The developer of STALKER 2, GSC Game World, has announced that the title will be using blockchain technology to allow the community to own a piece of the game. This will include the ability for gamers to become the “first-ever metahuman,” taking the form of an NPC rendered in extraordinarily high detail. How GSC Game World is achieving this however is through partnering with the NFT platform DMarket and not through Epic Games’ MetaHuman Creator as previously assumed.

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Players will have the opportunity to bid for an NFT offering that will act as a prize for an auction that will take place in January 2022. After the auction, whoever “owns” the NFT will be able to sell it to whomever they choose before its claim date and before the NPC creation begins. The player that ends up with the NFT will have to report to GSC Game World’s office to undergo a “detailed scanning procedure” in order for that person’s likeness to end up on an NPC in STALKER 2.

GSC Game World has also confirmed that the use of NFT’s will continue throughout the lifespan of STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl. The company is remaining tight-lipped on just what those implementations are but assured that the NFTs will not in any way impact gameplay itself nor give players any kind of in-game advantages over other players.

There has been much hesitation regarding the use of NFT’s, especially for the environment, as planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions are generated by the cryptocurrencies used to purchase and sell them. Ubisoft just recently received blow-back on its news that the company would be bringing NFT gear to Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, while internally Ubisoft developers argue the merits of non-fungible tokens as well. Even Peter Molyneux, of Black and White and Fable fame, is getting in on the NFT action as he is creating a business simulator where players buy NFTs and then earn a digital currency titled LegacyCoin. Currently, it’s hard to say how successful the NFT business will be in the gaming world, but for now, it appears that the trend is here to stay.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl releases on April 28 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.

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Source: The Verge