strategy if we had a measuring stick to use for comparison. Since the current strategy has Ryan Cohen as the Chairman of the Board and the chair of GameStop’s Strategic Planning & Allocation Committee, it seems fair to measure GameStop’s transformation against RC’s other great accomplishment: Chewy.
[Mobile users scroll right for second column]

CHEWY Chronology	GAMESTOP Chronology
Miami Beach 18th Annual Antique Jewelry & Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010	RC Ventures acquires 13% stake in GameStop, 17 December 2020
MrChewy internet domain launched 9 May 2011	GameStop & RC Ventures reach deal to appoint Ryan Cohen, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to BOD; 11 January 2021
RC, Michael Day, and Alan Attal for the first couple of years	Care subdomain goes live 17 January 2021
Chewy.com domain established not earlier than 30 August 2012	Matt Francis becomes GME CTO; Kelli Durkin becomes SVP for Customer Care; Josh Krueger becomes VP for Fulfillment; 3 February 2021
Late 2012, first meeting with Larry Cheng of Volition Capital	Jim Bell steps down as CFO; 23 February 2021; reportedly RC wanted this to happen
Volition follow-up in mid-2013	Jenna Owens becomes COO; Neda Pacifico becomes SVP of eCommerce; Ken Suzuki becomes VP for Supply Chain Systems; 23 March 2021
$15MM in A-Round funding from Volition, October 2013	Elliott Wilke becomes CGO; Andrea Wolfe becomes VP for Brand Development; Tom Petersen becomes VP for Merchandising; 30 March 2021
400K sq ft warehouse lease in Mechanicsburg, PA, early 2014	GameStop completes 3.5 million ATM shares offering for $551,000,000 by 26 April 2021
Mechanicsburg warehouse effective by August 2014	GameStop pays off $216.4 million, all long-term debt, before 1 May 2021
Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada from Toys R Us	RC Tweet at Culver City, CA on 13 April 2021
B-Round funding in 2014 for $30MM	QA, Smoke, SFCC subdomains first appear 30 April 2021
C-Round funding in 2014 for $41MM	700,000 sq ft warehouse lease in York, PA; 3 May 2021
2015-2018, recruiting top talent via LinkedIn (including Jim Grube)	Genba, NFT, and PowerPass subdomains goes live; 17 May 2021
2014-2018, $200MM revenue to $3,500MM revenue	AGM; Ryan Cohen becomes COB; Matt Furlong becomes CEO; Mike Recupero becomes CFO; 9 June 2021
PetSmart announces $3,500MM acquisition of Chewy, April 2017	GameStop completes 5 million ATM shares offering for $1,126,000,000 by 22 June 2021
Cohen steps down from Chewy, March 2018	Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada; 530,000 sq ft; 6 July 2021
Chewy IPO on NYSE, 14 June 2019	IPFS NFT subdomain goes live; 20 July 2021
	Newsletter subdomain goes live; 23 July 2021
	EB Games Canada announced rebrand to GameStop Canada; 28 July 2021
	SupplyChainPortal subdomain goes live 12 August 2021

COMPARISONS:
1) Inception

RC decides to go into the pet business after an epiphany following a planned jewelry company that would have launched at the end of 2010, probably around the Miami Beach Antique Jewelry and Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010.
RC Ventures acquires a 13% stake in GameStop on 17 December 2020.

2) Starting the business

Mr. Chewy internet domain launched sometime on or after 9 May 2011.
GameStop board reaches a deal to appoint RC, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to the BOD on 11 January 2021.

3) Re-branding

Chewy.com domain launches not earlier than 30 August 2012.
EB Games Canada announces re-branding to GameStop.ca on 28 July 2021.

4) First-Round Funding

Chewy gains first-round funding of $15 million USD from Larry Cheng with Volition Capital in October 2013.
GameStop gains “first-round funding” of $551 million USD by completing an at-the-market (ATM) share offering by 26 April 2021.

5) First New Warehouse

Chewy leases a 400,000 square foot fulfillment center in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in early 2014. The warehouse was effective by August 2014.
GameStop leases a 700,000 square foot fulfillment center in York, Pennsylvania (almost next door to Mechanicsburg) on 3 May 2021. The warehouse held a hiring fair on 8 July 2021 and is operational.

6) Second New Warehouse

Chewy opened another fulfillment center in McCarran, Nevada in 2014. This was converted from an old Toys R Us warehouse. McCarran is a suburb of greater Reno.
GameStop announced a 530,000 square foot second fulfillment center in Reno, Nevada on 6 July 2021

7) Additional Funding

In 2014, Chewy gained $30 million USD from its second round of VC funding and $41 million USD from its third round of VC funding.
GameStop gained “second round funding” of $1.126 billion USD by completing an ATM share offering by 22 June 2021.

8) Building the Dream Team

Throughout 2015-2018, Ryan Cohen recruited top talent for Chewy by contacting people through LinkedIn and conducting after-hours interviews.
Between January and June 2021, GameStop assembled a strong executive team from leading eCommerce companies around the world.

Key members in the transformation include:

Alan Attal (the third member of Chewy and former COO, now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Jim Grube (brought into Chewy in 2015 as CFO and now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Larry Cheng (Chewy’s first angel investor, now on the GameStop BOD),
Kelli Durkin (brought into Chewy in 2015 as VP of Customer Service, now SVP for Customer Care at GameStop); I think she’s the reason for cards at Chewy and she’s doing the same for GameStop now,
Neda Pacifico (VP of eCommerce for Chewy, now SVP of eCommerce for GameStop),
Andrea Wolfe (VP of Marketing at Chewy, now VP of Brand at GameStop)

Let me break this down a bit more:

Chewy went from concept to implementation in about 7 months. The RC Ventures version of GameStop went from concept to implementation in about 2 months.
Chewy rebranded itself after about 15 months. GameStop rebranded itself after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its first capital injection after about 29 months. The RC GameStop gained its first capital injection in less than 4 months.
Chewy launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 6 months.
Chewy launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its second capital injection after about 36 months. The RC GameStop gained its second capital injection after about 6 months.
Chewy began building a world-class C-suite after about 48 months. The RC GameStop built a world-class C-suite within 5 months.
Chewy began innovating in customer care after about 48 months. The RC GameStop began innovating in customer care within 4 months.

Ryan Cohen has repeated his Chewy success within GameStop already.

With an established international infrastructure, existing brand equity, and faster access to capital for leading projects, he has reduced the time needed to achieve change to only about 6 months compared to 48 months. He is moving 8x faster than he did the first time, using his personal ethics of extreme focus to deliver the kind of service that delights customers and retains them for life. There is still more work needed to cement the gains in supply chain management, customer care, and omni-channel ease-of-use for GameStop customers, but the big parts are already in place. Truly, this transformation is a world-class achievement. On this alone, GameStop shares are currently undervalued, especially if you consider that the Chewy timeline ended with the largest-ever purchase of an eCommerce company for $3.5 billion USD and -- after IPO -- Chewy is valued at $34 billion USD. Even without MOASS, that's what GameStop will look like by 2024.

