S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Developer Is Victim of Hacker Group, GSC Game World Issues Statement

erek

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“GSC Game World has experienced significant strife in recent times, and declares that threats from a hacker group are not even the greatest of their current concerns: "We are a Ukrainian company, and like most Ukrainians, we have experienced many things that are much more terrifying: destroyed houses, ruined lives, and the deaths of our loved ones. Attempts to blackmail or intimidate us are completely futile.
Our unwavering commitment to supporting our country remains unchanged - we will continue to do everything possible to support Ukraine. And this won't change in the future under any circumstances. Despite the attempts to break us, we remain strong and courageous. Because when you believe in something and love it with all your heart, you have to defend it at all costs.. Our mission is to commit all of our strength and passion to complete the project and deliver it to you, despite all the obstacles on the way. Your support is our inspiration," the statement concludes.”

Source: https://www.techpowerup.com/305858/...-hacker-group-gsc-game-world-issues-statement
 
I'm buying this game regardless. STALKER is an awesome series and a lot of fun to play through. I'm certainly not going to go looking for spoilers, but even if I came across them, the gameplay experience will be worth it. No different than that time back in 1997 when I saw the movie Titanic despite the fact that...

*SPOILER ALERT*

...I knew that the boat sinks at the end of the movie.
 
i dont see any proof of these claims in there. did i miss it, is it in the video my work blocks?
 
i dont see any proof of these claims in there. did i miss it, is it in the video my work blocks?
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That sucks, but ultimately it won't do much except for maybe allow some asset flip games to steal their assets. Which would probably only be sold in Russia/China.

The screen shots look amazing. I think this will even bring the newest GPUs to their knees.
 
Conflating videogame development with a political struggle that I don't support is a great way to turn away gamers like myself.
This is a little weird.

If your house is on fire, you'll tend to see the entire world through the lens of that fire.
 
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Conflating videogame development with a political struggle that I don't support is a great way to turn away gamers like myself.

I don't see how it matters to you. All they did was stop Russian localization. Lets be realistic, the game is going to be banned in Russia so spending money to localize it doesn't make much sense. The few Russians that live aboard and want to play this game can probably understand Ukrainian well enough or understand one of the other languages the game will offer.

For unrelated political contexts I may understand, but remember they had to abandon their studio. Some of the developers had to quit their job to fight. Considering their "political struggle" is the exact reason the game got delayed it is very understandable that they make an issue of it. They are directly related.
 
I don't see how it matters to you. All they did was stop Russian localization. Lets be realistic, the game is going to be banned in Russia so spending money to localize it doesn't make much sense. The few Russians that live aboard and want to play this game can probably understand Ukrainian well enough or understand one of the other languages the game will offer.

For unrelated political contexts I may understand, but remember they had to abandon their studio. Some of the developers had to quit their job to fight. Considering their "political struggle" is the exact reason the game got delayed it is very understandable that they make an issue of it. They are directly related.
I'm an American who's country is funding a foreign NATO-driven proxy war. Meanwhile, America is falling apart and failing to take care of its own. I couldn't imagine supporting anyone or anything that is pushing pro-war propaganda. I'm amazed that after 9/11, people are still falling for this same bullshit.
 
its the same friggin thing man. i want proof, not claims. that is no better that "anonymous sources familiar with blah blah blah".
and the video i couldnt watch is just the trailer, stupid school wifi...
It's also posted in their official years old discord, good enough for me.
 
I'm an American who's country is funding a foreign NATO-driven proxy war. Meanwhile, America is falling apart and failing to take care of its own. I couldn't imagine supporting anyone or anything that is pushing pro-war propaganda. I'm amazed that after 9/11, people are still falling for this same bullshit.

This isn't any different from the invasion of Poland, Finland, Czechoslovakia, France, etc. There is nothing more just than defending your right to existence. The US went to war over less (Pearl Harbor). If that is "pro war", well, everyone should be pro war.

Besides, half of what we're sending are old rotting M113s, Strykers without mine protection that had their wheels driven off and other stuff pulled from the boneyard. A lot of the good stuff we send is being paid for by all the other countries placing big orders for American military hardware.

But I am still not sure how it affects your relationship with the game. When your developers are literally being killed fighting for their right to exist I kind of expect them to make some comments. The whole game was delayed because of the invasion. Even making a statement like "STALKER 2 has been delayed due to a recent world event", we'll all know what "world event" they are referring to. No reason to sugar coat it. You know why it was delayed. That isn't "political pandering". That is just reality.
 
