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[LectureMaster]

Delaying Stalker 2 again not an option, studio says, team worked until it was "broken" by marathon development

When Stalker 2, from Ukrainian developer GSC Game World, was released last month after multiple delays, it sold excepti…

www.eurogamer.net

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When Stalker 2, from Ukrainian developer GSC Game World, was released last month after multiple delays, it sold exceptionally well but received a mixed reaction from critics due mainly to issues with its performance and bugs.

However, another delay simply wasn't an option for the team, which found itself exhausted at the end of a long development during a time of war.

Speaking to Eurogamer this week, GSC Game World studio CEO Ievgen Grygorovych compared the game's development and delays to running multiple marathons. "It's very hard to explain your state when you're in a very intensive work process for many months until release, and you're working over, over, over what you usually can do and in the highest possible stress and overwhelming period," he said.

"You have no energy at all and you decide - should we take one more marathon? And you just can't say yes, let's make one more marathon, because you're already broken."

Even with more time to polish the game, there was never a time where everything was fixed, added Grygorovych. And with the end of the year and its key sales period looming, the decision was made to continue on and release Stalker 2 in the best state possible.

"You're so tired that you would just die if you say let's run an additional marathon," said Grygorovych. "We didn't have a chance to say let's do it more. We just had a chance of 'let's do until this moment - the release date - as much as we can'." After that, further patches and story expansions can then always be added, he continued.

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[Danny Dudekisser]

I'd pay to see a documentary about this game's development.

I bought the game (the ultimate edition, even), but I'm not bothering with it for probably a solid 6 months or so until the issues get ironed out. I know there's a great game in there.

 

[ThisIsMyDog]

Who gives a shit, where is my A-life? Lying fuckers.

 

[R3TRO]

Fuck that…

Slippery slope.

 

[Mister Wolf]

It's a great game. The hours fly by when I'm just running around exploring.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

Remember everyone, this is most often management's decisions and not the dev team's.

 

[Spukc]

Yeah fuck no.
You fucking lied to your audience..

Zero sympathies.

Delay it take your time.
Or launch as early access game.

What kind of bullshit is this?

I’m le tired but i want your cash anyway.
Because fuck you give us your money?

Honesty

 

[mayham2199]

Sounds like the game should have been delayed, give team a break, and then get back to work. Why does it have to be delay and then go back to marathoning? Maybe they should have just focused on PC first and then released it everywhere else after.

 

[Perrott]

And to think that three and a half years ago they promised an April 2022 release at an Xbox show. Their management is just as devoid of any sense of reality as CDPR's or Bethesda's were back when they claimed Cyberpunk would launch in April 2020 and Starfield in November 2022, respectively.

 

[Sebastian1295]

Ok i'm going to be brutally honest here cause i always am. I 100% feel sorry for them for dealing with the war and for everything they went through, but they're charging alot of money for a product that has a ton of issues and consistently using the war as some sort of sympathy card for why they released a product that isn't good enough technically for a good chunk of there paying customers. If this was a free game then i'd understand, but this is a product that they want money for and they just said fk it let's ship it and take people's money. Ya i'm not ok with that and no one should be ok with that.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I'm worried about the state of Metro 4 and if we'll ever get that game considering the developers are also Ukrainian.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

STALKER fans should be used to the jank by now....

It wouldn't be a STALKER game if it didn't have jank

 

[ZehDon]

I'd pay to see a documentary about this game's development.

I bought the game (the ultimate edition, even), but I'm not bothering with it for probably a solid 6 months or so until the issues get ironed out. I know there's a great game in there.

Fortunately, they made one. Pretty heavy at times:

 

[Gorilla Shark]

It’s not enough we’re subsidizing their war, now we have to pay them for the privilege of beta testing their game?

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Fortunately, they made one. Pretty heavy at times:

Uh... wow. Thanks - I'll watch this tonight.

 

[M1chl]

I'm worried about the state of Metro 4 and if we'll ever get that game considering the developers are also Ukrainian.

They are mostly relocated to Malta, even prior to war. But yeah they have offices in Ukraine, but not the same situation as GSC

 

[Jinzo Prime]

I love how blunt they are, "yeah we can't fix the game in time, so we're going to launch it anyway, give me you money!" At least they aren't lying to you like AAA devs

Fuck off.

 

[Perrott]

I'm worried about the state of Metro 4 and if we'll ever get that game considering the developers are also Ukrainian.

GSC Game World has historically been a developer that was known for underdelivering on their promises both to gamers and to their publishers thanks to being a shady business that was run like shit by the same idiot still in charge during their current incarnation.

The reason why we have Metro today is because GSC's boss was a cunt and wasn't paying their employees for several months back in 2006, so a bunch of people left and established 4A Games with the aim of doing game development the right way.

Which is all to say that the reason Stalker 2 is a mess isn't the war - that's just a very convenient excuse for the studio's faults when it comes to product management - but the fact that the people in charge now are the same as in 2006. The game would've launched a buggy mess anyway without a war.

On the other hand, 4A Games have always delivered with their Metro games, even back when "4A's staff sat on folding wedding chairs, literally elbow to elbow at card tables in what looks more like a packed grade school cafeteria than a development studio", according to Jason Rubin, then CEO of THQ.

 

[acm2000]

i feel its buggier on pc than xbox because 40 hours in on series x and ive not had many issues, probably my fave game of the year so far.