Stalker 2 dev offices catch fire, suffer significant damage
"We've dealt with worse than that before" states dev on the community Discord, pointing to work trucking ahead.
The Prague offices of GSC Game World - the development team behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chornobyl - have suffered significant fire damage. The current extent of damage remains unconfirmed, but thankfully no developers have been injured during the fire.
This was first reported by Vortex, a Czech outlet that reported via several anonymous sources that an electrical fire broke out. Fire services arrived, 30 people were evacuated from the building, and an estimated 1.5 million crowns ($65,885) worth of damage was done. Following this report, the news was confirmed by devs in the Stalker 2 community Discord server.
"It is true," writes GSC World developer Mol1t. "Fortunately, none of the employees or office staff were injured in the accident. A fire broke out in our office in Prague on Thursday. Even though the fire was successfully put out, one of the office floors now requires a full restoration. Further details of the accident are still being investigated. We express our deepest appreciation for your questions and the words of support we have been receiving."
They continued: "No anomaly, not even a "Burner", will make us stop in our pursuit of our final goal. We've dealt with worse than that before. This is fine." That final line, of course, a reference to the sudden and dangerous occurrence in-game where the player must look out for incoming fire damage emanating out from these tall pillars of radiating heat. Much like the protagonist in Stalker, it seems the team is preparing to buckle down and keep trucking forward.
This is the latest in a series of horrendous roadblocks in the way of GSC Game World. The studio had to relocate to Prague following the war in Ukraine, and has publicly called for the support of Ukraine from the public and its community. It also tragically lost one of its own developers - Volodymyr Yezhov - during the war.
In spite of all these hurdles, all these anomalies and blows, Stalker 2 remains in progress. The game may still be targetting a December release based on prior info, but following this fire, we'll have to wait and see.