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From his company’s new headquarters in Prague, the director of the Ukrainian studio “GSC Game World” talks about years of war, pandemic and cyber attacks, when his company succeeded in being developing the game “STALKER 2”, which is expected to be. released on Wednesday.
The company’s CEO and game director, Evgen Grigorovich, says, “The war affected our lives… (but) not our creativity.”
The release of the second part of the long-awaited series that began in 2007, which is a shooting game that takes place in a virtual version of the exclusion zone near Chernobyl, marks the end of a long and chaotic development process for the studio. workers.
Some of them went to the eastern part of Ukraine and then to the Czech Republic a few days before the Russian invasion in February 2022, and several others joined the army.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Gregorovich said, “Most of them stayed in Ukraine, and yet we did not feel that our team was divided.”
All meetings are held online, starting with the weekly meeting for around 500 employees in Ukraine and the Czech Republic.
Grigorovich was born a few days before the Chernobyl disaster, and he was only 14 years old when he joined the studio founded by his brother Sergei in 1995 in Kiev.
He says, “I’m an introvert and I don’t like to spend my energy directing other people to what they need to achieve.” So I learned to do everything myself.”
But the experience of the self-described “very good programmer and game designer” didn’t help prepare him for the quick departure the war took him on, which was covered in a documentary titled “War Game: The Making of Stalker 2,” released on YouTube in October.
– War game –
“The attack affected us and the game because we became quite different people,” says Grigorovich, who escaped with his wife, a musician who became the manager of GSC, their five-year-old son year old and other family members.
Since then, GSC, the creator of the strategy game Cossacks, has also kept Russian players away from their inventions by removing the dubbing of the game into their language and adopting the vocabulary in Ukrainian.
The company was exposed almost daily to attacks from Russian hackers who tried to disrupt the development process of “Stacker 2.” Gregorovich describes this situation as “difficult but manageable,” and ordered his company to strengthen its security system.
Team members who took refuge in Prague send part of their salary to Ukraine to support their families, and those who chose to join the army are still receiving their salary.
A few weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the company announced that it was donating about $800,000, generated from the sale of its games, to a Ukrainian non-governmental organization.
The development of the game “STALKER 2”, which was first announced in 2010, was stopped for several years.
Its release was postponed several times, before it was announced that it would be released on PCs and Xbox Series devices on November 20.
-Cultural difference-
The game is named after the shortcut used by thieves to move across the restricted area in Chernobyl, after a second nuclear disaster.
Gregorovich says, “This area is one of the most beautiful places in the world,” and the team has visited it several times.
He said, “A tree can be seen growing on top of a five-storey building… It’s a very scary and strange thing and it’s a great experience.”
The Ukrainian character of the series distinguishes it from interesting Western shooting games such as Call of Duty.
The company states that 15 million copies of “STALKER” and the two sequel games released in 2008 and 2009 were sold. The new game was presented at the Gamescom exhibition in Germany last year.
This presentation made it possible to correct some of the flaws in the game.
“I want to be proud of what we did,” said Gregorovic, who is still worried about the reactions of the game’s fans a few days before its release.
One of them says in the documentary, “I’m very happy that the game survived the war, and I’m sure that Ukraine will come out of it too.”
Farj-Kaf/Rak/Jack
How has your personal experience with the Chernobyl disaster shaped not only the game’s narrative but also the overall atmosphere and artistic direction in STALKER 2?
As the director of GSC Game World, could you tell us more about the challenges your team faced while developing STALKER 2 amidst the war and pandemic? How did you ensure consistency in your creative vision while being physically separated?
As someone who experienced the Chernobyl disaster firsthand, what role does this historical event play in the inspiration behind the game? How does the unique Ukrainian setting of STALKER 2 differentiate it from other popular Western shooting games?
With some employees choosing to stay in Ukraine and others leaving for safer locations or joining the army, how did you navigate the dynamic changes within your team? Can you describe the cultural differences that emerged within the company as a result of the war?
What steps did you take to secure the game’s development process against cyber attacks from Russian hackers? Were there any particular challenges that stood out during this time?
Given that STALKER 2’s release was postponed several times before, what factors contributed to the decision to finally release it in November 2024? How has the feedback been from both fans and critics so far?
As someone who has been with the company since its inception, what changes have you noticed in the industry since the early days of game development? Do you think the gaming landscape has become more competitive or collaborative over the years?
Lastly, what would be your message to gamers around the world regarding the importance of supporting Ukrainian games and artists during these challenging times?
