Rock, Paper, Shotgun

“The Stalker team is extremely happy! Why? Because we are continuing work on Stalker 2 after the holidays.” That makes me extremely happy too. That’s the official line from GSC, although it’s not quite as simple as that. Speaking to Edge, the studio’s Oleg Yavorsky reveals that “We are still in the process of seeking funding to back up the project. We are hopeful things turn out well eventually.” Which still sounds pretty precarious, but given the situation last month was that the studio and the game were flat-out closing down, it’s still a good day for Stalker fans.

Let’s hope they find a funder in time. Anyone got a few million bucks to spare? Notch, are you reading this? Alternatively, have I got any long-lost billionaire uncles who’ve been waiting for an excuse to get in touch with me?

According to this Facebook page update posted last niught, Stalker 2 will continue to be developed. It reads: “The Stalker team is extremely happy! Why? Because we are continuing work on Stalker 2 after the holidays.” This is in spite of news before Christmas saying it was all over. Phew!

We’ve contacted GSC to see if we can find out a bit more about what’s been happening.

A surprise Christmas present from GSC, at which there appears to remain some life despite the awful news that they (and with them Stalker 2) had apparently been shut down earlier this month:

“Dear Stalkers: We will not be releasing any official news until around mid January. However there is cause for hope! Good hunting!”

That is all. But that is something. And it’s the second claim that all might not yet be lost in as many weeks, meaning the rescue operation is hopefully bearing fruit. Good luck, brave Ukrainians.

The sudden apparent closure of GSC GameWorld and death of Stalker 2 is, for me, the saddest gaming news of this year, and a whole lot of other years to boot. Jim eloquently summed up why over the weekend. The waters of explanation remain deeply muddied however, so all we can do is hope that some glimmer of life emerges from the ruins. We got a small hint of that earlier, with the GSC Twitter account suddenly offering “We will do our best to continue. However, at this moment, nothing is certain.”
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There was a bunch of art posted here yesterday (thread deleted) from a source which purported to be a former artist at GSC. The images appear to be a couple of environmental scenes and a bunch of concept art. It might make for decent wallpaper which you can gaze at, thinking about what could have been…

Full gallery below. Click for full size.
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LATEST UPDATE: GSC’s twitter this morning announced there will be an official statement on Monday.

1c Ukraine’s Sergey Galenkin has blogged about the closure of GSC. He states: “GSC is closed, a fact confirmed by all. The team is almost completely dissolved, the state has only a few people.” Galenkin blames the cost of developing a PC only shooter for a European audience, and a failed console publishing deal, for the collapse of the developer.

The rest of the story, as it happened, below.
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Following yesterday’s DRM-alarm going off, GSC have now said that using an always-on solution is for them “a possibility, not a choice.” We also received this statement:

“The idea of implementing DRM came in as a possible anti-piracy solution. You know the severe level of commercial piracy we have here in ex-USSR region. This said however, there is no firm decision to go for DRM with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 as of now. Be assured, we do realize how uncomfortable this solution is for the players, so we’ll continue looking for most effective, yet acceptable for all, way of protecting the game by the time of its release.”

Kotaku Australia are reporting this Ukrainian publication’s interview with GSC’s Studio Director Sergey Grigorovich. In it it he answers a huge number of questions, revealing little about the sequel apart from question one about “security” for the forthcoming game:

“Software piracy is an issue for us, we try to fight it, but within reason… 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.”

I’ve contacted GSC for a statement.

Pat over at VG247 points out that Official Stalker Facebook page has a brief Q&A that seems to reveal the first details about the game and its all-new engine. It will be set in the familiar Chernobyl Zone locations, and will apparently have more of a survival element the next time around, as well as the return of the spooky lab bits. There will be no faction wars in the sequel, but there will be DX11 support, and the “area of artifact application will expand”. The Q&A also goes out of its way to stress that despite the announced multiplatform intentions for this new game, the PC version will not suffer, and will be the target platform. Interesting stuff. Needless to say, I’ve asked GSC for a detailed interview about the game.

GSC have been vaguely rumbling about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 for a while now, but it seems that they’ve decided to officially announce its development and arrival in 2012. A news article over on the company’s main site makes the matter known, saying that it the technology will be “completely new” – a statement which could be aimed at rumours GSC were going to use the Crysis engine. “”After the official sales of the series exceeded 4 million copies worldwide, we had no doubts left to start creating a new big game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe,” says GSC’s Sergiy Grygorovych. “This will be the next chapter of the mega-popular game players expect from us.”

Don’t just stand there, etc. I’ll get in the queue for an interview.

Crytek last night announced the latest incarnation of their engine, CryENGINE 3 is now available to be licensed. Now that may not affect you or me (unless you’re a games developer of course), but there’s some interesting implications of this latest tech. Of course, it first of all means games are going to be prettier – these are the people who keep bowling us over with each new engine as it creates vivid beaches and jungles. But it’s also looking to streamline development across multiple platforms – letting programmers see how the game will appear in PC, 360 and PS3 on the fly. And rumours abound that it may be the engine of choice for STALKER 2.

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