A developer from GSC Game World, the Ukrainian studio behind the game, made a claim worth examining more closely.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is one of the few third-party Xbox Series exclusives, which isn’t surprising given the quality of the latest installment in the series and the franchise’s uniqueness. However, the story behind how the exclusivity deal with Microsoft came about is surprising. In a recent interview, GSC Game World founder Serhiy Hryhorovych revealed that Microsoft agreed to finance the game’s console exclusivity primarily because of the massive view count on one of the game’s YouTube videos. The deal was particularly favorable for the studio. According to Hryhorovych, Microsoft paid more than the game’s total development budget before its release.
“We put out a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 video, and when they saw the number of views on that video, they had all the documents ready for signing within about a week. They came to us. They saw the view count and quickly joined in. We received more from Xbox than the total cost of developing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. It paid for itself before day one, before it even started selling,” Hryhorovych stated.
Since the financial details of the deal will likely never be disclosed, it’s difficult to determine whether Xbox’s gamble ultimately paid off. However, it’s almost certain that this decision was made with Xbox Game Pass in mind, as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl was released directly through the service. While GSC Game World may have lost some standalone sales due to Game Pass, the payment exceeded its entire development budget, ensuring that the studio would come out ahead financially before the console exclusivity period ended.
In a statement to Insider Gaming, GSC Game World declared that Hryhorovych’s claims regarding the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Xbox exclusivity agreement are false: “In accordance with the agreements reached between the parties, Serhiy was not involved in negotiations with partners regarding S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 or in the development of the game throughout its production cycle. We have always fully honored these agreements. For this reason, his comments regarding the company’s activities cannot be considered an accurate reflection of the actual state of affairs.”
Therefore, Hryhorovych was lying. And not just a little. A lot.
Source: WCCFTech, Insider Gaming
