When it was announced last August, few were surprised by the unveiling of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. sequel. After all, GSC Game World's open-world first-person shooter managed to sell around four million copies worldwide, all but ensuring the franchise's continuation. Now, all of the sudden, any hope one might have had for more S.T.A.L.K.E.R. looks as though it has been dashed.

There are a variety of conflicting reports appearing all over right now, but the gist of them amounts to this: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 development has completely ceased, and that GSC Game World will in fact be closing its doors.

The original news report on the subject, which appeared on Ukranian news site Ukranews, posited multiple theories as to the developer's closure. One particularly strange one involved Ukranian law enforcement expressing an "interest" in the company, whereas another simply stated that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 development had not been going particularly well, and that company founder Sergei Grigorovich had simply had enough.

Initially that report was denied by the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. twitter page, but that denial has since been deleted. RockPaperShotgun reached out to GSC Game World, and merely got a "Sorry, no comments at this point" response.

Several outlets have cited comments from a Twitter user named Dmitri Bourkovski as confirmation that the studio has closed, but Bourkovski appears to have no direct connection to GSC Games World, and even says as much elsewhere in his Twitter feed.

We'll update this story if any additional details leak out, but as of right now, it's all looking pretty dire.

When it was announced last August, few were surprised by the unveiling of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. sequel. After all, GSC Game World's open-world first-person shooter managed to sell around four million copies worldwide, all but ensuring the franchise's continuation. Now, all of the sudden, any hope one might have had for more S.T.A.L.K.E.R. looks as though it has been dashed.

There are a variety of conflicting reports appearing all over right now, but the gist of them amounts to this: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 development has completely ceased, and that GSC Game World will in fact be closing its doors.

The original news report on the subject, which appeared on Ukranian news site Ukranews, posited multiple theories as to the developer's closure. One particularly strange one involved Ukranian law enforcement expressing an "interest" in the company, whereas another simply stated that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 development had not been going particularly well, and that company founder Sergei Grigorovich had simply had enough.

Initially that report was denied by the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. twitter page, but that denial has since been deleted. RockPaperShotgun reached out to GSC Game World, and merely got a "Sorry, no comments at this point" response.

Several outlets have cited comments from a Twitter user named Dmitri Bourkovski as confirmation that the studio has closed, but Bourkovski appears to have no direct connection to GSC Games World, and even says as much elsewhere in his Twitter feed.

We'll update this story if any additional details leak out, but as of right now, it's all looking pretty dire.

All the good GSC guys left and made Metro 2033 anyway.

Really weird set of rumors, though, but GSC was never one for details.

Sucks if this is true :(

I hate all of humanity!
 
@Sankis said:

All the good GSC guys left and made Metro 2033 anyway.

Really weird set of rumors, though, but GSC was never one for details.

If this is true, this is the worst news. STALKER is a god damn achievement. I'd love to see what was next from that team.

nooooooooooooooooo

PR stunt.

My eyes are raining

That's a shame.

And MW3 continues to sell millions of copies.
This is fucked up world.

I don't want to see Dave's face when he finds out, that is going to be a sad man. I hope it is not true.

So sad=(

Guess I'll just have to wait for fallout 4 to get my open world fps fix. :{

This can't be right. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is pretty much the Halo of the East.

Oh well, though. We still have a great S.T.A.L.K.E.R. modding community

Goddamn it....

I really don't want this to be true...

I know a fair few people will be sad about this.

This shit SUCKS EGGS.

I loved Call of Pripyat! IT WAS STABLE! THEY FINALLY CRACKED THE FORMULA GOD DAMN IT

@mm665: Agreed

My whole day is ruined. The STALKER series was one of my favorites. Truly unique in this world of brown and bloom elite military "doodz."

I've heard from someone that GSC is being investigated for tax fraud, due to their CEO skimming profits.

If you pirated a STALKER game, Fuck You.

Guess I'll just have to wait for fallout 4 to get my open world fps fix. :{

Damn, I still reinstall STALKER sometimes and give it a whirl, the game was so open and crazy. That's a darn shame.

@hills: why would you? you can pick the whole series up on steam for a nickel

Such is life in the Zone.

I need to play more Stalker, it was great last time I played. I really don't know why I stopped playing.

'Mo Russian hookers 'Mo problems.

What!!?!? Noooooo!!! :C

WHAT!?

I find this to be a real fucking giant bummer. STALKER 2 was one of my most anticipated games.

Generic FPS #23 gets money up its ass even without asking while less generic FPS games like STALKER get shut down. Oh this wonderful world.

NO FUCKING WAY!! DO SOMETHING GABE NEWELL!!! >:( :(

One of my favourite franchises. Very sad if this proves true.

Well, this sucks. Looks like we'll just be getting more linear shooters filled with quick time events.

One of the only companies that knew how to make great looking metal cases for their games...

Damnit...

Not very surprising that a Eastern European developed game that was as riddled with bugs as with innovative new ideas has died off. I was actually surprised they lasted as long as they did.

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, was really looking forward to Stalker 2 I Loved the first even more so with the 2009 complete mod, sad day indeed another small but great dev disappears.

This sucks, I really liked Shadow of Chernobyl.

That would suck. Especially if the bit about law enforcement is true, although it technically wouldn't be a surprise. If this is true, someone should at least pick it up, preferably the Metro 2033 guys.

mods

Nooooo! Stalker was the most interesting and innovative FPS in this past decade. The way it did non-scripting and AI routines in open world games, paved the way for RDR's animals, Skyrim's dragons, heck even Bioshock's big daddies where shit happened without your involvement.

A sad day indeed. Can't say I didn't support 'em. Bought all 3 games, plus imported the wacky european collectors editions.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

No!! When I told you to "Get out of here, STALKER." I didn't mean this!

Not like this.

Damn that is horrible news.

Get out of here GSC.

This is really depressing. =[

Great.. now everything is going to shit. I blame the Russian election. Yeah right, you heard me, Mr. Putin. Stop messing with Ukranian games you piece of crap!

Seriously though, this is bad news. I kinda liked Stalker in concept and was hoping for an improved sequel. Sad day :(

Get out of here, bad news!

This better all be some kind of misunderstanding. I love the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games (even Clear Sky). :C

It's been confirmed by a rep from 1C. Apparently releasing STALKER 2 on PC was not going to make them enough money to turn a profit and their attempts to get a deal to publish it on consoles all fell through. They decided to close up shop before running out of money and apparently their staff will be paid for a couple of months.

This sucks. At the rate AAA developers and publishers are going under (it was rumoured yesterday that THQ will be out of money by the end of next year and every other publisher that isn't Activision is losing money), there will be no one left to make those kinds of games soon. I don't want a world of iOS and social crap but it appears that it's become impossible to turn a profit making AAA games anymore and with the new consoles, costs will go up even more. Again, this sucks.