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.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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