S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 cancels all NFT plans shortly after doubling down on them

By Giovanni Colantonio December 16, 2021

Developer GSC Game World has canceled all of its NFT plans for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl one day after announcing them. The announcement comes an hour after the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Twitter account published a statement doubling down on its commitment to NFTs.

Yesterday, GSC Game World and blockchain gaming service DMarket announced a partnership that would bring NFTs to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. Players would be able to bid for unique items in auctions and have the chance to get scanned into the game as an NPC via photogrammetry.

After a day of backlash, the game’s official Twitter posted a statement reaffirming its commitment to the project. An initial statement apologized for any miscommunications about the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Metaverse project but noted that GSC Game World was eager to “do NFT right” with the project. The tweet was deleted after about 30 minutes as it received a wave of negative backlash from Twitter users.

GSC Game World apology letter regarding NFTs in STALKER 2. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

A half-hour later, the Twitter account posted a much briefer statement canceling the project altogether. “Based on the feedback we received, we’ve made a decision to cancel anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2,” the tweet reads. DMarket confirmed the cancellation to Digital Trends via email.

pic.twitter.com/mffnmpiQiw

— S.T.A.L.K.E.R. OFFICIAL (@stalker_thegame) December 16, 2021

The original statement raised some questions, as it appeared to contradict certain information about the project. In the deleted statement, GSC Game World noted that all funds raised through potential NFT sales would go towards “improving the long-awaited game to make it even better.” That went against an earlier statement from DMarket noting that a chunk of the earnings would go to charity as part of a “long-term social responsibility program.”

Digital Trends reached out to DMarket for a statement on the cancellation and will update this story when we receive a response.

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Giovanni Colantonio

Section Editor, Gaming

Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…

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