‘Stalker 2’ renamed to ‘Heart Of Chornobyl’ as developer halts sales in Russia

nme.com:

GSC Game World has renamed its upcoming game to Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl, and has also announced it will be cancelling physical pre-orders sold to fans in Russia.The change in title reflects how the area’s name is spelled in Ukrainian, and the new title is visible on Steam – however it’s yet to appear on the game’s Microsoft or Xbox storefront pages.GSC Game World, which is based in Kyiv, has not commented on the change.

However, yesterday (March 14) the studio shared a post on Russian social media site VK that outlined its position on sales of Stalker 2 in Russia.The post confirmed that although existing digital pre-orders of Stalker 2 would be honoured, no further pre-orders from Russia would be accepted.Furthermore, all physical sales have been cancelled, even for those who have already paid.

In this case, the studio says that those affected should “contact the stores where you pre-ordered”.On the decision, GSC Game World shared that “apolitically has no place where death comes,” and added that “every penny of taxes that go to the Russian Federation is financing the murder of our children and loved ones, the destruction of our cities”.“We know that there are people who are aware of what is happening and support Ukraine in this war.

And you will also face the impossibility of buying. Separation is not possible.”Several weeks ago, GSC Game World announced that development of Stalker 2 would be “shifted to the sidelines” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it would instead be focused on “striving to help our employees and their families survive”.On the same day that Russia commenced its invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian studio shared a plea asking the games industry to “help those in need”.