STALKER 2 developer GSC Game World seems cursed with bad luck. As you might remember, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, most of the team relocated to Prague to work from a more secure location.
According to Czech website Vortex, a fire happened in the building that hosts their new office. Several dozen tenants had to be evacuated while five units of firefighters had to be deployed to contain the fire, which appears to have been caused by a malfunction of an electrical installation.
The good news is that there were no injured people. The bad news is that there was significant damage, estimated at €60K. With regards to GSC Game World, the studio uses three floors of that building, one of which was completely destroyed by the fire. It housed the backup servers, so it was arguably the most important floor, though we'd be surprised if the backups weren't also uploaded to the cloud.
It is presently unclear whether this new accident will impact the development of STALKER 2 in any way. We've contacted GSC Game World and will update this story if and when we get a response.
One thing is certain: the development phase of this title may as well be converted into a movie when all is said and done. STALKER 2 was originally announced in 2010 for a 2012 release, but the studio disbanded in late 2011, leaving fans with little hope to see the sequel done.
Against all odds, GSC Game World reformed in late 2014 to work on Cossacks 3. However, the studio's real goal was STALKER 2, which was reannounced in May 2018 for a 2021 launch.
The first concrete launch date was April 28th, 2022, which was then delayed to December 2022. Shortly after that announcement, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine, forcing the studio to suspend the work on the game for three months.
The game is now targeting a Q1 2024 launch, with pre-orders open on PC and Xbox Series S|X. It was publically playable at Gamescom 2023 where, hopefully, GSC Game World gathered valuable feedback to improve the game ahead of its long-awaited final release.
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