I'm an American who's country is funding a foreign NATO-driven proxy war. Meanwhile, America is falling apart and failing to take care of its own. I couldn't imagine supporting anyone or anything that is pushing pro-war propaganda. I'm amazed that after 9/11, people are still falling for this same bullshit.
Anti-democratic, anti-personal-freedom Russia is using intelligence, diplomatic, military, cyber, and economic methods to actively interfere with and work against the interests of both the United States and the entire democratic and free world.

Russia is within both the United States and the rest of the democratic free world actively engaged in domestic political subterfuge, bribery, corruption, blackmail, and who knows what other illegal activities, promoting violence, disorder, unrest, and anti-democracy/freedom ideologies in an attempt to destabilize, isolate, and collapse these nations from within and even in some cases entirely overthrow governments to establish dictatorships allied with and/or subjugated to Russia, adding to the nations hostile to the democratic free world.

Simultaneously, since they are a dictatorship with an authoritarian society without individual rights, the US and the free world is unable respond with any kind of political activities within their own nation to promote social and political reform. So in this respect, they are free to attack us internally while we cannot counterattack them internally (not even in only positive ways to help their own government and society become better).

The United States is part of a defensive military alliance referred to as NATO. NATO's fundamental principles are democracy, freedom, justice, peace, security, international cooperation, and compliance with the United Nations Charter. NATO membership eligibility requires that, among other things, a nation internally sustains a specified level, at minimum, of free and democratic governance. An authoritarian, autocratic, or totalitarian nation is not allowed to join NATO.

NATO is not only mutual commitment of military defense among member democratic/free nations, but also provides overall collective security, both military and non-military, in an efficient centralized command structure that increases cost effectiveness. This reduces the total financial spending necessary of all member nations to achieve the same level of security and stability that would otherwise cost each member nation more if NATO was merely a non-centralized defense pact.

The European Union is an international economic and political institution allied with the United States and NATO. Most NATO members are a member of the EU. Although it has flaws, the goal is to maximize cooperation and economic efficiency among its members. Once again, like NATO, achieving a greater goal for all member nations that would be unobtainable by each separately. Its free/democratic/stable/anti-corruption governance and economic requirements to become a member are even more strict than NATO.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has been invited and accepted into many Western-controlled international institutions, organizations, and agreements that were previously not available to them. I don't think I have to list them all. Even further, Russia has been accepted into multiple NATO cooperation programs for non-members, and NATO even made multiple additional special cooperation agreements specifically only for/with Russia. 15+ years ago there were open discussions among major NATO members about one day in the "near future" (from back then), if Russia turned around and began seriously reforming their nation, offering them a Membership Action Plan, the first major step for a nation to begin the process of becoming a full NATO member.

In 1994 the Budapest Memorandum was signed by the United Kingdom, the United States, Ukraine, and Russia. This agreement prohibited the threat or use of military force or economic coercion against Ukraine "except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations." In return for this guarantee of peace and security, Ukraine surrendered all of its Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia.

And since the 1990s Ukraine and Georgia have both been very slowly reforming and moving to join both the EU and NATO. They both still have a lot of work to do to meet the standards of joining the EU, though at this point Ukraine is much closer to NATO requirements than Georgia. Both Ukraine and Georgia formally requested consideration for NATO membership in 2008. Russia almost immediately invaded Georgia. In 2014 they invaded Ukraine and began a continuous military conflict within the country. And between 2013 and 2018 Russia launched multiple chemical weapon attacks on civilian populations in Syria.

So now we arrive at last year.

We have a hostile power that is ideologically opposed to our very way of life, democracy and personal freedom, whatever is left of it. They are actively wrecking havoc internally in the United States and the rest of the free democratic world, attempting to hasten the end of that way of life. Yes, it is a huge failure on our part that we are even vulnerable to it, but unfortunately we are the way we are currently. This same hostile power is actively wrecking havoc internationally against our foreign interests to weaken us. They are using all available means against us, even the ones that we either refrain from engaging in or have no capability to engage in. And they have recently used and embolden others to use chemical weapons in the world. NATO has done everything it can to cooperate with the hostile power to decrease hostilities and simultaneously publicly indicate if the nation would only reform to a democratic free society, it would itself be welcome to NATO, and even the EU, should it choose to join either. But membership in either has never been and never will be a prerequisite to peace and cooperation between us.

