Well that’s disappointing that it won’t be a true S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, but it could still be interesting.
I am very unsure as to how they can make this work as an MMO.
Surely they would have to limit the number of players in each ‘zone’ and make it worth while teaming up, otherwise you’ll just end up with a generic multiplayer shooter with well geared guys annihilating the noobs.
But then I just remember that this team came out of nowhere with no previous big game and somehow gave us STALKER in the first place. So perhaps they really can pull it off.
They seem to have the vision to create something original and I hope they now have the ability.
I do wonder how they lacked the funding for STALKER2 in the first place. The STALKER franchise is huge in Russia and Ukraine. If you go into any bookstore you will find dozens of novels based in the STALKER world. There’s the TV series which has just come out (which looks fucking terrible). It wouldn’t surprise me if there were action figures. So one would assume that they were getting royalties from all these things…unless they sold the branding rights to someone else.
Which seems to be the case since they are no longer allowed to use the STALKER name.
FOOLS! NEVER SELL YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS!!!
Kickstarter? Yeah, sure:
Yeah, I wonder who owns the rights. There was the book (Roadside Picnic) and the movie that came out before the game and I wonder if the people involved in those own the rights.
I agree, though somewhat reluctantly. Stalker for me was the most innovative and most engaging game I’ve ever played, and it seems the greatest tragedy to get rid of that. Even taking many of the components and putting them into a larger game, it just feels wrong. Having said that though, I’m intrigued to see what they come up with.
I wonder that too. It seems odd given its huge success, both in Russia, Ukraine and the rest of the world. I know Call of Priypat hadn’t been the success they had hoped it would be, largely due to ageing graphics and a few niggles, but to any reasonable person it wouldn’t nearly amount to the loss of funding borne out of a lack of faith in the franchise. To my mind, Stalker had one of the most interesting and unique concepts for a game, and it was something that had a lot of mileage. My only guess is that sponsors found that sales of the two sequels hadn’t matched the first (I’m guessing on this), and panicked, demanding something different. I wonder if we’ll ever get an answer to this.
EDIT: Nevermind, just read that it’s to do with disagreements over intellectual property. Seems a silly and petty reason to kill an entire series of first-class games, but that’s what success brings these days it seems. The more successful you are, the more people will try to suck it from you.
From PCGamer’s article about it, it seems that the owner of the property is the former CEO of GSC Games. Why he’s holding onto it and not letting the new team have it, I don’t know. He’s an asshole.
fuck f2p mmo
So there have been rumors that the former CEO of GSC sold the property to Bethesda, but the admin of the Facebook page says that this isn’t true.
Even if it did get sold to Bethesda idk should i be happy or sad
That MMOFPS won’t be a true STALKER game, which could be great or sad…
And to that Sergei guy, Get the fuck out of here Stalker
I… feel surprisingly okay about this.
Indeed. This could be the game I’ve been waiting for, the kind of game I’ve quietly plotted since 2004… and if anybody could make it work for realsies, it’s these guys.
Ohh, my Floydian friend, do not see it as a tragedy. The times I played Shadow of Chernobyl, the joy and beauty of STALKER was not “Oh man, this is going to have great sequels”… but instead “Holy smokes, this is great”.
I’m optimistic for a change. These guys can do anything they want, now, without any regard for maintaining the story they’ve built. That’s the best way to invent new gameplay.
The only thing I’m uncertain about is F2P.
I’ve always enjoyed games that make their money via box-sales. Once you paid the entrance fee, you were through the door with all-expenses-paid… a pass to go on all the rides in the park. You had the game, you were in the club, and you could forget about your wallet and have fun.
If I can play it for free, I’m afraid I’ll be stuck doing that. I’ll have my thirty bucks and a limited playing-experience, stuck wondering whether fun extra features are worth the penny.
The Stalker movie was by Tarkovsky (possibly my favourite film ever and one of my favourite directors ever. ‘Andrei Rublev’ is a fantastic epic) who has long since died. The film was loosely based on the book and the game is loosely based on the film.
Since the game bares almost zero comparison to the book I could never see how they could claim any money from it.
Anyway, as has been mentioned, some GSC guy has the rights. Lets take him to Chernobyl and drop him into the zone!:pirate:
Is Chernobyl still as dangerous as in 1986? Is the radiation still lethal at least?
People are giving tours to it, so I guess not. They even give tours to Pripyat.
lol
Anyway,
Why does that Sergei guy doesn’t want to let go of STALKER? It’s not giving him anything, he could just leave it to the Vostok team to continue the development.
I feel like sending death threats
absolutely, people get 520 rads exposure just from flying across the entire zone in a helicopter, and those who land near the sarcophagus succumb to cell degeneration within 3-5 hours–
SHHHH!! YOU’RE RUINING THE MYSTERY OF IT! :[
If I recall correctly, the thing with the Chernobyl tours is that they’re very strictly and carefully planned and guided to avoid the radioactive pockets. Most of the town will still cause you to die, as far as I know, but there are safe areas.
One of my bucket list things in life is to do one of those Chernobyl tours, probably be pretty expensive to get there from Australia but oh well. Stalker’s gonna stalk!
I wonder how many people they get that dress as stalkers on those tours and just screw around.
I was in Ukraine recently, but my girlfriend refused to let me go to Chernobyl. 
Instead we had to hang out with her friends in Kiev and Odessa. (The Odessa steps are pretty underwhelming)