The studio behind the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of first-person shooters is no more, according to online reports.
Ukraianian news site UkraNews reports [Russian language] reports that the owner of Ukranian developer GSC Game World, Sergei Grigorovich has decided to shutter the studio, promising to pay employee wages through February 2012.
Studio director Dmitri Bourkovski seemingly reinforced the report via a recent tweet [Russian language], which translates to, "Not PR. GSC closed."
The studio's closure also means the end of development for GSC Game World's upcoming S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, the fourth release in the cult PC shooter series.
Gamasutra has contacted GSC Game World for comment, but has yet to hear back as of press time.
GSC Game World was originally founded in 1995, and before releasing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl in 2007, the company developed PC titles such as Cossacks: European Wars, American Conquest, and Alexander.
In 2006, a group of GSC veterans left the company to found 4A Games, the studio behind the 2010 post-apocalyptic shooter Metro 2033.
Bad news, I always liked the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, for their unique approach to an FPS, even if I find them to difficult for my taste at most times. It's a bad sign to see, that even for eastern europe developers, that made much of their profit on the PC friendly russian market, it doesn't pay off any more to make PC exclusive games.
Nice job Christian, you inspired David B's ludicrous post -- which maybe he was being sarcastic? *** EDIT, my Coffee just kicked in.. It is sarcasm!! :) ***
Console only developers also go out of business, as do PC/console developers, so I really can't agree with your ending opinion; it's somewhat myopic.
"Console only developers also go out of business, as do PC/console developers, so I really can't agree with your ending opinion; it's somewhat myopic. "
Console developers going out of business are the same, it often only needs one title to kick you out of the business, as we saw with Factor5, that is something to worry about.
But right now, there are far more console only developers around, which make big budget games, then there are PC only developers.
Aww sad panda. I just bought STALKER off steam a few weeks ago and I've been really enjoying it, flaws and all. Let's hope the Metro 2033 guys fulfill the atmospheric-nuclear-disaster niche.
Your translation is slightly off. He was saying that @AkaTigra, @galyonkin, @mentaljunk, and @GeraltNBF are not PR. I'm guessing they said something along the lines of a denial that GSC is closing and Dmitri was saying "They aren't in a position to make that kind of denial."
STalker was pretty sweet. The feel of it was like no western game. I came across some bugs, but don't recall any showstoppers or major annoyances. Just an eerie game.
Damn, this sucks. Hopefully some of these guys will form a new studio or join 4A and take Stalker with them. I never really minded the bugs apart from the CTDs, I just imagined they were part of the messed up physics of the world like the part of Arkham Asylum where the game seems to crash only to realise it's one of scarecrows hallucination sections.
This just ruined my day! S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is the best FPS experience I ever had and I was very much looking forward for the 2nd iteration in the franchise.
That's sad news. STALKER is a superb game series, definitely the pinnacle of FPS for the moment. Worst thing that could happen now is the franchise being bought by some random publisher and an unrelated game being developed.
Good luck guys, you're leaving a legacy you can be proud of.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is one of the most original FPS games to be made in the last decade, alongside Dead Island and very few other titles. It would truly be a shame if we lived in a world where the only successful franchises were made by big studios with little to no interest in pushing the envelope of gaming beyond the occasional killstreak...
Console only developers also go out of business, as do PC/console developers, so I really can't agree with your ending opinion; it's somewhat myopic.
Console developers going out of business are the same, it often only needs one title to kick you out of the business, as we saw with Factor5, that is something to worry about.
But right now, there are far more console only developers around, which make big budget games, then there are PC only developers.
Also @Zed Brackman...come on, people are losing their jobs
Instead of complaining, tell us the solution?
Good luck guys, you're leaving a legacy you can be proud of.