LET’S PLAY MONOPOLY, VIDEOGAMES EDITION

There’s a great YouTube video from a Stanford lecture series on creating a startup. Peter Thiel, PayPal and Palantir founder, presents a compelling explanation for why “Competition is for Losers.” His point is that a strong company creates value in a unique way – a way that no competitor can replicate. A good company creates a “monopoly” in its industry.
In its 10-K form, filed at the end of the fiscal year, GameStop identifies the companies that It believes are its competitors:

Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Amazon in the U.S.
Sony Microsoft, Nintendo, Media Markt, Saturn, FNAC, Carrefour, Auchan, and Amazon in Europe
Wal-Mart and Best Buy in Canada
JB HiFi, Big W, and Target in Australia

Looking at this list, I don’t see genuine competition. Many of these companies are “we sell everything” companies; videogame sales are a small part of their overall revenue stream. Videogame and console makers – Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo – might sell their own products directly, but they mostly rely on other companies (like GameStop) for sales and distribution. In the U.S., Best Buy is the closest apples-to-apples competitor, because it’s a brick-and-mortar retailer that focuses on electronics and media sales. But even then, videogames are simply not a large enough part of Best Buy’s overall revenue compared to GameStop.
GameStop is a “monopoly” in its market. It is the only major global retailer in its markets that delivers value to customers with a singular focus on videogames and gaming culture.
And GameStop is an important part of the videogames industry. Reggie Fils-Aimé (former President and COO of Nintendo of America) is a somewhat active Twitter user. But when he sat on the GameStop board, he sent only one tweet related to GameStop:

The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant \@GameStop. I look forward to being a part of \@GameStopCorp Board and helping to make this happen. https://t.co/pYWFGZ9XKj

GameStop is a critical part of the videogame industry’s ability to identify potential customers, gather information about trends and preferences, and distribute games and consoles to users worldwide.

EVEN IF I DIDN’T FINISH THE GAME, I LEARNED A LOT ALONG THE WAY

GameStop has acquired a variety of skills throughout its lifetime. These were failed projects, but they gave GameStop insights into key aspects of the market. Since GameStop is less than 20 years old as a corporation (I’m not including Babbage’s or EB Games prior to the GameStop incorporation in 2002), the company still retains institutional memory from these earlier ventures.

Kongregate: GameStop acquired indie game developer Kongregate in 2010. The site hosted a variety of web-based games. It also had a software development kit to help indie developers build games for mobile devices and Steam. GameStop sold Kongregate to Swedish company Modern Times Group in 2017. I will never understand why Reddit forums filled with apes never jumped on the opportunity to have a tagline like, “A Place for GameStop Apes to Kongregate.” Also, this company’s logo features ants. Shoutout to our Korean brethren.
Jolt Online Gaming: GameStop acquired Jolt in 2009. This was another web site that delivered web-based games. It also included game reviews and interviews. The site closed in 2012.
Impulse: This was basically a Steam clone that GameStop acquired in 2011. Customers could purchase, download, and play games from an online digital marketplace. The program was discontinued in 2014, and unfortunately customers no longer have access to any games they purchased on the service. Strangely, GameStop has maintained the “Impulse Store” subdomain and it’s still current.
Spawn Labs: GameStop acquired Spawn Labs and its patent portfolio in 2011 also. Spawn Labs provided technology to stream video games from the cloud to any front-end console or computer. Here’s a good demo with bad production quality.
GS Mobile: GameStop incorporated mobile phone sales into some of its U.S. stores, beginning in May 2012. They partnered with AT&T as the mobile carrier for service. The GameStop mobile phone carrier was branded as Spring Mobile, and it was the single largest AT&T wireless reseller at the time. This part of GameStop was sold off in 2020 so the company could refocus on gaming and gaming culture.

From all of these past failures, here are the skills that may still be resident within the collective consciousness of GameStop:

Web-based gaming
Mobile gaming
Indie game development and distribution
Mobile networks and telephony
Device-agnostic streaming video games
Digital gaming marketplace

There’s are two other key features that GameStop brings to the videogames industry. GameInformer magazine and PowerUp Rewards.
GameInformer, with over 10 million subscribers, is the fifth largest magazine circulation in the United States and (adding other countries) the fourth largest magazine circulation in the world.
PowerUp Rewards, GameStop’s in-store discount purchasing program, has over 60 million members.

There’s a great Freakonomics podcast interview with Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric. Immelt watched GE decline in value from the most profitable company in the world to a current valuation that’s only one quarter what it had when he took over as CEO in 2001. In the interview, Immelt identifies what – for him – is the key driver of success for large companies in today’s markets:

If you think about the conglomerates of today — I’m talking about Amazon and Alphabet — they have a technical foundation. I would say G.E. had, at least in the beginning of my career, our foundation was management practices. It’s not that that’s unimportant. But that wasn’t enduring, really. And I think when you look at Amazon, they are a dominant software company. And in some way, shape, or form, everything they do feeds off that. Google was a dominant A.I. company. Everything they do feeds off that, right? So I think if you want to be a conglomerate today, a technical foundation is a must.

GameStop is the sole “information technology” company for the videogames industry.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paularosenblum/2015/09/14/gamestop-uses-data-and-customer-experience-to-survive-and-thrive-in-stores-and-online/
If you don’t already know, large companies generate a lot of revenue by collecting and selling information about your web surfing habits, purchasing habits, and overall demographic information. This is the Information Technology that Jeff Immelt was talking about that makes Amazon and Alphabet such large companies today. From Alexa and OK Google to your web searches to your subscription deliveries, modern companies benefit from the knowledge they have that other companies want.

More identifying information can simply be purchased. "Facebook is taking offline credit card data and mixing it with their site," Weinberg said, to illustrate the lack of transparency he sees in the data market. "You wouldn't expect that. The bigger the data profile . . . the better you can be targeted. They have incentives to buy and combine extra data." After our interview, it came to light that Google had penned a secret deal with MasterCard for data on offline spending habits.

Now, this article was written for an American audience. Europoors at least benefit from some protection under GDPR.
If you’re offended that your personal information is being harvested, I feel like I’ve just awakened you from the Matrix. This is how all large companies build profiles to develop more popular products, deliver more appealing marketing, and identify more affluent customers. In fact, Target can tell you when your teenage daughter accidentally became pregnant.
Back in fall 2020, u/DeepFuckingValue noted the potential for a GameStop renovation to improve advertising revenue along with a move towards an “omni-channel” marketplace. This was always part of the GameStop transformation. Here’s a single example of his fundamentals-based thesis.
https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1325573568822915077
GameStop uses the company Moveable Ink to deliver a web site experience that is completely unique for each person who visits GameStop’s web sites.
The whole reason for turning GameStop stores into Pokemon Go gyms was so that GameStop could acquire mobile phone identifiers, correlated with Google accounts and Pokemon Go playing statistics, correlated with a customer’s GameStop purchase history, correlated with demographic and spending details that were purchased online for pennies on the dollar. GameStop can use its cloud-based Tableau instance to provide rapid data visualization to infer key trends in customer preferences. They will sell this information to Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft (and perhaps the big game companies like Blizzard-Activision, Sega, or Epic) to create a templated profile for what a top-selling future game might look like. Simultaneously, GameStop can use each Pokemon Go gym visit as a proxy for how many customers are visiting its brick-and-mortar operations. This helps to show that GameStop’s retail storefronts are far from dead (as the Wall Street propagandists would have you believe).

