Microsoft has dropped hints that Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl may be facing imminent delays.
They are notifying consumers who did get their pre-orders cancelled that the game is being indefinitely postponed to an “unconfirmed date in the future”.
Stalker 2 has had a troubled development history that could genuinely match Duke Nukem Forever‘s story in its convoluted twists and turns and many false starts.
GSC Games World had originally announced the title in 2010, following the immediate success of its predecessor, Stalker: Call of Pripyat. While they had hoped to release the game by 2012, the company faced severe financial difficulties one year in. GSC would start firing and losing employees to such a degree that they had reduced by 75 %. In 2012, GSC Games’ CEO Sergiy Grygorovych announced that they would cease all development immediately due to ‘personal reasons.’ A few months later, GSC staff said they had restarted work but were looking for funding. They formally cancelled the game in April 2012, as a result of a dispute between GSC’s owner, staff, and original IP holder.
In 2015, GSC Games World came back from seemingly out of nowhere, this time under the leadership of founder Sergiy Grygorovych’s brother, Evgeniy Grygorovych. They successfully launched their industry comeback by releasing a sequel to one of their other franchises, the historical RTS Cossacks 3.
In 2018, the company dropped hints on their website that they were now restarting work on Stalker 2, and they would be using Unreal 4 to bring it up to date with new platforms. In 2021 they secured a financial backer in no less than Microsoft, also announcing they had upgraded to Unreal 5 and giving a release date of April 28, 2022.
Of course, as we all know, that would not come to pass, as GSC Games World, a Ukrainian games studio, suddenly had to deal with the Russian invasion of their country that started on February 24, 2022. On March 23, 2022, GSC Games World shared a surprising update. The company as a whole were given special permission to relocate to the Czech Republic, and so they were determined to continue work on Stalker 2. However, some of their staff actually stayed behind to help in the Ukrainian war effort, and so some members were helping with this work while also involving themselves in the conflict. Reflecting the political realities of this time, GSC decided to change the games’ name from Heart of Chernobyl to Heart of Chornobyl, reverting to the native Ukrainian spelling and pronunciation of the city.
While today Microsoft and GSC Games World are not providing details or updates on the company’s current situation, fans can only speculate. Hopefully either company will provide more information to assuage concerned fans and observers.
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is planned for release exclusively on Microsoft’s own platforms, on Windows and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Videogameschronicle
