• Russian politicians are warning that Russians who buy STALKER 2 could face harsh consequences, including criminal charges.
• This is because of potential instances of anti-Russian sentiment or if the developer is found to support the Ukrainian military.
• STALKER 2 is an Xbox-backed game made in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion and it launches next week.

Very few games have as unique development cycles as the highly anticipated STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, seeing as the latter half of the game was made while Ukraine was under Russian invasion since 2022.

A 2022 Microsoft-produced film of the game’s development showed devs hiding in bomb shelters, and stockpiling water while making the game in Kyiv. “The work day begins air raid alerts,” one dev says in a particularly eerie scene.

The game was delayed several times because of the war with an initial release window in 2022.

Now reports are saying that Russian lawmakers are looking to impose hefty consequences on Russian citizens who are found to have purchased a copy of the game.

Especially if proceeds from STALKER 2 have gone towards the Ukrainian government in any way or if “extremist” content is found in-game by Russian authorities.

“There could be the most severe measures if illegal content is found in the game upon release, such as extremism, justification of terrorism, or incitement of ethnic hatred,” said Anton Gorelkin, deputy president of a Russian state information watchdog per News Ukraine.

Gorelkin added that STALKER 2 “has every chance of being banned in Russia.”

The STALKER series is enormously popular in Eastern Europe, particularly in Ukraine and Russia. In March last year, GSC said that they had been hacked and had data stolen after announcing that the game would not include a Russian language version.

Russians interested in getting their hands on the game would have to do so through illegal means as GSC Game World, the developer of STALKER, has decided not to sell any of its products in Russia, including physical copies.

“It is not necessary to spoil the game for people because of politics,” the alleged hackers said, with one of the ransom demands to make a version for Russians.

Russian attorney Mikhail Mushailov added that Russian users who have purchased the game might face criminal charges if evidence was discovered that GSC Game World has supported the Ukrainian military in any way.

Famously, one of STALKER 2’s lead developers, Dmytro Iassenev, was fighting against Russian invaders in 2022 at the beginning of the war. Another GSC developer, Volodymyr Yezhov, was killed in action in 2022.

He is survived by his two children.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is launching worldwide next week, on 20th November 2024. The game is built on Unreal Engine 5 and will come out on PC and Xbox Game Pass for Series X and S. It has already gone gold from pre-orders as of earlier this week.