Ex-S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Devs Start Work on New MMOFPS

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Ex-S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Devs Start Work on New MMOFPS


S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is "officially" dead, but mutated post-Soviet hellholes will live on.

Rumors of ongoing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114643-Rumor-S-T-A-L-K-E-R-2-Canceled-GSC-Game-World-Closed-UPDATED], but the future of the game still seemed very uncertain and tenuous.

But now it appears official, as GSC Game World revealed via Twitter [https://twitter.com/#!/gscstalker] that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is "officially" dead. "Money was the issue," the studio tweeted. "We were not able to secure the rights to continue development of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series."

But the news isn't all bad. In the wake of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 collapse, the team decided to stick together under the name Vostok Games and try its hand at something a little more expansive: Survarium, a free-to-play MMOFPS that unleashes the nightmare of the Zone on the entire world. The new game is built around the idea of a massive ecological disaster that strikes the Earth, leading to the collapse of nations, isolation of cities and the spread of anarchy across the world, while new, aggressive species of animals and plants begin to encroach on what's left of human civilization.


"Technology versus nature, rational versus mystical. Such a confrontation enables us to take a new look at the current happenings in our world," said Lead Designer Aleksey Sytianov. "Survarium will offer players an atmospheric world of civilization crash, filled with factions and loners, stalkers and hunters surviving in a wild anomalous environment."

It's incredibly disappointing that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is dead, but with the development team intact, maybe Survarium can recreate the horrible magic that made the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games so compelling. An early look at Survarium can be had at its YouTube [https://www.facebook.com/Survarium].


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Apr 28, 2008
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

This seriously sucks. Yeah the MMO sounds neat, but... no STALKER 2 :'(
 

V8 Ninja

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So the stop-n-go development of the game was more due to the fact that they couldn't get the funding to secure the IP rather than getting the funding to make the game?

...Suddenly, I feel a whole lot better.
 

Ickorus

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 is dead?

Fuck fuckity fuck fuck.

I am not a happy man now.

I guess the MMO sounds cool and all but still. Fuck. Can't we have both?
 

Storax

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No S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2? :(
MMOFPS sounds quite cool though...
So they couldn't continue because of the lack of money, pretty understandable.
 

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Yeah, this is pretty much the shittiest news of the week. Good luck to Survarium and all that, but the end of STALKER is a huge letdown.

One potential upside, I suppose, is that if GSC couldn't get the rights to the IP, it leaves the door open to someone else to pick it up and run with it. Not sure how I feel about that - someone else might get it wrong - but "dead" ain't necessarily dead.
 

Pyrian

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Can anybody tell me what happened to the IP? ...Nevermind why whoever owns the IP thinks that the original creators shouldn't be the ones to extend it?
 

Soviet Heavy

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Dammit! However, the Survarium thing sounds really neat, but I doubt it will live up to my expectations after COP.
 

accipitre

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The current rumors are that Sergei has sold the IP to Bethesda. I have no clue if it's actually true or not, but the rumor was leaked to a major Russian fansite.

Bethesda, I love the Elder Scrolls, but you can NOT make a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game. Nobody but the eastern Europeans can. It's not your style, it's not your culture... it's not you.

On the positive side, that's only half the rumor. The other half is that the dev team is taking Sergei to court, where they probably have a pretty solid chance at securing the IP, considering what a massive cultural phenomenon S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was in Russia and the Ukraine.
 

accipitre

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Jedoro said:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-like MMO?

Sign me up.
Let's be honest. You know what we'll most likely end up with.

"THIS ISN'T LIKE COD AT ALL WTF GUISE"
"gibe artefacts plz"
"BRBRBRBRBR"
"LFM X-18 raid, need medix"
"Trading 20 tourist delight@cordon, PST"
"I REPORT U HUEHUEHUHEUHE"
"Server restart in 2 minutes"
 

WanderingFool

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Well, im not sure a Phoenix metaphore is appropriate in this case. But atleast its not a total lost.

Ickorus said:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 is dead?

Fuck fuckity fuck fuck.

I am not a happy man now.

I guess the MMO sounds cool and all but still. Fuck. Can't we have both?
From the sounds of it, they would have loved to make Stalker 2, but were not allowed too.
 

beeman1991

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Having a STALKER-esque MMOFPS (heavy emphasis on the FPS portion) with local chat only and say... PVP that flags killers as just that might be nice (IE teh Pr0 killstreakz on random innocent bystanders = tagged as a bandit or something to that effect)
I always did want to drag friends through bloodsucker nests and anomaly-filled buildings
Sucks to see the IP die like this though. STALKER 2 was one of the few games I was actually looking forward to
 

Jedoro

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accipitre said:
Jedoro said:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-like MMO?

Sign me up.
Let's be honest. You know what we'll most likely end up with.

"THIS ISN'T LIKE COD AT ALL WTF GUISE"
"gibe artefacts plz"
"BRBRBRBRBR"
"LFM X-18 raid, need medix"
"Trading 20 tourist delight@cordon, PST"
"I REPORT U HUEHUEHUHEUHE"
"Server restart in 2 minutes"
Yes, but is it wrong to keep dreaming?
 

Andy Chalk

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accipitre said:
The current rumors are that Sergei has sold the IP to Bethesda. I have no clue if it's actually true or not, but the rumor was leaked to a major Russian fansite.

Bethesda, I love the Elder Scrolls, but you can NOT make a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game. Nobody but the eastern Europeans can. It's not your style, it's not your culture... it's not you.
It does seem like kind of a natural fit given the games Bethesda is known for, but I agree, if it's not developed by a Ukrainian studio, it just won't be the same. A STALKER game by a major Western studio? I just don't see that happening.
 

Andronicus

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It sounds good, but.. too good. For some reason, I get the feeling that this will never see the light of day. Nice if it did, but it sounds like something that would cost a lot of money, and seeing as they couldn't even produce something with a brand name like STALKER, well... yeah. I dunno.

They should have done a Kickstarter; they'd have all the money they'd need for 3 more sequels in about four and a half hours.
 

BartyMae

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FML.

Shadow of Chernobyl is probably my second favorite game of all time, (right after Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn), and it's a real shame to see the developers thrown out like this. Clear Sky wasn't very good, (but still was enjoyable), and Call of Pripyat improved upon it. With S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, they might've even done better than Shadow of Chernobyl. Ack, what a disappointment.

And since I'm not an MMO sort of person, I guess that's the end of the series for me...unless a miracle happens.
 

Dandark

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Well this is bad news. I suspected that STALKER 2 wasn't going to be made but now it really has been confirmed, I am sad.

Although this new MMO could be kinda cool so i'll try and keep an eye out for that, some kind of STALKER like open world with Co-op could be pretty cool.