Stalker 2 has been out for a few weeks now, and by the jam-packed nature of the game's first few patches, it's safe to say that the Xbox title has needed some post-launch improvements. Another option, of course, was to delay the initial release even further - but in a new interview with developer GSC Game World, the team has come out and said that such a move was basically impossible.
Talking to Eurogamer this week, GSC Game World's CEO touched on the long and arduous development timeline the team endured while making Stalker 2. The Ukrainian studio was "so tired" from creating this Stalker sequel that it "didn't have a chance to say let's do it more".
"It's very hard to explain your state when you're in a very intensive work process for many months until release, and you're working over, over, over what you usually can do and in the highest possible stress and overwhelming period,
You have no energy at all and you decide - should we take one more marathon? And you just can't say yes, let's make one more marathon, because you're already broken.
You're so tired that you would just die if you say let's run an additional marathon,"
Stalker 2's development troubles have been well-documented at this point - Xbox even created a feature-length documentary on the game as it was being made during Ukraine's war with Russia. It sounds like the team is glad to see the back of development anyway - and it's already committed to the future of the Xbox Game Pass title.
What do you make of this honest response from GSC Game World? Tell us your thoughts down below.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 12
@MeanBeanEgg it is cheaper...
I can’t imagine the stress it took on the people working on this game mentally and emotionally. I think they delivered a fantastic products despite the rocky launch. Their haste to bring constant updates and patches have been great. Right now, this game plays very well. It’s such a great game.
Well I get it on GPU stopped playing
But will get back on it this weekend now some updates have dropped.
Just playing Indy for a bit first.
Hmm that's a tough one. I'm sure anyone can sympathize with their situation. But they still released a product that they knew was not ready. In any industry other than videogames, they would get ripped to shreds by customers and critics
Haven't experienced any bugs myself and now put in 25 hours ..sure the game isn't super smooth ...but bizarre to say it's unplayable ..unless it's a totally different experience on the series s and pc
There’s gotta be a way to release a game without marathon crunch, and without being buggy asf…
The rate they’re patching also has to be hard on them, but apparently not as hard…
30+ hours in now and still only experienced one minor bug playing on Series X and PC,
Thank you for this great game your efforts were not for naught the online community enjoying and talking about the game is huge
@jesse_dylan My guess is that after release, the pressure lessens. Generally, after releasing a game, developers also get tons of feedback that makes them aware of all kind of errors. I don't approve that because it makes customers testers, but as games become more complex and expensive to develop, it becomes inevitable and even justifiable in this particular case.
Even Nintendo, the supposedly perfect developer, released Skyward Sword with a fatal glitch, so they released after launch an specific Wii channel to fix it via save data.
@Banjo- sure that makes sense. And accidents happen too. And tough dev cycles. Some of this is due to a toxic industry culture as well.
@jesse_dylan Yes, the development is getting too expensive, some games don't sell enough, too many games, many studios are shut down... No easy solution, but things like Game Pass could be one.
Devs are doing a great job with the patches.
Deserve all the praise they are getting
Fair enough. This is one to come back to later. Makes it sting less since it's on GamePass.
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