Okay, putting it all together:
GameStop is transitioning from a brick-and-mortar focus towards a digital-first information technology company. It has a variety of skills stored within its institutional memory, including web games, mobile phones, mobile apps, streaming gaming, and digital-download videogame distribution. It has a proprietary database of over 60 million gamers that it combines with other demographic data to create the most valuable database of gamers in the world. This gamer database, along with GameStop’s worldwide supply chain, makes it so indispensable that “The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant GameStop.”

But what if I told you that it’s going to get even better?

NOW, FOR THE MOON SHOT

In my last post, I mentioned a company called Genba Digital. I think they are directly connected to GameStop’s NFT infrastructure.

nft.gamestop.com goes live 17 May 2021
genba.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
powerpass.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
ipfs.nft.gamestop.com goes live 20 July 2021
Ethereum’s London Hard Fork happened 4 August 2021

FIRST, NFT

In the post below, u/schismsaints lays out a great list of possible business uses for NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/of20ou/a_deep_dive_into_nftgamestopcom/

Possible Business Uses

In-store currency - GME Coin can be used as an in-store currency/reward system

Crypto swap/exchange - Partner with an established cryptocurrency company to facilitate listing and conversion/exchange between stablecoins such as USDC or miscellaneous established coins or altcoins, and GME specific tokens. Use a GME app to manage a crypto wallet and exchange between various tokens/coins/currencies.

NFT Collectibles - i.e. CryptoKitties, Gods Unchained, etc. Facilitate in-person trading (either in-store or via app to app trading) of digital items and collectibles between platforms.

Digital game licensing - revolutionize DRM by hosting a record of your game license on the blockchain

In-game item transfeentitlement - Imagine if there was a way to trade/sell your CounterStrike skins in-person for cash, or exchange a cool knife skin for a new CryptoKitty

SECOND, IPFS

In the post below, u/hooper359 explains how IPFS works with the ERC-721 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. From all I've seen, u/hooper359 was the first to identify the new IPFS subdomain for GameStop.
https://www.reddit.com/usehooper359/comments/osr91k/new_ipfs_subdomain_possibly_for_a_digital_games/
There’s also a web site that provides details about what the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) is, how it works, and how to integrate it into existing blockchain systems.
https://docs.ipfs.io/
The key features or proposed uses cases of IPFS that are relevant to this conversation are:

Proof of Ownership
Blockchain-powered online commerce
Distributed package managers (DPM) and content delivery networks (CDN)
Version control
Selling digital files
Serverless online gaming

THIRD, GENBA

Now, let’s take a look at Genba.
My last post was a look at GameStop subdomains.
https://www.reddit.com/DDintoGME/comments/p2rmgh/a_review_of_gamestop_subdomains/
That post was set up to preface this post by highlighting one key feature of GameStop’s subdomains.
GameStop subdomains describe the branded services or products that GameStop uses in its network infrastructure.
GameStop has a subdomain genba.gamestop.com. It first appeared in early 2020, but it was last refreshed on 17 May 2021 at the same time the NFT subdomain appeared.

The name Genba is fairly unique.

If you’re familiar with “Lean” concepts in manufacturing and supply chain management, Gemba is a fairly well-known term. It roughly translates to the old business cliché of “Management By Walking Around” (MBWA). It requires leaders in organizations to actually “go and see for themselves” what’s happening in the operations center, warehouses, or retail front lines of the company.
But the Lean version of Gemba is always spelled with the letter “M” like in GME, almost never spelled with an “N” like in Naked Shorts. Here’s a blog post by a Lean expert explaining the difference in spelling.
If you search for the Genba-with-an-N spelling, only two companies come up.
One is a Lean consultancy in Washington state. It was incorporated in Delaware, but it doesn’t use the same registered agent that GameStop uses. Also, what does walking around the operations center have to do with videogames?
The second company is Genba Digital.
Genba Digital is a startup in Leamington Spa, outside of Birmingham, England. They have offices in London, England; Eindhoven, Netherlands; and Los Angeles, California. They started in 2015 with investment from UK and EU venture-capital firms.
https://genbadigital.com/
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/158919-13
Here’s how they describe themselves:

Developer of a cloud-based digital logistics platform designed to bridge the gap between publishers and resellers in the gaming industry on a global basis. The company's platform is API driven and fully-automated that eliminates the operational and technical logistics involved with publishing and selling digital content, enabling game publishers to avail automatic, secure delivery of activation keys, official publisher metadata and videos in multiple languages.

Genba Digital lists over 200 partnerships on its web site, including:

Amazon
Ubisoft
Disney
Square Enix
Epic Games
Konami
2K
Sega
Capcom
Take 2 Interactive
Paradox Interactive
Hello Games
Gamesplanet
Games Republic
505 Games
Codemasters
Curve Digital
Team 17
Hello Games
Voidu

Sony created Genba back in 2013. Their DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation) New Media Solutions division hired Kwiboo to develop the initial concept. In their site, they call Genba “the world’s first digital supply chain management platform for the games industry. Linking games publishers with game eTailers, on a global scale, to drive efficiencies in relationship management, content distribution and consistent pricing.”
On 18 May 2021 Genba Digital was acquired by Azerion Holdings. This is exactly one day after GameStop launched its NFT domain and refreshed its Genba domain. According to the UK’s Companies House website, Erol Erturk and Umut Akpinar were appointed as directors of the company. Umut Akpinar is the Founder and CEO of Azerion, a videogames company based out of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Erol Erturk is the Executive Vice President of Content and Strategic Partnerships for Azerion.
https://azerion-investors.com/reports/
https://azerion.com/companies
I don’t want to get lost explaining Azerion, but there’s one last possibility I want to touch on. Azerion is a relatively large European gaming and advertising company. Their gross profit in 2020 was €70 million EUR. If GameStop wanted to acquire Azerion, the company is not too large to be reasonably purchased for a price within the available cash GameStop is holding. This would also be a way to re-enter the northern European markets after closing stores in 2020.
With the Genba subdomain, it’s clear that GameStop has a relationship with Genba Digital, but it’s not clear whether this is a business partnership or a pending acquisition. There's not enough info to clarify, so let’s just keep looking at the potential that Genba Digital brings to GameStop.
Genba Digital’s platform helps to solve some of the major problems with videogame distribution globally.
One challenge that games developers face is grey market key reselling. Users who are finished playing a game resell their game keys online, cutting out the company’s profits for digital distribution. Genba Digital partnered with Ubisoft in May 2019 to implement a process they called “Silent Key Activation,” or SKA. The Genba Digital platform provides the digital license keys silently to the user’s platform, so the user never sees the actual license key and can’t resell it on the grey market.
This is less of an issue in the United States or Europe, where users are playing on their personal devices – consoles, mobile phone, desktop gaming rigs. But in Asia, and especially China, most players access their favorite titles through cyber cafes. In this case, the software developer sells a license to a user based on an account login. This makes grey-market key reselling a bigger issue for these companies to capture revenue.
One last speculation about Genba. Remember when RC tweeted his visit to the GameStop in Culver City, California? Back then, there was a lot of speculation that GameStop might merge with Super League Gaming (SLGG) because they’re based out of Los Angeles. If you notice the Genba description above, they also have offices in Los Angeles. The tweet was on 13 April, just a little over one month before the NFT and Genba domains launched and Azerion acquired Genba Digital. I know I’m speculating, but I wonder whether Azerion is secretly buying up gaming companies on behalf of GameStop, like that scene at the end of Batman Begins when Dr. Michael Burry pulls a fast one on Roy Batty and buys Wayne Enterprises without anyone knowing.

