Stalker 2 gets NFTs, including one that lets you become an in-game ‘Metahuman’

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STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl is one of the biggest releases of 2022 and, for better or worse, one of the next year’s biggest tech trends will emerge: non-fungible tokens (or NFTs).

GSC Game World, which is developing the game, has announced the “STALKER Metaverse,” which will “use blockchain technology to allow the community to own a piece of STALKER 2.” This includes the chance to become a “first metahuman,” which GSC Game World seems to identify as a non-player character rendered in very high detail. (Although the spokesperson confirmed that MetaHuman will not be made using Epic Games’ MetaHuman Creator tool.) GSC Game World is partnering with the NFT DMarket platform on the new items.

In order to become a “metahuman,” players will be able to bid on the NFT that offers that prize as part of the auction that will take place in January 2022. Anyone who “owns” the NFT to become an NPC in the game will be able to buy and sell until a specific claim date after the auction.

For those who end up with NFTs, here’s how the process for becoming an in-game NPC will work, GSC Game World CEO Evgeniy Grygorovych told me in an emailed statement:

A related idea of ​​NFT is to give the right to recreate the identity of its owner within the game through one of the NPCs. The person will need to come to our studio for a detailed scan and after that, we will have everything to make that person appear in the game world as one of the characters.

(You can take a quick look at how GSC Game World screens people in-game in this video.)

GSC Game World is also planning to release other NFTs in addition to the metahuman, though the company declined to say what they might be when we requested it. According to a press release, the NFT drops “will not affect gameplay itself or confer in-game advantages over other players.”

Despite the concerns of many about NFTs (including Keanu Reeves), game makers have begun to seriously explore the concept. The announcement of STALKER 2 NFTs arrives just a week after widespread news that Ubisoft will be bringing NFT gear to Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. (Some Ubisoft developers have raised questions internally about the company’s NFT initiative, Kotaku reports.) And Peter Molyneux, known for his work on games like Populous, Black And White, and Fable, makes a business simulator where players buy NFTs and try to earn a new digital currency called LegacyCoin.

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