There's movement in the exclusion zone! After years of troubled development for the team over at GSC Game World, we finally have an official release date for Stalker 2. The open world shooter is coming day one to Xbox Game Pass on September 5th, 2024.
Originally planned to arrive much closer to the launch of Xbox Series X|S, Stalker 2 has suffered one final delay to September 2024. The team seems pretty certain about this new date though - as decided on in the wake of Gamescom 2023's public showing.
"While there is absolutely no way to make another delay sound less dim, we decided to be clear about our reasons to postpone the game for the sake of yet another wave of polishing.
Throughout the frankly challenging development process, time was of the team's main essence. Seeing the scope of polishing and understanding the limits of the players’ patience, GSC was absolutely dedicated to releasing the game in Q1 2024. That, however, doesn’t change the fact that at the beginning of this year, certain technical imperfections still hold S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 below the expected standards for the final experience the fans are waiting for.
This extended journey to the release will be supported with much more content from the game to be shared later this year."
We're absolutely on board with this delay, especially after everything the team has been through putting Stalker 2 together in recent years. September 5th sounds like a great date to us - it should be a treat exploring this world on Xbox Game Pass!