At the same time we have a democratic country with significantly more freedom and individual rights than the hostile non-democratic nation. This democratic country is increasingly friendly to the US, NATO, EU, and all other free/democratic countries. For decades they have been slowly making progress towards the standards required to join the EU and NATO and have indicated they wish to join both ASAP. They actively pursue the same way of life that we claim to pursue. They want to join us and work together to improve the security and quality of life of all our peoples beyond what we can when divided.

The hostile power launches a massive full-scale invasion of conquest against the entire democratic country of this people. They violate numerous international laws, treaties, agreements, and principles they agreed to over a century across many nations and institutions throughout the world. They kidnap, rape, torture, and/or kill at minimum tens of thousands of civilians including women and children. They specifically target schools, hospitals, playgrounds, apartment buildings, critical civilian infrastructure, and even include nuclear power plants in the fight. They engage in large-scale war crimes and ethnic and cultural genocide. They begin aggressively trying to crack what minimum international "norms" we have, the ones that benefit and protect free democratic countries. They send the message loud and clear that if any nation wishes to join in peaceful cooperation with the US and allies in the future, they will destroy your nation and kill your people. Not only do they say no other nation has a right to be democratic and free, they say the US and its allies have no right to even improve their own people's lives with the cooperation of others. And they say they will enforce that declaration on all of us through military force.

But unlike the peoples of some other countries that we have even fought alongside or on behalf with the full might of the US and/or NATO, the people of this free country is willing to fight for their freedom and their future even on their own, and are doing so right now. And they still want to join us afterwards. All they ask for is the material means to fight for all involved. They will use their own blood and lives.

We spent less than 0.5% of our annual GDP on aid to Ukraine last year. A huge portion of our GDP goes to useless non-productive things, like computer/video games for example. But despite all of the above, your first thought is that this is a "NATO-driven" war that is hastening the collapse of our nation? You're worried that the less-than-0.5% is going to trickle down and cause you to be able to afford one less Big Mac a year? You guys put no value on the well-being of the free world (which includes the United States) and the lives and future of Ukranians who actually WANT and are FIGHTING to be free?
 
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And we in Europe are supposed to submit to Russian dictatorship just to please some US republican who doesn't even know how his own country came to be? Reagan is spinning in his grave.
Then pay your fair. US Taxpayers are in for $125 billion, how much has all of Europe committed?
 
That sucks, but ultimately it won't do much except for maybe allow some asset flip games to steal their assets. Which would probably only be sold in Russia/China.
Yeah the underlying components of the game are going to be mostly worthless to a third party. Someone might be able to screw around with them at home in their bedroom, then get bored.

And any dev that actually tried to integrate any of the material into a different game and then sell it on any game distro platform would get shredded.

As for leaking story/spoilers - WGAF. The game isn't about any super imaginative story narrative. This lineage is all about atmosphere - that baseline sense of dread moving through the game world.
 
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its the same friggin thing man. i want proof, not claims. that is no better that "anonymous sources familiar with blah blah blah".
and the video i couldnt watch is just the trailer, stupid school wifi...
I wonder what you'd consider as proof enough? Can you describe it?

I'm an American who's country is funding a foreign NATO-driven proxy war. Meanwhile, America is falling apart and failing to take care of its own. I couldn't imagine supporting anyone or anything that is pushing pro-war propaganda. I'm amazed that after 9/11, people are still falling for this same bullshit.
A NATO proxy war started by Russia, yeah, right makes sense. Georgia is on the menu again too, they are acting pro EU, we can't have that comrade.
 
Conflating videogame development with a political struggle that I don't support is a great way to turn away gamers like myself.

They had to evacuate their development studio because the city was being bombed (bombs fell not far from it), many of their developers are currently in combat and unable to work on the game they wanted to deliver to you, and their lead designer is KIA, so I’m pretty sure they don’t care that you don’t want to buy their game because you disapprove of them not selling a game in Russia or Belarus while they’re are busy resisting an invasion of their home country from those two countries.
 
I'm an American who's country is funding a foreign NATO-driven proxy war. Meanwhile, America is falling apart and failing to take care of its own. I couldn't imagine supporting anyone or anything that is pushing pro-war propaganda. I'm amazed that after 9/11, people are still falling for this same bullshit.

So then don’t buy the game and spend your time watching Tucker Carlson on full blast instead while the rest of us play STALKER 2 when it finally gets released. No one here cares, neither does GSC Game World.
 
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I wonder what you'd consider as proof enough? Can you describe it?


A NATO proxy war started by Russia, yeah, right makes sense. Georgia is on the menu again too, they are acting pro EU, we can't have that comrade.

