STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl Delayed Until December

Better unpack those sandwiches and cancel your Roadside Picnic, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl has been delayed until the end of the year following development concerns.

Ukrainian developers GSC Game World recently posted an update on the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Twitter account. The post, a message within a stylized image, announced the games delay, pushing the new release date back from this April to December 8, 2022.

We have made a decision to postpone the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl to December 8th, 2022.

These additional seven months of development are needed to fulfill our vision and achieve the desired state of the game. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is the biggest project in the history of GSC, and it requires thorough testing and polishing. We are convinced that development should take as long as necessary, especially in the case of such a project.

This decision is not an easy one, but we are doing the best possible to deliver you a game that can live up to the expectations. With more information, updates, and showcases coming, we have an exciting and important year ahead. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Like with any game, delaying to ensure quality should always been taken with kindness. Too often are games rush and released too early, cultivating controversial launch day reception and the ongoing idea that such methods are still viable. We appreciate them making the decision, even if it comes at the cost of our extended patience.

While likely unrelated, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was recently under a bit of controversy after announcing plans to implement NFTs into the game, double downing on the idea after it was met with community resistance, and then eventually deleting both statements and issuing a retraction.

Back in mid December of 2021, the same Twitter account announced a plan to implement their own NFT integrated metaverse. This included being able to own the rights to an NPC in the game, with the option to get themselves scanned and recreated as that NPC. The response to the announcement was bad, berating the studio for taking part in a controversial platform that most folks saw as financially predatory. Initially, the studio responded in defense, claiming that the system was misunderstood and that it was going to happen regardless. This was later retracted, with the new official statement saying that based on the feedback we received, we've made a decision to cancel anything NFT-related in Stalker 2.

While, like we said, most likely unrelated, its funny to think that the delay is because of the time that they lost removing the intended framework and content for NFT integration.

Either way, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl will now be available on December 8, 2022.