STALKER 2 team the victim of a pro-Russian back, is being blackmailed

GSC Sport World, the Ukraine-based developer of STALKER 2: Coronary heart of Chornobyl, has been hacked, in keeping with a press release from the studio on Sunday. An nameless consumer on the Russian social media community VK has taken duty for the breach, and is threatening to launch artwork and story particulars for the upcoming recreation until its calls for aren’t met by March 15. GSC confirmed the hack on social media, saying it might not be intimidated.

“This isn’t the primary try to hack and leak our knowledge, together with private info,” the developer stated on Twitter. “We’ve got been by so much. Nonetheless, these challenges solely encourage us to work even tougher as a result of we imagine that the reality is on our facet. Evil won’t ever win.”

Hackers declare to have gained entry to some 30 gigabytes of knowledge, together with idea artwork, environmental artwork and maps, and in-game screenshots and cutscenes that reveal the sport’s story. Calls for embody a softening of the corporate’s perspective towards Russian and Belarusian followers, the unbanning of a particular account on the sport’s official Discord channel, and an official Russian-language localization for the sport (STALKER 2 will characteristic English and Ukranian voiceover, and Russian-language subtitles). Builders at GSC Sport World inform Polygon that none of these calls for can be met.

“Regardless of the makes an attempt to interrupt us, we stay robust and brave,” GSC stated in a press release. “Within the occasion of any leaks, we ask that you just chorus from watching or distributing details about STALKER 2: Coronary heart of Chornobyl. Outdated and work-in-progress supplies might dilute the impression of the ultimate concept that we now have put into the sport.”

Ukraine-based GSC launched the unique STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl in 2007 and rapidly adopted it up with STALKER: Clear Sky in 2008 and STALKER: Name of Pripyat in 2009. The sequence was critically acclaimed for its open world, sandbox-style gameplay, and full of life AI-driven adversaries. However the firm wound down its operations in 2011, scattering its many extremely expert builders to the wind. This diaspora led to the formation of a number of profitable studios, together with 4A Video games, creators of the Metro sequence — together with Metro: Final Gentle.

In 2014, GSC sprang again to life, rapidly releasing a sequel to its standard Cossacks sequence, Cossacks 3, in 2015. It then introduced the subsequent STALKER recreation in 2018, with an preliminary launch date pegged for 2021. Growth stalled initially, and has been additional difficult by the unlawful and unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian president Vladimir Putin. The continued battle has raged for greater than a 12 months and, in keeping with the United Nations, has led to the loss of life of greater than 8,000 Ukrainian civilians and the displacement of some 14 million folks.

In response, GSC has taken a number of actions. First, it moved a few of its improvement group exterior of the nation. Later, it modified the secret in order that it included the Ukrainian spelling, not the Russian spelling, of the eponymous nuclear reactor on the coronary heart of its fiction. It has additionally made many posts on social media and YouTube celebrating the resilience of the Ukrainian folks, and its personal workers who’ve joined the army to combat in opposition to Russian aggression.

After several delays, STALKER 2: Coronary heart of Chornobyl is presently set for a December launch. The sport can be obtainable on PC by way of Steam, and can be included as a part of the Xbox Sport Go subscription program.