POWERS COMBINED

Let’s bring all of these parts together, to make the big picture clear.

GameStop creates an NFT framework to identify ownership.
GameStop uses IPFS technology to identify unique ownership of videogame licenses, downloadable content, in-game items, in-game currency, and digital collectibles related to gaming and pop culture.
GameStop uses the Genba platform to create a seamless transactional marketplace for all customers.
Customers can move personal transactions back into the White Market, conducting secondary sales through GameStop’s NFT-driven digital marketplace.
Original developers receive transactional royalties in perpetuity from all trades related to their intellectual property; GameStop receives a fractional percent of all revenue generated in its marketplace.
Fans and independent artists create specialty characters, costumes, and items that can be sold in a secondary marketplace, like Etsy for videogames.
Software developers can create limited-edition videogames with inherent value based on rarity, similar to how Wu Tang Clan created a single copy of its “Once In Shaolin” album.
GameStop creates a secondary digital market for “used” digital games and collectibles, exactly how it has done with physical game media and collectibles in its brick-and-mortar stores.
Every transaction will be written publicly to the blockchain. But each account will remain anonymously hidden as a hexadecimal hash code. But by linking the blockchain accounts to GameStop PowerUp Rewards accounts or PowerPass accounts, GameStop will have a monopoly on the true identities of its marketplace users. This will give GameStop a unique advantage in providing customer data to software developers around the world.

It might be better though if GameStop’s Principal Engineer explains how this will work.

GameStop is about to completely change the videogame industry.

THE FINAL BOSS

One of the great challenges of cryptocurrency adoption is that it can take forever to make a transaction. Once you agree with another person to give away your cryptocurrency in exchange for some material object or service, the network still has to validate that you have the currency available and that the exchange properly moved that currency to the correct recipient. This can take several minutes or several hours, depending on the condition of the network at the time.
In contrast, you can flash your mobile phone at a near-field communication (NFC) receiver and buy your Starbucks coffee in seconds. Even if you use your chip-and-pin card to make a purchase, the whole transaction takes less than a minute. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
This is because companies like Visa have built a very large infrastructure to make sure that money moves quickly throughout the world. The speed of the network is measured in “transactions per second” (TPS). Visa, with a 20,000 TPS network speed, is the Goliath against which cryptocurrency developers compare themselves. (People argue about what the true TPS is for Visa, I’m ready for the comments…)
There is an equivalently monolithic goliath for digital videogame transactions.

It’s Steam.

When GameStop was trying to deliver games digitally with its Impulse service at 10% of the U.S. market, Steam was crushing GameStop with 70% of the U.S. market. Steam is the largest and most popular digital game distribution platform worldwide, with over 30,000 titles available for download. Nearly half of all software developers sell their games on Steam.
But developers don’t want to sell on Steam, or Apple’s App Store, or Google Play. These companies take a 30% haircut on every single transaction in their markets. This is why Epic Games took Apple to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Building a cohesive and seamless videogame market that can compete with Steam is the true final boss that GameStop must face. But to achieve success while also giving Power to the Players, Power to the Creators, and Power to the Collectors, without gouging developers with a 30% cut on every transaction – that will be what truly makes GameStop into the clear market dominator.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

Thanks for playing along with me as I entertained this speculative fan-fiction.

-PMNK

This post lays out the steps that RC and the new GameStop team have taken in the past few months to achieve their strategic objectives. It also identifies where the company is likely going, based on some key subdomains that went live in the past few months.
A quick note: there's a lot of derivative information here. If you see a link or concept that you mentioned months ago, please accept my appreciation, even if you're not mentioned. Feel free to claim recognition in the comments.
I published another post about a week ago (linked further down), explaining the various subdomains that GameStop uses. If I did my job right, you now understand that GameStop subdomains clearly describe the software, services, and technologies that they use to deliver value and delight customers.
This post builds on that understanding and expands into old and new GameStop operations. I had to leave a lot of content out to keep this focused, but it's long anyway.
While this post is forward-looking, it could always be wrong. First, never take (financial) advice from internet strangers. Second, as the old Danish aphorism goes, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” Feel free to make corrections in comments.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

CHEWY VS. GAMESTOP, KEEPING SCORE

We could measure success of the GameStop strategy if we had a measuring stick to use for comparison. Since the current strategy has Ryan Cohen as the Chairman of the Board and the chair of GameStop’s Strategic Planning & Allocation Committee, it seems fair to measure GameStop’s transformation against RC’s other great accomplishment: Chewy.
[Mobile users scroll right for second column]

