After an abrupt collapse in 2010, it would seem that STALKER developer GSC Game World is back. At least, there are people saying it’s back, and doing interviews to that effect. But I’ve long since abandoned any illusions that reality will influence the state of things in Ukrainian game development.
Valentin Yeltyshev, interviewed in the link above, doesn’t offer much clarity on the studio’s return, indicating only that they’re not working with (or hiring back) any of the known refugees from GSC’s original collapse – most of whom wound up forming Vostok Games, which has fallen disturbingly silent after making what appeared to be impressive progress on Survarium. Yeltyshev does mention Vostok, and adds even more confusion to the strange story of West Games, whose bizarre Areal Kickstarter raised red flags across the crowdfunding world. (West Games is back on another crowdfunding site with STALKER Apocalypse; they’re not close to achieving their goal, but the fact that they’ve made any money at all suggests truth to the wisdom about fools and their money).
All we know is that GSC itself is evidently working on a new IP altogether, but we still haven’t heard much of the story behind why the company shut down in the first place. There’s little in a name, really, and if the new GSC is just that – a name – without the creative muscle of the original studio, then it hardly matters. It’s mostly interesting from an anthropological perspective.
Arguably what makes the GSC name valuable isn’t the studio, but the fact that it appears to still own the STALKER intellectual property. That could be worth a lot of money to the right investors, not least of which would be the aforementioned Vostok Games. Most of GSC’s original staff is there, and it’s widely known that they tried and failed to secure rights to the STALKER IP when they began work on Survarium. Given the political climate in Ukraine right now, it might make more economic sense to resurrect the GSC Game World brand simply to sell a valuable IP and then shut down again, rather than try to secure funding and develop something new even in the relatively stable Kiev area.
Email the author of this post at steerpike@Tap-Repeatedly.com.
Honestly, reading their interview it seems they would have been so much further ahead if they adopted an existing engine. GSC seems to be in love with the notion of building their own, and I’m not certain what features they get that they couldn’t find elsewhere for a lot less time and effort.
So true. This was true in 1999 when they chose to build their own engine for STALKER and wound up — after eight years and millions of units of their money — with the buggy, broken, cantankerous X-Ray Engine. It was true in 200X when they elected to build a new version of X-Ray for STALKER 2. It was true in 200X+Y (I’m using Mega Man time) when Vostok split off and decided to build their own engine for Survarium (which, I can’t help but notice, IS NOWHERE TO BE FUCKING SEEN). And it’s true now.
нереально, виродки. Дізнайтеся це, жити це, любити його це.
Or seriously, if you want to be an бунтар, then go with CryTek. God knows that company would sell its own kidneys to stay afloat for another six minutes and could use your рублів.
But don’t ever, ever, ever, ever build your own engine. I mean seriously, tам ніколи не хороший час, щоб побудувати свій власний двигун. Ви не кваліфіковані, щоб зробити один, і не буде штовхнув, наполовину зрозумів ваші ідіотські дурень епі пасинки вдалося домогтися принаймні, деякі з що в сучасному сусла ігрового движка. Ви будете посміховиськом. Ваша гра – якщо взагалі – будуть пам’ятати як технологічний Франкенштейна помітним в основному в якості мішені для глузувань. Не обманюйте. Ліцензія ігровий движок і зробити з нею. Серйозно, придурки. Дізналися ви що-небудь минулого разу? Чому люди бачать при вході в ігровий движок, як обряд посвячення? Ви мене не вражають, ваші батьки, або галузі. Концепція проміжного існує з причини. Використовуйте це.
Знаєш що? Робіть те, що ви хочете. X-Ray був зразком стабільності. Був чи не так? Це був не більш неприємно, ніж бути згвалтованої ананаса. Або є медуз. Робіть те, що ви робите. Ми просто тут, завантаження патчів. Запитувана Google для help.Do Не проти нас.
Steerpike I know the STALKER franchise is close to your heart. Hearing all of this news must be painful.
How about this news on Survarium?
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-01-06-former-s-t-a-l-k-e-r-team-delivers-survarium-into-open-beta