Rumor: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Canceled, GSC Game World Closed - UPDATED

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Rumor: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Canceled, GSC Game World Closed - UPDATED



An ugly rumor coming out of Ukraine claims that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is canceled and developer GSC Game World has been closed down.

This is seriously disappointing news if it turns out to be true. According to a GSC Game World [http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fukranews.com%2Fru%2Fnews%2Fukraine%2F2011%2F12%2F09%2F59663] founder and CEO Sergei Grigorovich has decided to shut down the company. What led to the decision isn't clear, although it appears that someone - perhaps Grigorovich, perhaps employees at the studio - weren't happy with the progress being made on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. The closure of the studio, of course, means that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is dead in the water.

And sadly, it looks like it is true: GSC initially denied the report via Twitter, but that tweet was quickly deleted and then followed by Rock, Paper, Shotgun [https://twitter.com/#!/Bourkovski/status/145146724279795712], GSC said only, "Sorry, no comments at this point," which is never a good sign.

On the other hand, this wouldn't be the first time [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103810-Good-Old-Games-Faked-Shutdown-to-Avoid-Being-Boring] that an eastern European game company pulled a bizarre "we're going out of business!" stunt to drum up publicity. It's a faint hope - a very, very faint hope - but given how much I've been looking forward to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, I'm going to cling to it.

UPDATE: It turns out that Dmitri Bourkovski, who earlier "confirmed" the closure of GSC on Twitter, doesn't actually work for GSC Game World at all; his Linkedin profile lists him as the "Head of Publishing, Games Division" at Mail.ru. He also told Beefjack [http://beefjack.com/news/stalker-2-cancellation-rumours-false-say-gsc-game-studio/] that he has "no connection" with the project and was only tweeting about what he'd heard. An interesting twist! We're waiting for an official response to our inquiries from GSC and will update again when we hear more.

UPDATE 2: Sergey Galyonkin, marketing director at 1C Multimedia [1C Company published the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games in some regions] has blogged about the closure of GSC, which you may or may not take as confirmation as you see fit. "GSC is closed, a fact confirmed by all. The team is almost completely dissolved, the state has only a few people," he wrote, obviously Google translated [http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fgalyonkin.com%2F].

Galyonkin said a deal to bring the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series to consoles fell through and the projected sales for a PC-exclusive post-apocalyptic shooter based in eastern Europe weren't enough to justify the expense of developing the game. There were also apparently concerns, as stated earlier, about the current state of the game's development and some claims that GSC Game World chief Grigorovich is just "stupidly tired."

We're still awaiting official word from GSC but at this point, it sounds very much like that's that.


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TheIronRuler

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You're not the only one that's craving for a STALKER 2 release.
I'd love to eat those canned goods again... won;t let 'em stinkin' tourists get MY canned caviar!
 
Jun 11, 2008
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Hopefully it is just a bit of a publicity stunt so they aren't any worse than other companies for trying to drum up controversy. I wouldn't want to see the IP being bought by someone else and being bastardised though.
 

Tigurus

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Apr 14, 2009
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I SO hope that this is just a rumor. I don't care if it is a stunt but I SO much want S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2!
This can't be happening! D:<
Let alone all the other great games they made!
 

Frostbite3789

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Jul 12, 2010
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

What other game is going to give me my fix of being told to get out of here?
 

celestine

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Sep 8, 2011
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I'm not as optimistic to believe the media hack thing but the truth will be between the two extremes, like usually. Maybe GSC will not go on in it's previous form, but it doesn't necessarily mean that Stalker 2 is scrapped for good. Let's wait a little longer.
 

gizunt

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Nov 20, 2009
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I LOVE the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series!! man I hope this is just a rumor or a PR stunt. One of the few games that made so curious about it's lore and it's inspirations, I actually made a school project about Chernobyl with the help of "Call of Pripyat".
 

Lono Shrugged

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"No Metro Last light, I didn't settle for you, you were always my number 1"


This is the lie I will tell myself.
 

JesterRaiin

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Andy Chalk said:
>An ugly rumor coming out of Ukraine claims that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is canceled and developer GSC Game World has been closed down.
Oh fffff... :|

Setting of "The Zone" is practically virgin territory bloming with possibilites, uniqueness and freshness. It should be a magnet for gaming industry... Why it isn't used more often is beyond my comprehension.

gizunt said:
One of the few games that made so curious about it's lore and it's inspirations, I actually made a school project about Chernobyl with the help of "Call of Pripyat".
Have you read the original novel written by Strugatsky brothers ?
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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Hmmm, well these guys have had a lot of problems getting games out in a timely manner, and honestly while their games have been pretty cool none of them have exactly been huge successes.

Also I've heard that given all the tensions with Russia it and a lot of it's "Eastern Bloc" and "Eastern European" countries with sympathies are in the process of changing their trade policies given the shape the EU is in and anti-western propaganda is reaching something of an all time high even if we choose to ignore it.

How true any of that is remains to be seen, I haven't run into as much about it (harder to find) than a lot of the stuff I frequently referance and link to about China or The Middle East, but it could be influacing thing like game development and distribution. Simply put games need the Western Market (The US mostly, followed by Europe) in order to survive... with Japan and some of the far eastern markets representing exceptions.

If your looking at a situation where the trade policies are going to change, a national firewall is about to go into place (or become more draconian) and the authorities are looking for properly "patriotic" messages in their media as opposed to more general market appeal... well I can see the issue and why they don't want to explain it.

Only time will tell if we ever get the details, it might be horrible development progress, politics, or a combination of the two.
 

gideonkain

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Nov 12, 2010
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Don't tell me this!
STALKER is one of the greatest franchises ever, if they get closed down can someone decent please buy the trademark?

No not Bethesda, I love Fallout and Skyrim, but I don't want STALKER to become like those games.
 

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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So you know, I've dropped a line with my contact at GSC and I'll if/when he gets back to me, I'll let you know what he says.
 

robert01

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Jul 22, 2011
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I don't think it is PR the rumours get a lot darker depending on where you look. The leaked concept art looked fucking amazing too.
 

Soviet Heavy

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Damn, and I was starting to enjoy the series. I picked up Call of Pripyat on a whim, and I loved it. It's like Russian Fallout.
 

GiantRaven

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Dec 5, 2010
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Not entirely unsurprising, but oh so gutting.

For me, this is like Trioka shutting doors all over again. *sigh*