CHEWY Chronology	GAMESTOP Chronology
Miami Beach 18th Annual Antique Jewelry & Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010	RC Ventures acquires 13% stake in GameStop, 17 December 2020
MrChewy internet domain launched 9 May 2011	GameStop & RC Ventures reach deal to appoint Ryan Cohen, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to BOD; 11 January 2021
RC, Michael Day, and Alan Attal for the first couple of years	Care subdomain goes live 17 January 2021
Chewy.com domain established not earlier than 30 August 2012	Matt Francis becomes GME CTO; Kelli Durkin becomes SVP for Customer Care; Josh Krueger becomes VP for Fulfillment; 3 February 2021
Late 2012, first meeting with Larry Cheng of Volition Capital	Jim Bell steps down as CFO; 23 February 2021; reportedly RC wanted this to happen
Volition follow-up in mid-2013	Jenna Owens becomes COO; Neda Pacifico becomes SVP of eCommerce; Ken Suzuki becomes VP for Supply Chain Systems; 23 March 2021
$15MM in A-Round funding from Volition, October 2013	Elliott Wilke becomes CGO; Andrea Wolfe becomes VP for Brand Development; Tom Petersen becomes VP for Merchandising; 30 March 2021
400K sq ft warehouse lease in Mechanicsburg, PA, early 2014	GameStop completes 3.5 million ATM shares offering for $551,000,000 by 26 April 2021
Mechanicsburg warehouse effective by August 2014	GameStop pays off $216.4 million, all long-term debt, before 1 May 2021
Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada from Toys R Us	RC Tweet at Culver City, CA on 13 April 2021
B-Round funding in 2014 for $30MM	QA, Smoke, SFCC subdomains first appear 30 April 2021
C-Round funding in 2014 for $41MM	700,000 sq ft warehouse lease in York, PA; 3 May 2021
2015-2018, recruiting top talent via LinkedIn (including Jim Grube)	Genba, NFT, and PowerPass subdomains goes live; 17 May 2021
2014-2018, $200MM revenue to $3,500MM revenue	AGM; Ryan Cohen becomes COB; Matt Furlong becomes CEO; Mike Recupero becomes CFO; 9 June 2021
PetSmart announces $3,500MM acquisition of Chewy, April 2017	GameStop completes 5 million ATM shares offering for $1,126,000,000 by 22 June 2021
Cohen steps down from Chewy, March 2018	Acquire 2nd warehouse in Reno, Nevada; 530,000 sq ft; 6 July 2021
Chewy IPO on NYSE, 14 June 2019	IPFS NFT subdomain goes live; 20 July 2021
	Newsletter subdomain goes live; 23 July 2021
	EB Games Canada announced rebrand to GameStop Canada; 28 July 2021
	SupplyChainPortal subdomain goes live 12 August 2021

COMPARISONS:
1) Inception

RC decides to go into the pet business after an epiphany following a planned jewelry company that would have launched at the end of 2010, probably around the Miami Beach Antique Jewelry and Watch Show, 15-17 October 2010.
RC Ventures acquires a 13% stake in GameStop on 17 December 2020.

2) Starting the business

Mr. Chewy internet domain launched sometime on or after 9 May 2011.
GameStop board reaches a deal to appoint RC, Alan Attal, and Jim Grube to the BOD on 11 January 2021.

3) Re-branding

Chewy.com domain launches not earlier than 30 August 2012.
EB Games Canada announces re-branding to GameStop.ca on 28 July 2021.

4) First-Round Funding

Chewy gains first-round funding of $15 million USD from Larry Cheng with Volition Capital in October 2013.
GameStop gains “first-round funding” of $551 million USD by completing an at-the-market (ATM) share offering by 26 April 2021.

5) First New Warehouse

Chewy leases a 400,000 square foot fulfillment center in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in early 2014. The warehouse was effective by August 2014.
GameStop leases a 700,000 square foot fulfillment center in York, Pennsylvania (almost next door to Mechanicsburg) on 3 May 2021. The warehouse held a hiring fair on 8 July 2021 and is operational.

6) Second New Warehouse

Chewy opened another fulfillment center in McCarran, Nevada in 2014. This was converted from an old Toys R Us warehouse. McCarran is a suburb of greater Reno.
GameStop announced a 530,000 square foot second fulfillment center in Reno, Nevada on 6 July 2021

7) Additional Funding

In 2014, Chewy gained $30 million USD from its second round of VC funding and $41 million USD from its third round of VC funding.
GameStop gained “second round funding” of $1.126 billion USD by completing an ATM share offering by 22 June 2021.

8) Building the Dream Team

Throughout 2015-2018, Ryan Cohen recruited top talent for Chewy by contacting people through LinkedIn and conducting after-hours interviews.
Between January and June 2021, GameStop assembled a strong executive team from leading eCommerce companies around the world.

Key members in the transformation include:

Alan Attal (the third member of Chewy and former COO, now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Jim Grube (brought into Chewy in 2015 as CFO and now on the GameStop BOD and Strategic Planning & Capital Allocation Committee),
Larry Cheng (Chewy’s first angel investor, now on the GameStop BOD),
Kelli Durkin (brought into Chewy in 2015 as VP of Customer Service, now SVP for Customer Care at GameStop); I think she’s the reason for cards at Chewy and she’s doing the same for GameStop now,
Neda Pacifico (VP of eCommerce for Chewy, now SVP of eCommerce for GameStop),
Andrea Wolfe (VP of Marketing at Chewy, now VP of Brand at GameStop)

Let me break this down a bit more:

Chewy went from concept to implementation in about 7 months. The RC Ventures version of GameStop went from concept to implementation in about 2 months.
Chewy rebranded itself after about 15 months. GameStop rebranded itself after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its first capital injection after about 29 months. The RC GameStop gained its first capital injection in less than 4 months.
Chewy launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its first new warehouse in Pennsylvania after about 6 months.
Chewy launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 36 months. The RC GameStop launched its second new warehouse in Nevada after about 6 months.
Chewy gained its second capital injection after about 36 months. The RC GameStop gained its second capital injection after about 6 months.
Chewy began building a world-class C-suite after about 48 months. The RC GameStop built a world-class C-suite within 5 months.
Chewy began innovating in customer care after about 48 months. The RC GameStop began innovating in customer care within 4 months.

Ryan Cohen has repeated his Chewy success within GameStop already.

With an established international infrastructure, existing brand equity, and faster access to capital for leading projects, he has reduced the time needed to achieve change to only about 6 months compared to 48 months. He is moving 8x faster than he did the first time, using his personal ethics of extreme focus to deliver the kind of service that delights customers and retains them for life. There is still more work needed to cement the gains in supply chain management, customer care, and omni-channel ease-of-use for GameStop customers, but the big parts are already in place. Truly, this transformation is a world-class achievement. On this alone, GameStop shares are currently undervalued, especially if you consider that the Chewy timeline ended with the largest-ever purchase of an eCommerce company for $3.5 billion USD and -- after IPO -- Chewy is valued at $34 billion USD. Even without MOASS, that's what GameStop will look like by 2024.

LET’S PLAY MONOPOLY, VIDEOGAMES EDITION

There’s a great YouTube video from a Stanford lecture series on creating a startup. Peter Thiel, PayPal and Palantir founder, presents a compelling explanation for why “Competition is for Losers.” His point is that a strong company creates value in a unique way – a way that no competitor can replicate. A good company creates a “monopoly” in its industry.
In its 10-K form, filed at the end of the fiscal year, GameStop identifies the companies that It believes are its competitors:

Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Amazon in the U.S.
Sony Microsoft, Nintendo, Media Markt, Saturn, FNAC, Carrefour, Auchan, and Amazon in Europe
Wal-Mart and Best Buy in Canada
JB HiFi, Big W, and Target in Australia

Looking at this list, I don’t see genuine competition. Many of these companies are “we sell everything” companies; videogame sales are a small part of their overall revenue stream. Videogame and console makers – Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo – might sell their own products directly, but they mostly rely on other companies (like GameStop) for sales and distribution. In the U.S., Best Buy is the closest apples-to-apples competitor, because it’s a brick-and-mortar retailer that focuses on electronics and media sales. But even then, videogames are simply not a large enough part of Best Buy’s overall revenue compared to GameStop.
GameStop is a “monopoly” in its market. It is the only major global retailer in its markets that delivers value to customers with a singular focus on videogames and gaming culture.
And GameStop is an important part of the videogames industry. Reggie Fils-Aimé (former President and COO of Nintendo of America) is a somewhat active Twitter user. But when he sat on the GameStop board, he sent only one tweet related to GameStop:

The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant \@GameStop. I look forward to being a part of \@GameStopCorp Board and helping to make this happen. https://t.co/pYWFGZ9XKj

GameStop is a critical part of the videogame industry’s ability to identify potential customers, gather information about trends and preferences, and distribute games and consoles to users worldwide.

