Summary
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylhas been pushed back to 2024, delivering a blow to the Xbox Game Pass holiday season lineup. This turn of events is just the latest chapter in the game’s troubled development history, arriving less than a year since GSC Game World reassured fans thatSTALKER 2was still aiming for a 2023 release.
Originally announced in 2021, the second numbered installment in theSTALKERfranchise is actually its fourth game overall. GSC was initially planning to release its next FPS-RPG hybrid in April 2022 before pushing it back by eight months in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine which forced it to relocate from Kyiv to Prague. And though thatSTALKER 2delay at least promised to strengthen the Xbox Game Pass holiday 2022 lineup, the game also ended up missing its December 8 release date, having been postponed to 2023.
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STALKER 2has now slipped into 2024, according to the latest version of its official fact sheet. While this development might dishearten some fans who spent the last 14 years waiting for another entry in the franchise, the project does seem to be nearing completion, as its latest postponement appears to be fairly minor. Namely,STALKER 2is now targeting a Q1 2024 launch, the game’s newest fact sheet reads. GSC continues to offer digital pre-orders for the first-person RPG via Steam and GOG, while advanced orders for physical copies can still be placed via the game’s official website.
The Ukrainian studio did not attach a concrete release date toSTALKER 2following the game’s previous delay. However, several recent retailer listings suggested that the studio was looking to debut its next title on August 05, 2025. Assuming that date wasn’t just a placeholder, this latest postponement plausibly happened for polishing purposes and isn’t indicative of any major development troubles. Another reason to believe thatSTALKER 2is finally on the horizon is that GSC brought a playable version of the game to Gamescom 2023, which is taking place in Cologne, Germany.
While this delay certainly puts a dent in the Xbox Game Pass holiday lineup for 2023, Microsoft’s subscription service shouldn’t be lacking in great releases in the final months of the year. On the contrary, multiple heavy hitters likeStarfieldandForza Motorsportare scheduled forday one releases on Xbox Game Passin the coming weeks.
That notwithstanding,STALKER 2isn’t the onlyday one Xbox Game Pass title that was recently hit with a delay. The same fate has previously befallen indie cyberpunk platformerReplaced, which slipped into 2024 earlier this week.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyllaunches Q1 2024 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
Source:STALKER 2,Wccftech
