GSC Announces Forthcoming S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Titles

Ukraine-based developer GSC Game World has announced that it will be unveiling "several subsequent new products" in its critically acclaimed S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise at the upcoming E3 Media & Business Summit. The THQ-published post-apocalyptic open-ended RPG/first person shooter was a critical hit upon its release earlier this year (as previously reported), after an extremely ambitious and expensive seven year development period. GSC's Oleg Yavorsky told Gamasutra, that he remained optimistic following the belabored release, saying, "Hopefully, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will contribute to making it easier for Eastern European studios to gain access to Western markets," and adding that the relationship with publisher THQ was "a new and positive experience. It was very supportive of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., even when the release was postponed and things didn’t look good." THQ said in its fourth quarter report that the title was a strong contributor to its record sales and profit. No further details about the forthcoming games has been announced prior to the E3 show, though Yavorsky did previously hint that GSC believed "the ideas vested in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. have great potential." In a statement about the new games, GSC Game World's CEO Sergiy Grygorovych said, "We are very happy of the players' positive reaction to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. all over the world. This fills us with confidence the team is on the right track and adds us strength to go for next exciting accomplishments. It will be very soon that we present our new interesting ideas and solutions."