SAN FRANCISCO — For years, Christian Lantz has played "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.," a first-person shooter video game set in a post-apocalyptic Ukraine that became a cult hit for its immersive role playing. So when Lantz, an 18-year-old high school student, heard that a sequel was coming this year, he knew he had to buy it.

That was until GSC Game World, the Ukrainian company behind the computer game, announced last month that the new "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." would incorporate the crypto-based assets known as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. In the new game, GSC said, players could buy and sell NFTs of items such as clothing for their in-game characters. The company heralded the move as a “transformative step” toward the virtual world known as the metaverse.

Lantz was incensed. He joined thousands of fans on Twitter and Reddit who raged against NFTs in "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s" sequel. The game maker, they said, was simply looking to squeeze more money out of its players. The backlash was so intense that GSC quickly reversed itself and abandoned its NFT plan.

“The studio was abusing its popularity,” said Lantz, who lives in Ontario. “It’s so obviously being done for profit instead of just creating a beautiful game.”

For more than a year, cryptomania has been at a fever pitch. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have soared in value. Crypto-based assets such as NFTs have taken off. Jack Dorsey, a Twitter founder, recently renamed one of his companies Block in honor of the blockchain, the distributed ledger system that powers digital currencies. Melania Trump has auctioned off her own NFTs.

But to some, the crypto craze has gone too far, too fast. Skeptics argue that cryptocurrencies and related assets such as NFTs are