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STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl developer GSC Game World has announced that its upcoming sequel will be supported by a range of linked NFTs when it launches in 2022. While details surrounding the majority of these have yet to be shared yet, the studio has revealed information about one specific NFT which will come will allow the owner to become the “first-ever metahuman” (AKA an NPC in the game).
As detailed in a report by The Verge, GSC Game World has announced the STALKER Metaverse, will “use blockchain technology to let the community own a piece of STALKER 2.”
While the developer has stated that it will be creating a number of NFTs linked to the game, The Verge’s report focuses on a particular token will allow its final owner the opportunity to become an NPC within the game, something that GSC refers to as a “metahuman”.
In order to bring the idea to life, the studio has partnered with NFT marketplace DMarket. An auction for the NFT will take place in January 2022, with the winning bidder being offered the prize of digital NPC recreation. As NFTs allow their owners to hold digital proof of ownership over an item, the winning bidder doesn’t necessarily need to be the person who claims the token’s metahuman prize. Instead, the studio has stated that the winning bidder will be able to sell the token to another user after the auction closes, should they wish. There will be a specific claim date, though, so it would need to be sold before then.
Whether or not it is the auction winner or another buyer who ends up undergoing their very own digital transformation, the process appears to be relatively straightforward – that is, unless you don’t live anywhere near CSC Game World’s studios.
“The idea of the related NFT is to give the right to recreate its owner’s identity within the game through one of the NPCs,” explained GSC Game World CEO Evgeniy Grygorovych in an email to The Verge. “The person will need to come to our studio for a detailed scanning procedure and after that, we will have everything to make this person appear in the game world as one of the characters.”
STALKER 2 isn’t the only game of late to have announced its ties to the blockchain. In a recent reveal, Peter Molyneux stated that his next game, Legacy, will be a play-to-earn blockchain-powered business sim that includes NFTs. As well as featuring “Land NFTs”, which can be bought in order to become business associates within the game, Legacy will also feature its very own cryptocurrency known as LegacyCoin.
As more and more games appear to be testing the waters with links to the crypto market, there has been notable pushback from those with concerns about the blockchain’s effect on the environment as well as platforms such as Steam, who announced that they were banning blockchain games that issue NFTs or cryptocurrency back in October.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
