Today, GSC Game World announced via social media that STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl has already sold one million copies, and ‘many more’ have joined the Zone via Game Pass. It’s not entirely unsurprising given the massive amount of hype (and Steam wishlists) the game had garnered over the years.
It’s probably not nearly enough to recoup the development costs, though. GSC Game World told me during our Gamescom 2024 chat that the studio was massive, with over 430 employees working on STALKER 2. The social media blast also claimed this was only the beginning, and indeed, on launch day, GSC Game World wrote an open letter to fans acknowledging the game’s rough edges outlined in reviews.
There are so many things in the game that we are incredibly proud of. Nevertheless, STALKER 2 is a massive game. We understand that in such a game, there may still be rough edges: we literally haven’t released anything of this scale before. We’re absolutely committed to being here, monitoring your feedback, and quickly fixing any issues that need our attention. In the first days after release, we’ll be working with hotfixes, rolling them out as precisely as possible, but as frequently as we can. Then, we’ll switch to larger updates that include constant improvements. There will also be free in-game content — we’ll share its roadmap later in December. We have big plans for the STALKER universe. In a way, today is both a return and the beginning of a grand new journey.
We already know that features like hardware ray tracing, mod tools to make cross-platform mods and even multiplayer modes will be released after launch. The Ultimate Edition of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl also includes access to the Season Pass, which is already guaranteed to add at least two expansions to the game at some point in the future.
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