GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has revealed a key component of his $56 billion proposal to acquire eBay: the creation of a robust marketplace for digital gaming items. While eBay has already formally rejected Cohen's takeover bid, deeming it "neither credible nor attractive," he outlined his vision in a recent interview, suggesting that digital collectibles and in-game assets represent a significant growth opportunity.
Cohen identified a gap in eBay's current offerings, noting its leadership in physical collectibles but its absence in the digital realm. He believes that items such as in-game skins and weapons, which players accumulate, could be leveraged to build a marketplace providing liquidity. "Essentially, it's what NFTs could have... people thought they were. But ultimately they had no real utility. In-game items actually have real utility," Cohen stated.
He contrasted digital gaming items with physical collectibles like art and trading cards, which he described as "ego" plays. While acknowledging the massive market for these physical goods, he emphasized that their utility is primarily based on rarity and status. In-game items, by contrast, offer tangible use within games. "There is no marketplace that is providing liquidity for them. I would use eBay to provide liquidity for in-game digital items. I believe that addressable market could be much larger than eBay's marketplace on physical items," Cohen explained.
While platforms like Player Auctions and Gameflip currently facilitate the sale of some digital gaming items, Cohen suggests eBay's substantial scale and brand recognition would be a significant advantage. The market for certain digital items, such as Counter-Strike skins, is already known to command high prices. New York's state lawsuit against Valve earlier this year, which estimated the Counter-Strike skin market to be worth over $4 billion as of 2025, highlighted the potential for such digital asset liquidity through third-party marketplaces.
Cohen's broader plan for eBay, should his takeover succeed, also includes aggressive cost-cutting measures, similar to his strategy at GameStop, and an expansion into "live commerce." This model, popular in Asia and on platforms like TikTok, involves selling products through live video streams. Although eBay has a live commerce feature, Cohen feels it has been underinvested in and poorly managed.
Cohen also reflected on his past business decisions, admitting that buying GameStop was a mistake in hindsight and that his initial strategy of modeling it after Chewy was incorrect. He stated that his subsequent approach at GameStop involved "maniacal cost-cutting" and a focus on pre-owned goods and collectibles. He reportedly came up with the idea to pursue eBay while on the toilet and has committed $500 million of his own capital to his bid, having also recently canceled his $35 billion pay plan to concentrate on the eBay acquisition.