EVEN IF I DIDN’T FINISH THE GAME, I LEARNED A LOT ALONG THE WAY

GameStop has acquired a variety of skills throughout its lifetime. These were failed projects, but they gave GameStop insights into key aspects of the market. Since GameStop is less than 20 years old as a corporation (I’m not including Babbage’s or EB Games prior to the GameStop incorporation in 2002), the company still retains institutional memory from these earlier ventures.

Kongregate: GameStop acquired indie game developer Kongregate in 2010. The site hosted a variety of web-based games. It also had a software development kit to help indie developers build games for mobile devices and Steam. GameStop sold Kongregate to Swedish company Modern Times Group in 2017. I will never understand why Reddit forums filled with apes never jumped on the opportunity to have a tagline like, “A Place for GameStop Apes to Kongregate.” Also, this company’s logo features ants. Shoutout to our Korean brethren.
Jolt Online Gaming: GameStop acquired Jolt in 2009. This was another web site that delivered web-based games. It also included game reviews and interviews. The site closed in 2012.
Impulse: This was basically a Steam clone that GameStop acquired in 2011. Customers could purchase, download, and play games from an online digital marketplace. The program was discontinued in 2014, and unfortunately customers no longer have access to any games they purchased on the service. Strangely, GameStop has maintained the “Impulse Store” subdomain and it’s still current.
Spawn Labs: GameStop acquired Spawn Labs and its patent portfolio in 2011 also. Spawn Labs provided technology to stream video games from the cloud to any front-end console or computer. Here’s a good demo with bad production quality.
GS Mobile: GameStop incorporated mobile phone sales into some of its U.S. stores, beginning in May 2012. They partnered with AT&T as the mobile carrier for service. The GameStop mobile phone carrier was branded as Spring Mobile, and it was the single largest AT&T wireless reseller at the time. This part of GameStop was sold off in 2020 so the company could refocus on gaming and gaming culture.

From all of these past failures, here are the skills that may still be resident within the collective consciousness of GameStop:

Web-based gaming
Mobile gaming
Indie game development and distribution
Mobile networks and telephony
Device-agnostic streaming video games
Digital gaming marketplace

There’s are two other key features that GameStop brings to the videogames industry. GameInformer magazine and PowerUp Rewards.
GameInformer, with over 10 million subscribers, is the fifth largest magazine circulation in the United States and (adding other countries) the fourth largest magazine circulation in the world.
PowerUp Rewards, GameStop’s in-store discount purchasing program, has over 60 million members.

There’s a great Freakonomics podcast interview with Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric. Immelt watched GE decline in value from the most profitable company in the world to a current valuation that’s only one quarter what it had when he took over as CEO in 2001. In the interview, Immelt identifies what – for him – is the key driver of success for large companies in today’s markets:

If you think about the conglomerates of today — I’m talking about Amazon and Alphabet — they have a technical foundation. I would say G.E. had, at least in the beginning of my career, our foundation was management practices. It’s not that that’s unimportant. But that wasn’t enduring, really. And I think when you look at Amazon, they are a dominant software company. And in some way, shape, or form, everything they do feeds off that. Google was a dominant A.I. company. Everything they do feeds off that, right? So I think if you want to be a conglomerate today, a technical foundation is a must.

GameStop is the sole “information technology” company for the videogames industry.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paularosenblum/2015/09/14/gamestop-uses-data-and-customer-experience-to-survive-and-thrive-in-stores-and-online/
If you don’t already know, large companies generate a lot of revenue by collecting and selling information about your web surfing habits, purchasing habits, and overall demographic information. This is the Information Technology that Jeff Immelt was talking about that makes Amazon and Alphabet such large companies today. From Alexa and OK Google to your web searches to your subscription deliveries, modern companies benefit from the knowledge they have that other companies want.

More identifying information can simply be purchased. "Facebook is taking offline credit card data and mixing it with their site," Weinberg said, to illustrate the lack of transparency he sees in the data market. "You wouldn't expect that. The bigger the data profile . . . the better you can be targeted. They have incentives to buy and combine extra data." After our interview, it came to light that Google had penned a secret deal with MasterCard for data on offline spending habits.

Now, this article was written for an American audience. Europoors at least benefit from some protection under GDPR.
If you’re offended that your personal information is being harvested, I feel like I’ve just awakened you from the Matrix. This is how all large companies build profiles to develop more popular products, deliver more appealing marketing, and identify more affluent customers. In fact, Target can tell you when your teenage daughter accidentally became pregnant.
Back in fall 2020, u/DeepFuckingValue noted the potential for a GameStop renovation to improve advertising revenue along with a move towards an “omni-channel” marketplace. This was always part of the GameStop transformation. Here’s a single example of his fundamentals-based thesis.
https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1325573568822915077
GameStop uses the company Moveable Ink to deliver a web site experience that is completely unique for each person who visits GameStop’s web sites.
The whole reason for turning GameStop stores into Pokemon Go gyms was so that GameStop could acquire mobile phone identifiers, correlated with Google accounts and Pokemon Go playing statistics, correlated with a customer’s GameStop purchase history, correlated with demographic and spending details that were purchased online for pennies on the dollar. GameStop can use its cloud-based Tableau instance to provide rapid data visualization to infer key trends in customer preferences. They will sell this information to Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft (and perhaps the big game companies like Blizzard-Activision, Sega, or Epic) to create a templated profile for what a top-selling future game might look like. Simultaneously, GameStop can use each Pokemon Go gym visit as a proxy for how many customers are visiting its brick-and-mortar operations. This helps to show that GameStop’s retail storefronts are far from dead (as the Wall Street propagandists would have you believe).

Okay, putting it all together:
GameStop is transitioning from a brick-and-mortar focus towards a digital-first information technology company. It has a variety of skills stored within its institutional memory, including web games, mobile phones, mobile apps, streaming gaming, and digital-download videogame distribution. It has a proprietary database of over 60 million gamers that it combines with other demographic data to create the most valuable database of gamers in the world. This gamer database, along with GameStop’s worldwide supply chain, makes it so indispensable that “The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant GameStop.”

But what if I told you that it’s going to get even better?

