Microsoft has closed the Xbox Games Showcase Extended issued this June 14 talking about STALKER 2. Not just the title itself, the one that has been shown home movie scene and that arrive in 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X/S (included in Game Pass for PC and console), but also how the development process in the last few months: GSC Game World It is a Ukrainian studio and obviously its activity has been altered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In the video with which to boot Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl (the denomination of Chernbil changed to Ukrainian pronunciation in protest from the development studio to the country invasion) you can see how the player and a companion arrive in a beat-up truck to a apocalyptic zone of Chernbyl where a great paranormal event is happening.
Developing video games in the middle of a war
Several of the GSC Game World developers have participated in a video where they have told the situation of the study. They have abandoned the headquarters in kyiv because of the bombing. Now the different members of the team work from other spaces: there are those who are lucky enough to have a desk, others do their work from a bathroom and some have been living in a corridor for some time. In addition, the storytellers and mission designers explain what difficult it is to write violent plots when they themselves live surrounded by violence.
In addition to those creatives who are unaware of the status of their family and friends, or who have seen their homes and cities destroyed, there are others. members of the development team who have joined the ranks of the Ukrainian army to defend his country from the invasion commanded by Vladimir Putin. On the other hand, there are plenty of GSC Game World employees who have not participated in the video for safety reasons.
Faced with this situation, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobylwhich until last Sunday was officially planned for December 8, 2022, does not have a specific release datealthough GSC Game World hopes to have it ready at some point in 2023.