The "unexpected" appearance of Maxim Krippa
In March 2023, it was reported that the company that developed S.T.A.L.K.E.R. GSC Game World changed its ownership. The news caused a storm of emotions among computer game fans and the business community. Such significant changes in the leading computer game development company in Ukraine cannot but arouse interest. But at that time, the information was spread on the level of rumors and had no official confirmation. Therefore, some experts built conspiracy theories pointing to some mysterious problems that, in particular, affect the release of the long-awaited S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.
Six months later, journalists noticed changes in the registry. All sorts of alarmist versions in the spirit of "all is lost" became noticeably more numerous, and many said goodbye to the prospect of ever seeing not only the second Stalker, but any decent product from GSC Game World.
But soon after, representatives of the company came out with a public announcement and explained all the changes in a very concise and clear manner. Thus, GSC Game World has changed its owner. The new owner is Maxim Krippa, a well-known investor in the esports community. But Maxim Krippa cannot be called a "new" person in the company in the full sense.
According to Maksym Tkachenko (community manager of GSC Game World, ed.), Maxim Krippa has been an investor in the company since 2020. Not only does Maxim Krippa not interfere with the creation of new products and the completion of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, but quite the opposite.
Tkachenko hinted at the reason for the change of ownership, saying that product development and business development require substantial funds. From this we can conclude that the arrival of Maxim Krippa should be perceived as a purposeful step towards scaling and development.
Financial difficulties and studio closure are in the past
Tkachenko's comments on the importance of financial injections in his press commentary were not accidental. Just remember the year 2010. It was on this date that GSC Game World announced the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. However, we never got to see the long-awaited game, and in 2011, the fan community was shocked by the news that Sergey Grigorievich had decided to close the studio.
Different reasons were given, but the most plausible was the lack of money. Moreover, a year later, representatives of GSC Game World announced that they were continuing to work on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, but without funding and in dire need of an investor.
In total, the release date of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl was postponed five times. And fans were able to see the first trailer only in 2020. It is interesting that the date coincides with the arrival of Maxim Krippa, an investor in GSC Game World.
Therefore, if we talk about the influence of the new owner on the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, it is only in a positive way. After all, substantial financial injections and new management will make it possible to speed up the completion of the game.
When will S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl be released?
Having solved the problems with money, GSC Game World faced new global difficulties - a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Naturally, work on the game stopped until the company relocated to Prague.
Active hostilities on the territory of Ukraine have once again delayed the game's release. At the moment, the developers promise to "finish off" the technical roughness and complete the work by September 2024. At the same time, fans are promised high quality and satisfaction of even the wildest expectations.
Is the wait worth it?
We also had to wait a long time for the release of the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: the release scheduled for the fall of 2004 took place only in 2007, when many people were already desperate to wait. However, delays and losses along the way did not prevent S.T.A.L.K.E.R. from becoming legendary and reaching the top ten of the sales charts for various platforms, as well as taking the top spot among sales for PC.
The probability that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will repeat the effect of its predecessor is very high. The creators have already promised 40 hours of the main story, not counting possible variations, as the game involves a non-linear development of the plot controlled by the player. Let's add to this four variants of the ending and the traditional habit of game lovers to test all possible endings.
You will have to play the game with almost no hints, and without them, you will have to cope with monsters equipped with artificial intelligence. The game also promises to have all kinds of weapon modifications, etc.
In brief:
To summarize, we can say the following. It is not known when S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will be released, but there is hope that this fall users will have the opportunity to plunge into the world of the second Stalker and appreciate what GSC Game World has been working on for so long.
The change of the company's owner and the arrival of Maxim Krippa will not prevent the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Moreover, there is every reason to believe that Maxim Krippa arrival has already had a positive impact on the company's work and made it possible to talk about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 coming out.