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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Developer Rises From The Grave With New Game
Back in December of 2011, the Ukrainian video game developer GSC Game World – which was responsible for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. shooter series – was dissolved and shuttered its doors. But it seems reports of GSC's death were greatly exaggerated, and the studio is back with a new game project.
After GSC Game World imploded studios like Vostok Games (Survarium) and 4A Games (Metro: Last Light) formed to fill the gap. Now GSC is back. GamesIndustry.biz recently spoke with GSC spokesperson Valentine Yeltyshev about the company's past and it's return.
"It was a difficult decision, because the team was working towards a full-scale game, but they and our CEO understood that the game just wouldn't be at the level we wanted from STALKER 2," Yeltyshev said about the company's original closure. "There was also a problem getting interest, and the right money, from publishers. We were offered funding once we reached alpha. Actually we would have been able to fund the entire development ourselves, but we still weren't sure we'd be able to sell it once we'd got to alpha."
GSC isn't ready to talk about their new game, but Yeltyshev did comment on the market they were targeting. "We're pretty sure about our fans. The market we're in is quite old fashioned, they're not 16 year-olds, they're 25-40 years old. We don't think free-to-play is the right model for the game we want to make. So we're making an old-fashioned, full price game, we think our audience will be happy about that. We're expecting a lot of our old audience!"
[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]
Our Take
I'm used to covering company closure stories, so it's refreshing to hear a story about a developer coming back from the dead. I never played the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, but I love the Metro game which are kind of like a spiritual successor, so I wish the GSC team the best in coming back with a new game.
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