NOW, FOR THE MOON SHOT

In my last post, I mentioned a company called Genba Digital. I think they are directly connected to GameStop’s NFT infrastructure.

nft.gamestop.com goes live 17 May 2021
genba.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
powerpass.gamestop.com was updated 17 May 2021
ipfs.nft.gamestop.com goes live 20 July 2021
Ethereum’s London Hard Fork happened 4 August 2021

FIRST, NFT

In the post below, u/schismsaints lays out a great list of possible business uses for NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/of20ou/a_deep_dive_into_nftgamestopcom/

Possible Business Uses

In-store currency - GME Coin can be used as an in-store currency/reward system

Crypto swap/exchange - Partner with an established cryptocurrency company to facilitate listing and conversion/exchange between stablecoins such as USDC or miscellaneous established coins or altcoins, and GME specific tokens. Use a GME app to manage a crypto wallet and exchange between various tokens/coins/currencies.

NFT Collectibles - i.e. CryptoKitties, Gods Unchained, etc. Facilitate in-person trading (either in-store or via app to app trading) of digital items and collectibles between platforms.

Digital game licensing - revolutionize DRM by hosting a record of your game license on the blockchain

In-game item transfeentitlement - Imagine if there was a way to trade/sell your CounterStrike skins in-person for cash, or exchange a cool knife skin for a new CryptoKitty

SECOND, IPFS

In the post below, u/hooper359 explains how IPFS works with the ERC-721 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. From all I've seen, u/hooper359 was the first to identify the new IPFS subdomain for GameStop.
https://www.reddit.com/usehooper359/comments/osr91k/new_ipfs_subdomain_possibly_for_a_digital_games/
There’s also a web site that provides details about what the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) is, how it works, and how to integrate it into existing blockchain systems.
https://docs.ipfs.io/
The key features or proposed uses cases of IPFS that are relevant to this conversation are:

Proof of Ownership
Blockchain-powered online commerce
Distributed package managers (DPM) and content delivery networks (CDN)
Version control
Selling digital files
Serverless online gaming

THIRD, GENBA

Now, let’s take a look at Genba.
My last post was a look at GameStop subdomains.
https://www.reddit.com/usePM_ME_NUDE_KITTENS/comments/p2qu0z/a_review_of_gamestop_subdomains/ https://www.reddit.com/DDintoGME/comments/p2rmgh/a_review_of_gamestop_subdomains/ https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/p2rnqn/a_review_of_gamestop_subdomains/ https://www.reddit.com/GMEJungle/comments/p2rodz/a_review_of_gamestop_subdomains/ https://www.reddit.com/GME/comments/p2rpe0/a_review_of_gamestop_subdomains/
That post was set up to preface this post by highlighting one key feature of GameStop’s subdomains.
GameStop subdomains describe the branded services or products that GameStop uses in its network infrastructure.
GameStop has a subdomain genba.gamestop.com. It first appeared in early 2020, but it was last refreshed on 17 May 2021 at the same time the NFT subdomain appeared.

The name Genba is fairly unique.

If you’re familiar with “Lean” concepts in manufacturing and supply chain management, Gemba is a fairly well-known term. It roughly translates to the old business cliché of “Management By Walking Around” (MBWA). It requires leaders in organizations to actually “go and see for themselves” what’s happening in the operations center, warehouses, or retail front lines of the company.
But the Lean version of Gemba is always spelled with the letter “M” like in GME, almost never spelled with an “N” like in Naked Shorts. Here’s a blog post by a Lean expert explaining the difference in spelling.
If you search for the Genba-with-an-N spelling, only two companies come up.
One is a Lean consultancy in Washington state. It was incorporated in Delaware, but it doesn’t use the same registered agent that GameStop uses. Also, what does walking around the operations center have to do with videogames?
The second company is Genba Digital.
Genba Digital is a startup in Leamington Spa, outside of Birmingham, England. They have offices in London, England; Eindhoven, Netherlands; and Los Angeles, California. They started in 2015 with investment from UK and EU venture-capital firms.
https://genbadigital.com/
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/158919-13
Here’s how they describe themselves:

Developer of a cloud-based digital logistics platform designed to bridge the gap between publishers and resellers in the gaming industry on a global basis. The company's platform is API driven and fully-automated that eliminates the operational and technical logistics involved with publishing and selling digital content, enabling game publishers to avail automatic, secure delivery of activation keys, official publisher metadata and videos in multiple languages.

Genba Digital lists over 200 partnerships on its web site, including:

Amazon
Ubisoft
Disney
Square Enix
Epic Games
Konami
2K
Sega
Capcom
Take 2 Interactive
Paradox Interactive
Hello Games
Gamesplanet
Games Republic
505 Games
Codemasters
Curve Digital
Team 17
Hello Games
Voidu

Sony created Genba back in 2013. Their DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation) New Media Solutions division hired Kwiboo to develop the initial concept. In their site, they call Genba “the world’s first digital supply chain management platform for the games industry. Linking games publishers with game eTailers, on a global scale, to drive efficiencies in relationship management, content distribution and consistent pricing.”
On 18 May 2021 Genba Digital was acquired by Azerion Holdings. This is exactly one day after GameStop launched its NFT domain and refreshed its Genba domain. According to the UK’s Companies House website, Erol Erturk and Umut Akpinar were appointed as directors of the company. Umut Akpinar is the Founder and CEO of Azerion, a videogames company based out of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Erol Erturk is the Executive Vice President of Content and Strategic Partnerships for Azerion.
https://azerion-investors.com/reports/
https://azerion.com/companies
I don’t want to get lost explaining Azerion, but there’s one last possibility I want to touch on. Azerion is a relatively large European gaming and advertising company. Their gross profit in 2020 was €70 million EUR. If GameStop wanted to acquire Azerion, the company is not too large to be reasonably purchased for a price within the available cash GameStop is holding. This would also be a way to re-enter the northern European markets after closing stores in 2020.
With the Genba subdomain, it’s clear that GameStop has a relationship with Genba Digital, but it’s not clear whether this is a business partnership or a pending acquisition. There's not enough info to clarify, so let’s just keep looking at the potential that Genba Digital brings to GameStop.
Genba Digital’s platform helps to solve some of the major problems with videogame distribution globally.
One challenge that games developers face is grey market key reselling. Users who are finished playing a game resell their game keys online, cutting out the company’s profits for digital distribution. Genba Digital partnered with Ubisoft in May 2019 to implement a process they called “Silent Key Activation,” or SKA. The Genba Digital platform provides the digital license keys silently to the user’s platform, so the user never sees the actual license key and can’t resell it on the grey market.
This is less of an issue in the United States or Europe, where users are playing on their personal devices – consoles, mobile phone, desktop gaming rigs. But in Asia, and especially China, most players access their favorite titles through cyber cafes. In this case, the software developer sells a license to a user based on an account login. This makes grey-market key reselling a bigger issue for these companies to capture revenue.
One last speculation about Genba. Remember when RC tweeted his visit to the GameStop in Culver City, California? Back then, there was a lot of speculation that GameStop might merge with Super League Gaming (SLGG) because they’re based out of Los Angeles. If you notice the Genba description above, they also have offices in Los Angeles. The tweet was on 13 April, just a little over one month before the NFT and Genba domains launched and Azerion acquired Genba Digital. I know I’m speculating, but I wonder whether Azerion is secretly buying up gaming companies on behalf of GameStop, like that scene at the end of Batman Begins when Dr. Michael Burry pulls a fast one on Roy Batty and buys Wayne Enterprises without anyone knowing.

