Dear stalkers, last year, during Gamescom 2023, we finally had the chance to meet in person. We gathered around the campfire with you to share something valuable that we have been creating for you for all these years—a small part of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Publicly, for the first time ever. Our one-time initiative then transformed into a journey from campfire to campfire across France, Brazil, Singapore and other countries. Thousands of players were able to play the game themselves and give us the much-needed feedback afterwards. And as true friends always do, you shared your honest thoughts about the game. Both positive and negative, and we are thankful for that. From your insights, we figured out two key points: the one to celebrate and the one to consider seriously.

The first one: the Zone remains the Zone. In its true beauty and after our likeness. The game absolutely feels and plays like S.T.A.L.K.E.R, the atmosphere, hardcore style, harsh and unwelcoming environment are ready to cook, and we can't be more grateful for these words, as they basically sum up both the key intention and the main inspiration for the project from the very beginning at the same time. The second one was: the gear in the backpack should be checked one more time to be completely sure it will not fail us in the most needed moment. On the technical side of things—the game needs more time.

GSC Game World has been busy showing of a preview build of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl at this week's Gamescom trade fair, and non-attendees have been treated to a new trailer—Bolts & Bullets—but the Ukrainian development (now primarily operating out of Prague, Czech Republic) has quietly shifted the release of their highly anticipated survival shooter from December 2023 to some point within the first quarter of next year. This was spotted by a couple of news outlets when perusing the latest press kit—this small detail is buried right at the bottom of the document (under "distribution"). The game's official website has also been revised with a Q1 2024 launch window.

The development team touts the sequel's: "unique combination of first-person shooter, immersive sim, and horror is back. Immerse yourself in the intricately detailed open world, accompanied by next-gen graphics (courtesy of the Unreal 5 engine) and a rich narrative, all enveloped within the intense atmosphere of a deadly adventure." The game seems to be getting a positive reception at Gamescom, although players were limited to only 15-minute long hands-on sessions with the demo. A few folks were already familiar with aspects of this preview version—a hacker group acquired an older build of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 earlier this year, and leaked it onto the internet.

GSC Game World has released a defiant statement, in the face of threats of ransomed S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 data. It provides an update about one of its employee's accounts being compromised by hackers, and as a result of this, the studio is now threatened with blackmail. A statement was posted, March 12, on the GSC Game World's official Twitter account. The developer is urging that fans refrain from sharing leaked material and spoilers, and warns that the final product should not be pre-judged in a harsh light, based on any of the leaked work-in-progress material.

It is not unusual for hacker groups to threaten game developers and publishers. Rockstar Games was the victim of a leak in 2022, when videos of its in-development and upcoming video game Grand Theft Auto 6 were uploaded to forums. The in-game footage was spread across social media and the internet, and shortly thereafter, a hacker wanted to "negotiate a deal" with Rockstar Games. Source code for GTA 5 & 6 was used as leverage.

According to the description of NVIDIA's session for GDC 2023, we will finally get to see S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

NVIDIA will be holding a session at GDC 2023 on March 23rd together with GSC Game World's 3D Animator, Anton Riabchuk, where it will give an exclusive look at S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

While GSC Game World released a few screenshots as well as an official trailer for the game, GDC 2023 could be the perfect place to show an in-engine gameplay. The description of the GDC session also reveals that GSC Game World is working closely with NVIDIA and the session will also include an introduction to Omniverse Audio2Face AI SDK.

GSC Gameworld, developers of the highly awaited STALKER 2, have revised their stance on integrating NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) within the game after considerable fan backlash. While a number of companies have already aspired to integrate NFTs into their games (notably Ubisoft with its Quartz platform), it seems that mainstream perception of NFTs is still sorely lacking. Considering the fan backlash, NFTs are currently considered speculative in nature, and seem to be interpreted as nothing more than cash grabs from games development companies, trying to ride the hype of the million-dollar sales that have happened in the NFT space since its inception.

GSC Gameworld shared their thoughts on the matter and rationale behind canceling the NFT integration: "Based on the feedback we received, we've made a decision to cancel anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2," the company said via Twitter. "The interests of our fans and players are the top priority for the team. We're making this game for you to enjoy - whatever the cost is. If you care, we care too."

GSC Gameworld is hard at work on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. As a highly awaited sequel to some of the most acclaimed games, the company is naturally looking to cash in on as much awareness for the game as possible. And since one of the hot buzzwords in the market are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), the company has now announced that these will be present, in some forms, in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. One such NFT will be particularly special: its holder will have the digitally-recognized, intamperable right (and that's what NFTs are mostly about, in theory) to become a "Metahuman" - an in-game character modeled after the actual NFT holder.

"The idea of the related NFT is to give the right to recreate its owner's identity within the game through one of the NPCs," clarified GSC. "The person will need to come to our studio for a detailed scanning procedure and after that, we will have everything to make this person appear in the game world as one of the characters." The feat is being pulled with the help of NFT platform DMarket. DMarket will be holding an NFT auction dubbed the "STALKER Metaverse" in January 2022 through its partnership with GSC; there, users will be able to bid for an NFT offering that prize. Like any NFT, it can then be traded - up until a deadline specified by GSC, which will lock the prize to whoever has blockchain-verifiable possession of the NFT at the time.

Today, Microsoft held a long-awaited reveal for many upcoming games that the company hopes will justify bringing players into their ecosystem. Whether via their existing Xbox devices or through the next-generation Xbox Series X and gaming PC, the company put on a show showcasing the future of games as they envision them - but many more games from even Microsoft's first-party studios weren't showcased - yet.

The star of the show and opening opus was Halo Infinite, the much-awaited next installment in the Halo saga. The showcase revealed a part of the campaign, with cinematics and gameplay, and it does seem to be another step in the right direction for the franchise. The 8-minute gameplay video showcased the gorgeous environments, particle and sound effects made possible by the new Splipspace Engine in the new Halo game, with a number of impressive new weapons and game mechanics (that grappling hook does seem sweet, doesn't it?). A look at the map reveals an open-world-esque approach to game design, with 343 industries promising the game to be many times bigger than their two previous games, Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians, combined. A smooth 60-frames per second and 4K resolution is promised in what will definitely be the Xbox Series X's crown launch jewel. No multiplayer was shown - yet. We expect 343 Industries to start launching Sprint videos on the development of the game in the coming months, and also new game trailers showcasing the mechanics of the game.

GSC Game World announced the second chapter and latest entry to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. The survival horror FPS made its debut in 2007 at a time when PC graphics were taking a technological leap. The Kiev-based game studio since dished out the "Clear Sky" prequel and "Call of Pripyat" sequel last decade, but has since been a recluse to the AAA gaming scene. The development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 appears to be already underway. The game will leverage Unreal Engine, and there's a fairly high possibility of it being Epic Games Store exclusive given its sweet revenue-sharing model that directs 88% of the sales to the game publisher.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developers (or at least a Twitter handle claiming to represent them), posted two key tweets. One shows a teaser screenshot of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 in development; and another with a message from the developers to fans of the game franchise. "The second chapter of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. saga will be our most ambitious game so far. It will live to the legendary legacy," the statement reads. The developers didn't, however, state any timelines. "Consider it (the teaser screenshot and announcement) our humble present, with more to come in 2020," the statement concludes.