People who blame NATO for this are also completely ignorant to the history of the region and conflict. Russia has been working to Russify Ukraine since Peter the Great, a leader of the Russian Empire who pre-dated the formation of the United States, and trace their origins back to Kyiv (Kievan Rus). Putin himself has referenced this in his war speeches to the Russian people, but sure, this is all about NATO, because Tucker Carlson said so.
 
I wonder what you'd consider as proof enough? Can you describe it?

“Conducting a hacking operation targeting a company not aligned with Russian interests and then trying to blackmail them by threatening to release their data unless their demands are met? I dunno man, does that really sound like something a Russian hacker group would do?”
 
Then pay your fair. US Taxpayers are in for $125 billion, how much has all of Europe committed?
We do pay here in Romania, we have a 2% defense budget that goes directly into NATO defense, as per Donald Trump's instructions. We'd gladly pay more if we didn't have our countries bankrupted by 45 years of communism after you guys abandoned us to the Russians back in 1945. I certainly hope that your leaders are going to fulfill your obligations to NATO and help with defense in the region, we certainly don't want Russia on our borders again.
 
I can't believe the war hasn't outright canceled the game! Not surprised that Russian's have hacked the studio. I for one am really looking forward to getting it Day 1.
 
I can't believe the war hasn't outright canceled the game! Not surprised that Russian's have hacked the studio. I for one am really looking forward to getting it Day 1.

I am glad development is still ongoing. It is backed in some capacity by Microsoft, and I assume they want to use this as a timed exclusive. Considering the game was far along we got lucky. Had this happened 6-9 months earlier I think the game would never have seen the light of day. Seems like they are in the polishing phase that got extended by 12-15 months for obvious reasons.

Which worries me that the game might be released in a rough shape. Seems like they were trying hard to not make it buggy and unfinished like the original. Once again, I hope Microsoft is able to help them keep it afloat so when it does release it is in good shape.
 
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STALKER changed my life. I got into the lore 100%, it re-ignited my obsession about the Chernobyl disaster. Got me to watch Tarkovsky's "Stalker" film. Even spilled into the Metro books, which I love.

That said, I mostly stopped commenting on the war on [H]ere. Our perspectives just can't line up due to the conditioning I (and other Poles) underwent through learning history. Many bits and bobs are missing from the globally-pushed narrative, that would help explain why it looks like GSC is shoe-horning the war into something like game development.
For me, the plane crash trauma is still very much alive, and the events surrounding it (looting of corpses, placing multiple victims' heads in one casket...) cloud my objectivism.
I can't get into this without emotions, and I don't want those emotions to affect my relationships with you guys (Westerners of H).
 
We do pay here in Romania, we have a 2% defense budget that goes directly into NATO defense, as per Donald Trump's instructions. We'd gladly pay more if we didn't have our countries bankrupted by 45 years of communism after you guys abandoned us to the Russians back in 1945. I certainly hope that your leaders are going to fulfill your obligations to NATO and help with defense in the region, we certainly don't want Russia on our borders again.

Good, you're paying your fair share and 2% is way too low. Up it, for all the years your and many other countries in the region had been behind on. Quite frankly - I don't care about your border issues and whatnot. I'm far removed from it over there and I as a United States citizen would very much rather that the US focus on internal affairs rather than what's happening in Ukraine. Europe can handle its own affairs as there are tons of countries over there that can handle it, it's time to step up. I'll admit that Romania are doing much better in their share when compared to many other European countries so for that alone, I thank your people and country for being more proactive and it's quite frankly time for rest of the Europe to do the same.

Source - https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2022/6/pdf/220627-def-exp-2022-en.pdf
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Back to being On Topic; I'm looking forward to the STALKER 2 and this whole situation is unfortunate for the developers. Best of luck to them on their endeavor and I look forward to the day when it's released.
 
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Yeah, I'm surprised they still have devs working on this. Many devs are in the trenches or already died fighting the war.

As for "this war is because of NATO agression"
Russia isn't afraid of being invaded by a NATO country otherwise they wouldn't be sending the majority of their land forces into Ukraine. Without nukes they couldn't defend themselves from a NATO special operation. But they keep destroying their army as we speak.

Every US taxpayer dollar given to Ukraine is 10x we will get in return when China is ready to invade Taiwan. Instead of keeping half our forces in Europe and half in the Pacific, we will have no threats to keep up with in the Atlantic. There won't be a two headed dragon to contend with. China will get crap support from Russia. Taiwan has more hope.

This invasion is doing more to deter China's plans than anything else we could do.
 
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