POWERS COMBINED

Let’s bring all of these parts together, to make the big picture clear.

GameStop creates an NFT framework to identify ownership.
GameStop uses IPFS technology to identify unique ownership of videogame licenses, downloadable content, in-game items, in-game currency, and digital collectibles related to gaming and pop culture.
GameStop uses the Genba platform to create a seamless transactional marketplace for all customers.
Customers can move personal transactions back into the White Market, conducting secondary sales through GameStop’s NFT-driven digital marketplace.
Original developers receive transactional royalties in perpetuity from all trades related to their intellectual property; GameStop receives a fractional percent of all revenue generated in its marketplace.
Fans and independent artists create specialty characters, costumes, and items that can be sold in a secondary marketplace, like Etsy for videogames.
Software developers can create limited-edition videogames with inherent value based on rarity, similar to how Wu Tang Clan created a single copy of its “Once In Shaolin” album.
GameStop creates a secondary digital market for “used” digital games and collectibles, exactly how it has done with physical game media and collectibles in its brick-and-mortar stores.
Every transaction will be written publicly to the blockchain. But each account will remain anonymously hidden as a hexadecimal hash code. But by linking the blockchain accounts to GameStop PowerUp Rewards accounts or PowerPass accounts, GameStop will have a monopoly on the true identities of its marketplace users. This will give GameStop a unique advantage in providing customer data to software developers around the world.

It might be better though if GameStop’s Principal Engineer explains how this will work.

GameStop is about to completely change the videogame industry.

THE FINAL BOSS

One of the great challenges of cryptocurrency adoption is that it can take forever to make a transaction. Once you agree with another person to give away your cryptocurrency in exchange for some material object or service, the network still has to validate that you have the currency available and that the exchange properly moved that currency to the correct recipient. This can take several minutes or several hours, depending on the condition of the network at the time.
In contrast, you can flash your mobile phone at a near-field communication (NFC) receiver and buy your Starbucks coffee in seconds. Even if you use your chip-and-pin card to make a purchase, the whole transaction takes less than a minute. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
This is because companies like Visa have built a very large infrastructure to make sure that money moves quickly throughout the world. The speed of the network is measured in “transactions per second” (TPS). Visa, with a 20,000 TPS network speed, is the Goliath against which cryptocurrency developers compare themselves. (People argue about what the true TPS is for Visa, I’m ready for the comments…)
There is an equivalently monolithic goliath for digital videogame transactions.

It’s Steam.

When GameStop was trying to deliver games digitally with its Impulse service at 10% of the U.S. market, Steam was crushing GameStop with 70% of the U.S. market. Steam is the largest and most popular digital game distribution platform worldwide, with over 30,000 titles available for download. Nearly half of all software developers sell their games on Steam.
But developers don’t want to sell on Steam, or Apple’s App Store, or Google Play. These companies take a 30% haircut on every single transaction in their markets. This is why Epic Games took Apple to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Building a cohesive and seamless videogame market that can compete with Steam is the true final boss that GameStop must face. But to achieve success while also giving Power to the Players, Power to the Creators, and Power to the Collectors, without gouging developers with a 30% cut on every transaction – that will be what truly makes GameStop into the clear market dominator.

TA;DR

Ryan Cohen has achieved for GameStop what he did for Chewy, but eight times faster.
Genba Digital is a British company that GameStop seems to be doing business with.
Combining Genba’s seamless digital videogame marketplace with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for digital rights management will create a completely unique cloud-based videogame marketplace that will enable both developers and players to trade device-agnostic digital content while still supporting the original creators.
Maybe GameStop will purchase Azerion Holdings, Genba’s parent company and a major videogames and advertising company in Europe.

Thanks for playing along with me as I entertained this speculative fan-fiction.

-PMNK

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Other games similar to delisted Asphalt games by pre-Vivendi Gameloft

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Final notes and condtributions

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Games:

Other games similar to delisted Asphalt games by pre-Vivendi Gameloft

Emulators:

Online services and events in these games

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Games I did not include

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I have Error 200_1040 on Epic Games!

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1. PLAYING MULTIPLAYER GAMES ONLINE

Netease UU Game Booster - A gaming-specific VPN for heavy/addicted players. $7.99 USD a month.

奇游加速器 / Qiyou - Gaming specific VPN for heavy usage. 10/20RMB a month.

Tencent Accelerator 腾讯网游加速器 - Gaming specific VPN for heavy gaming. 300RMB annually.

Xunyou - A gaming-specific VPN for heavy usage. $3.99 USD a month.

Windscribe General purpose VPN for windows/mac/android/ios+ with router support. 10GB FREE / $4.08 a month. /windscribe

Mullvad - General purpose VPN for windows/mac/android/ios+ with router support. $5.57 a month. /mullvadvpn

Astrill General purpose VPN for windows/mac/android/ios+ with router support. $10.00-$20.00 USD a month. /Astrill

Nord VPN Gaming & general purpose VPN for all platforms. $12.22 a month. /nordvpn

Express VPN General-purpose VPN for windows/mac/android/ios $12.95 a month. /Express_VPN

Private Internet Access - General purpose VPN. - $11.20 a month. /PrivateInternetAccess

PLAYING MULTIPLAYER GAMES VIA VLAN

PLAYING SINGLE-PLAYER GAMES THAT REQUIRE ONLINE AUTHENTICATION

OFFLINE GAMES

LOCAL OPTIONS

COMMUNITY (can't use a certain word because even though I'm an approved user automod fucking hates that word:

INDEPENDENT TRADERS:

GAMING CENTERS & INTERNET CAFES

LAN PARTIES, ARCADES, & BARS

TA;DR

CHEWY VS. GAMESTOP, KEEPING SCORE

LET’S PLAY MONOPOLY, VIDEOGAMES EDITION

EVEN IF I DIDN’T FINISH THE GAME, I LEARNED A LOT ALONG THE WAY

NOW, FOR THE MOON SHOT

FIRST, NFT

SECOND, IPFS

THIRD, GENBA

POWERS COMBINED

THE FINAL BOSS

TA;DR

TA;DR

CHEWY VS. GAMESTOP, KEEPING SCORE

LET’S PLAY MONOPOLY, VIDEOGAMES EDITION

EVEN IF I DIDN’T FINISH THE GAME, I LEARNED A LOT ALONG THE WAY

NOW, FOR THE MOON SHOT