Post-apocalyptic first-person shooter, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has had its release date pushed back to early 2024.
12.08.2023 - 17:55 / thegamer.com
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl's lengthy development might come to an end soon, with its distributor suddenly listing a release date of December 1, 2023. While this hasn't been officially confirmed, this date doesn't seem to be a placeholder being used on the website, so developer GSC Game World could be poised to make an announcement soon.
This is fairly unexpected news, given the numerous setbacks faced by GSC Game World throughout Stalker 2's development. Almost all of these hurdles stem from the fact that GSC is a Ukrainian studio, and therefore, heavily impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These setbacks have ranged from facing the threats of bombings alongside the rest of the country to being targeted by a Russian hacker, who went on to leak an internal build of the game.
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This latest development was spotted by journalist Andrew Marmo, sharing a page from Palion's website, the company that's distributing Stalker 2 on GSC's behalf. Here, the release date is listed as December 1 of this year, despite the fact that the studio is yet to make an official announcement.
Right now, the last we heard on a release date is that it's aiming for a 2023 launch, having been delayed from its original December 2022 date. However, that 2023 window was never narrowed down, and the last time we heard about it was summer 2022, leading many to believe that Stalker 2 would be quietly pushed back into 2024.
As noted by Marmo, other games on the site use December 31 as a placeholder, not December 1. In addition, Marmo has since shared that Amazon is also listing a release date of December 1, further suggesting that GSC has an announcement for us soon.
Getting the game out before the new year would be an impressive feat, given how much GSC has had to contend with. Not only is the team working in a new studio in Prague, having left Ukraine during the war, but it also says it's been the victim of "constant cyberattacks" due to its outspoken support of its home country throughout the war.
If this release date news is true, it would also mean GSC is sticking to its pledge to launch this year. This came after it labelled rumours of a delay into 2024 as "absurd". That being said, fans would hardly blame the team for taking its time, with all things considered.
Stalker 2 will launch on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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Post-apocalyptic first-person shooter, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has had its release date pushed back to early 2024.
Yesterday it was announced that STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl has been delayed to early 2024, and while that’s disappointing, GSC Game World has dropped a new trailer to tide fans over. This is probably the largest chunk of real gameplay we’ve seen to date – no cutscenes or polished-up beauty shots, just guns a-blazing, freaky mutants, and dogs getting sucked into anomalies. You can check out the new STALKER 2 trailer for yourself, below.
It's been a long time coming, but it looks like STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl will finally be coming out early next year, with developer GSC World hitting gamescom to talk all about their highly anticipated sequel. And GSC has quite the story to tell: after being announced and then canceled in 2011, revived in 2018, and then delayed amid Russia's unvasion of Ukraine. But now, we've finally got more to see of STALKER 2.
Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine is ongoing, sadly with no end to the conflict in sight, and its impacts continue to be felt globally and most acutely in Ukraine itself. Developer GSC Game World was based in Kyiv and, since the war began, has been facing the direst of circumstances: development of Stalker 2 was temporarily paused while it helped some employees flee the conflict zone, while other staff are volunteering or have signed up for the Ukrainian armed forces.
It looks as though Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl may now be released in early 2024.
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is currently set to release in the first quarter of 2024.
After plenty of speculation, we may have just learned when STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is finally coming thanks to the developer’s own fact sheet: Q1 of 2024.
When the Plaion Store seemingly leaked the release date of STALKER 2 (December 1st), fans were hoping that would turn out to be true. After all, the last word from developer GSC Game World was still December 2023, as currently still listed on the Steam page.
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Fans of the Stalker franchise have been waiting a good while now for Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. In fact, this game was initially set to launch all the way back in 2012 before it was canceled. Now we’re once again getting ready for the game as in 2018, the developers picked it back up with the game being developed using Unreal Engine 5. However, getting this game through the finish line has been anything but smooth.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has opened Xbox's Gamescom booth with a short address where he mentions some of the games playable at the event, among them Stalker 2, which he says is currently having the final touches added.
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