Russian fans who support “one of the most established communities in the STALKER community” have posted messages on social media that appear to be critical of some decisions that G.S.C. Game World, the company behind the upcoming STALKER 2, has made. It has been stated in these threads that this community has 30 G.B. of STALKER 2 data and that if certain conditions aren’t followed, the data will leak by March 15th.
The Russian “hackers,” who go by the alias “Vestnik T.S.S.,” released several STALKER 2 development stills with the posts themselves. STALKER 2 has been in development for more than ten years. These photographs came with a warning that if they weren’t changed by March 15th, “tens of terabytes” of STALKER 2 data would be made public.
How Do They Feel?
The lengthy statement, directed at G.S.C. Gaming World, was first posted on VK.com, where the Russian community, presumably supported in some way by hackers, made stern threats and demands.
The group demands that G.S.C. Game World reconsider its treatment of Russian and Belarusian gamers and reinstate Russian localization in the game. Over a year ago, G.S.C. declared that STALKER 2 would not be sold in Russia upon release and would not have any Russian voice acting. The game’s subtitle was altered to exclude any traces of Russian grammar.
The community also voiced a request on the G.S.C. Game World Discord service. The ‘letter’s’ author demanded that G.S.C. lift the claimed ‘for nothing’ ban on the ‘N.F. Star’ profile on the game’s official server. It is a strange requirement among geographical and political considerations.
The following is a summary of the letter:
We are anticipating modifications to the company’s policy until March 15th regarding the sufficiency and acceptance of your followers, regardless of where they are from, as well as the restoration of RU-localization, if not through a full release then at the very least in the shape of an add-on.
Hence, the ‘RU-localization’ add-on that would be made available after the game’s release will eventually be accepted by the Russian community. The war in Ukraine, which has resulted in at least one of the studio’s developers dying, has sadly caused STALKER 2 to experience endless delays and postponements, as was also mentioned in the letter:
Don’t let your politicization cause the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to perish; stagnation is already felt very seriously; now is the moment to develop links with the neighborhood.
The ‘tens of gigabytes’ of STALKER 2 data this gang purportedly possess include a complete tale, cutscene descriptions, varied concept art, global maps, and much more. It would be a disastrous leak for G.S.C. Game World, a studio that has spent more than ten years creating this game.
G.S.C. still needs to respond to these demands with a statement.
