STALKER 2 developer GSC Game World was recently interviewed by the Chinese website GamerSky. Among various questions, the development team commented on the current Q1 2024 launch window.
The final polishing of the game will take some time. We want to launch our game at the highest level as soon as possible. However, due to the size and complexity of the open world, there are thousands of details that may go wrong. We are seizing the time to fix it. The product is polished. There’s never enough time for a game developer, and it’s hard to say how close we are to truly “finishing” a game.
STALKER 2 had to deal with so many problems throughout its development, not the least of which was the relocation of the Ukrainian team to Prague caused by Russia’s invasion of the country. It won’t be long at this point, as the game was even playable at Gamescom 2023, but another small delay to Q2 2024 cannot be ruled out.
In the aforementioned interview, GSC Game World also discussed the game’s optimization. They confirmed the Xbox Series X version would target 60 FPS in performance mode. Moreover, they said they are currently targeting the GTX 1060 as the minimum GPU capable of running the game on PC.
The Xbox Series X console version of STALKER 2 has two picture modes, performance and quality, for players to choose from. Our goal is to achieve a frame rate of 60 frames in performance mode. As for what resolution this frame number corresponds to, we are still optimizing the game, and the final screen specifications are still uncertain.
PC hardware requirements are relatively flexible. The minimum configuration we are currently pursuing is GTX 1060. At this time, the game can run, but the graphics may not reach the highest level. The game is currently in beta, and we will announce official hardware requirements closer to release.
Powered by Unreal Engine 5 technology, STALKER 2 will take full advantage of Lumen and Nanite, although the last trailer wasn’t all that impressive. The game will launch on PC and Xbox Series S|X, where it will be available on Game Pass from day one. Given the three-month console exclusivity deal discovered some time ago, PlayStation 5 users are likely to eventually get the game, albeit with a slight delay.
