S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 - TTLG Forums

Sulphur on 1/9/2010 at 17:30

You are of course entitled to feel whichever way you want to. Apart from being selfish, I also think it's a pretty misanthropic viewpoint that games you enjoy must come at a standard high enough that the price is the creator's livelihood, but whatever: if developers like LGS either disappear without a trace or start toeing the commerciailist line, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone here. The bottom line in a business, at the end of the day, is the bottom line.

Zygoptera on 1/9/2010 at 23:22

Quote Posted by Sulphur

4 million at full retail sales price? Oh my.

We don't know what the split between all the titles in the series is. If the majority of that 4 million went towards SoC - which is quite possible given the level of hype it had - then it doesn't really bode too well, does it?

I think it can safely be said that the default position on 4 million sales is that while they may not be building gold plated swimming pools filled with hookers and blow or buying most of Kyiv on a lark they certainly aren't out on the street begging for vodka and potato while hawking off spare organs either.

Oh yeah, an extra tad of digging (checking wikipedia, lolrofl) shows that the sales were 2 million as of September 2008 according to GSC. So that's one million+ extra sales a year, a tailing off that most studios would be pretty happy with.

So far as I can see the only problem they had was that their publisher scope kept diminishing THQ-> Koch -> dtp (OK, it's bitComposer apparently who I've never even heard of) so maybe they'd have trouble finding a distributor with decent coverage and without nasty conditions like nicking the IP for a PC exclusive. Or they just want more money, which is fair enough. Personally I'm fine with that as long as the PC version ain't compromised.

mr. hermit on 4/9/2010 at 05:27

I cant be bothered checking these facts but I'm pretty sure GSC made a deal with its publisher that makes the developer essentially an employee and not an owner so they'll be on subsistence, probably a luxurious subsistence but not enough to fund a new startup, ie: not enough to become a threat.

The argument is stupid anyway, you cannot slow down, ever. there is no such thing as 'I can do this and make a living, I'll do it forever' this thought is just a fantasy. Even bill gates cannot stop, money must be nurtured and well taken care of, you can never leave it alone or it will stagnate and decline, then it will become a burden and begin to slowly destroy and take over, the only way to survive is endless growth.

blaydes99 on 16/9/2010 at 22:28

Quote Posted by Koki

All I know is that STALKER 2 will suck :cool:

Stop the presses guys, the prophet has spoken! Abandon all hope for STALKER 2!

Koki on 17/9/2010 at 08:45

And right on time too.

Vicarious on 22/10/2010 at 06:17

GSCs (http://twitter.com/gscstalker/status/27966034695) Twitter reports (http://stalker.pl/) Stalker.pl did an interview with GSC PR Sasha Nikolsky:

Copytco: In the interview found in the Net you said that “the game is being created at complitely new engine”.
Is it brand new version of X-Ray, or freshly designed technology?
Sasha Nikolsky: It is a totally brand new engine.

C: Stalker 2 was told to be multiplatform game. Do you plan to develop in parallel both PC and consoles to cut down restrictions between platforms?
SN: We are developing Stalker 2 for PC and then it will be ported to console. PC is our favorite platform.

C: What about modders? Is support (meaning: kits and engine flexibility) for mods and modders going to be better than in previous games? Mods bring second youth to many games, just look at Gothic or Half-Life 2...
SN: We appreciate the modding community and we have some very talent and passionate modders. It is very important to us that the modding community can still get enjoyment from Stalker 2.

C: Do you plan to develop better multiplayer to finally use its potential?
SN: Our plan is to make every aspect of Stalker better. Single player, Multiplayer... everything. The main part about Stalker is the single player mode. However, we do want Multiplayer to be a bigger part of Stalker 2 as well. There will be the obvious normal game modes, like Death Match, Artifact Hunt, etc... and maybe a few suprises too. ;)

C: Are there any chances that Stalker 2 would go rather into RPG game, notconsidering mechanics, but the way the story is told, so non-linear plot, lots of moral wrinkles?
SN: The story in Stalker is very important. There will be a main quest of course but you will also be able to do what you like and have moral choices. Every aspect of subquests and stories will be more complex and play a bigger role on what the player experiences.

Koki on 22/10/2010 at 06:26

So he basically said nothing at all. He's a good PR guy, that Sasha.

catbarf on 22/10/2010 at 19:29

There is that whole 'develop for PC and port to console, because we prefer PC' thing that kind of concludes the last two pages of argument.

Sulphur on 22/10/2010 at 22:04

Yay, huzzah, etc.

Koki on 23/10/2010 at 08:26

Quote Posted by catbarf

There is that whole 'develop for PC and port to console, because we prefer PC' thing that kind of concludes the last two pages of argument.

1. Everyone always says that
2. If they aimed mostly for PC they wouldn't need to change the engine they've been developing for a decade