A hot potato: Stalker fans weren't exactly excited when news broke that their beloved franchise would be featuring NFTs. In fact, they protested so strongly that the development studio has now backtracked on its original decision and announced that the upcoming sequel, Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl, won't have anything NFT-related.

There’s lots of spending going on in the world of NFTs, a staggering $27 billion so far as of early December. However, the trend has certainly proved to be controversial in the gaming industry. While titles like the upcoming blockchain sim Legacy have raked in $50million on their own, other big-name publishers like Ubisoft have received plenty of criticism for employing NFTs in their games.

Another studio to fall in the latter category is GSC Game World, the developer behind the upcoming, highly-anticipated Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl. The studio had recently announced a partnership with NFT platform DMarket, which, among other plans, would have let players bid for an NFT to become a “metahuman.”

The NFT owner would then have themselves scanned at the studio to become an NPC in the game. However, the idea seems to have backfired as Stalker fans have voiced their criticisms, forcing GSC Game World to drop any NFT plans for the game.

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

While it’s good news for those who dislike NFTs, what’s more clear now for PC players is that the game will no longer get the boot from Steam, considering Valve’s anti-NFT policy that went into effect a few months ago.

GSC Game World had earlier put out a lengthy statement (now deleted) to address player concerns, stating that the studio was eager to “DO NFT RIGHT.”

With these plans now off the table, all gamers need to worry about is prepping a beefy PC to play the game when it arrives in April next year.