In case you weren’t fully aware, Stalker 2 is pretty much dead as a doornail. The project was left behind by developer GSC Games who announced the sequel back in 2010. The company was unfortunately shut down in December 2011 as was their work on the upcoming title.

The company isn’t sitting idly with their thumbs a twiddle, no; they’re hard at work on their next project as a new team called Vostok. Their project? A free-to-play MMO entitled Survarium.

On their new website, Vostok explains why Stalker 2 went dark:

“Our company appeared in March 2012 in Kiev. Ten years earlier, when at GSC Game World we started developing the renowned S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series and continued working on it until December 2011 when the studio was unexpectedly shut down and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 project – frozen.

We did not reach agreement with the rights owner regarding the use of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. brand, that’s why we made the decision to move forward as an independent studio with a new project. That day became our starting point for Vostok Games.”

On the homepage, Vostok posted details about their upcoming MMO project and its future-based setting:

“Impassable woods advance onto cities from every side, maddened animals and birds attack industrial complexes, military structures, warehouses and power plants. Strange plants and mushrooms grow through concrete and steel,” reads the announcement blurb.

“Scientists all over the world haplessly try to cope with the anomaly sprawling across the Earth with terrifying speed. Countries collapse, anarchy spreads throughout the world. Now force dictates who to survive.”

Vostok was founded by key GSC staff, and will be working to get Survarium out the door and onto the PC by the end of 2013.

Should I ask who was really waiting for Stalker 2, or should I just go ahead and queue the sad violin sound myself?

[via EuroGamer]

According to a post on RockPaperShotgun today, the developers of STALKER and the in-development-limbo STALKER 2 may be somewhat more alive than we previously thought. A couple weeks ago, we reported that the Ukrainian developer, GSC Game World, had closed its doors.

But the RPS post links to the company’s Twitter page, on which this was written: “Dear Stalkers: We will not be releasing any official news until around mid January. However there is cause for hope! Good hunting!”

Interesting. It’d certainly be great if we could scratch GSC off the list of developers that closed this year, as there’s been too many to count. If nothing else, maybe the company will be finding its fortunes as a new entity in some fashion. Whatever the situation, we wish you the best of luck, and we hope you have a merry Ukrainian Christmas.

I bet a Ukrainian Christmas has Santa drink a bottle of vodka and wrestle a bear or something.

Someone whip me up a Photoshop of that. Now, please.

Via RockPaperShotgun

This morning, Eurogamer published a report that Ukrainian developer GSC Game World, the maker of STALKER and an unfinished sequel, was trying to hang on despite reports of a closure, tweeting “We will do our best to continue. However, at this moment, nothing is certain.”

Sadly, as today went on, Ukrainian blogger Sergey Galenkin has posted the news that GSC is no more. Apparently, the cause of the company’s demise (please note, all of the information here is from a Google Chrome-translated webpage originally in Russian) is the fact that GSC was unable to secure a publisher for STALKER 2 on consoles, and that demand for the PC version of the game wasn’t high enough to sustain the company.

Of course, I could be totally wrong about all of that. I’m piecing things together using both Chrome’s translation software as well as my own history as a tutor for ESL students. Despite the formidable powers of both those resources, I’m baffled by this snippet from Galenkin’s post:

“About the official Twitter, which denied everything – it is the boy from South Africa, have forgotten to warn. He already knows, and erased the tweet looking for work.”

This bit could be making reference to an apparent Tweet from last week that denied the studio’s closure and its subsequent deletion…but I’m not sure where the “boy from South Africa” fits into that.

Regardless, the main point of the story is clear: another developer has had to close its doors. Despite a banner year for video games, developers are dropping like flies. Our condolences go out to everyone affected by this latest closure. Let’s hope it’s the last such story we hear for the rest of 2011, eh?

Via Eurogamer and Gaylonkin

Here’s some bad news for our friends in the “PC Master Race.” S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 ( I hate typing this), the somewhat anticipated sequel to 2007-released S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl, will require an always-on internet connection. Following earlier DRM precedents set by Ubisoft and Blizzard, developer GSC Game World will require PC gamers to keep their rigs connected to the internet to play.

How do they justify this? Well,the head of GSC Game World Sergey Grigorovich, in conversation with a Ukrainian publication ku.ua,

Protection from piracy? Part of the content will be located on the server and downloaded as the game progresses. Permanent internet access is required. Text information, code and quests will be loaded through that connection. Software piracy is an issue for us, we try to fight it, but within reason.

I’m sure the PC gamers are pleased as punch with this little announcement. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, due for release in 2012, will be coming to consoles as well, where they will presumably not have to deal with this issue.

Source dsogaming

A new TV series based on the cult hit S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is currently in the works, which is amusing since the game was based on a movie… which was based on a book. That’s one hell of a media conga line. There aren’t a lot of details available for the show yet – little important things like when it will be available or how. My guess is that it will be a web series, but SyFy has picked up weirder things.

[via Stalker Website, PC Gamer]