Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, after years of development, finally launched on November 20 and appears to be off to a strong start. Developer GSC Game World announced that the first-person survival game has surpassed 1 million copies sold across PC and Xbox platforms. However, this figure does not fully reflect the number of players, as many have joined through Game Pass.
In their statement, GSC mentioned that 'much more stalkers' have participated thanks to Game Pass, though they did not specify the exact number of Game Pass players. The debate over whether launching on Game Pass negatively affects sales remains unresolved, as each game's circumstances are unique. For Stalker 2, details about the budget, sales projections, and break-even points are undisclosed.
Whether 1 million sales is a good number for Stalker 2 remains uncertain, but GSC is publicly celebrating this milestone. Stalker 2 marks the first installment in the series since 2009's Call of Pripyat, suggesting a significant demand for the next game. The journey to release has been long and tumultuous, with the game originally announced in 2012, canceled, and then revived using Epic's Unreal Engine 5.
The release date was initially set for 2022 but was postponed due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, where the studio is based. It was later rescheduled to September 2024 before finally settling on November 20. In addition to direct purchases, Stalker 2 is available on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. For more information, check out GameSpot's Stalker 2 review and our Stalker 2 guides hub.
Source link: https://www.gamespot.com
