Making a video game is difficult. It becomes even more challenging when the personal circumstances of those creating it are unstable. This, which may sound obvious and not surprising, painfully becomes true when things go wrong. A war is probably when things cannot get much worse. The war in Ukraine has brutally affected everyone, and particularly GSC Game World.
The developers of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl have had quite tumultuous years. Due to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, they had to relocate their headquarters to Prague, as they were previously based in Kiev. Some of their developers have lost their lives during the war. They had to ask fans not to share a preliminary version of the game, which was stolen and leaked on the internet by Russian hackers. And in addition to all of that, now, they have suffered another devastating material loss. The building where they work has caught fire.
As reported by the Czech media outlet Vortexto, a fire occurred last Thursday in the Prague offices of the studio. While there were no injuries, the fire destroyed one of the three floors, which will require a complete reconstruction.
Fans were able to inquire about the well-being of the studio’s staff through their Discord channel. A spokesperson from the studio confirmed the aforementioned information. The fire was successfully extinguished, and while they don’t yet know the details about the accident, an investigation is ongoing. Despite everything, and while this may potentially lead to some form of delay in the game, it will not lead to the cancellation of the game. The development of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl continues.
While it’s not known if there has been any data loss or if there will be any planning issues, it’s said that the affected floor housed the studio’s backup servers, which would have been destroyed. Nevertheless, the studio’s spokesperson remains optimistic that backup copies of all the lost work might be found on the hard drives of the employees’ own computers.
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2024 exclusively for Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC.
