Bethesda Reportedly Owns Rights to STALKER Series

News
By Catherine Cai
published

There may be another S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, but not in the way you might think...

While there have been many interpretations of the post-apocalypse, none have been quite as bleak as Ukrainian developer GSC Game World's with the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. Though the games were riddled with technical issues, fans were able to overlook the flaws due to the open world, survival elements, and a strong modding community developed around the games, bringing about overhaul mods that fixed up many of these technical issues.

It's for this reason why the possibility of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 game excited many PC gamers and why so many were saddened when GSC shuttered its doors earlier this year.

Now, according to Sergey Galyonkin, the Ukrainian blogger who broke that GSC was shutting down, there may actually be a possibility of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2… but not in the way that fans would want it. Bethesda, developer behind Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls series, has allegedly bought up the rights to make a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game. Bethesda doesn't own the brand entirely, as GSC still owns the rights to the extended S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe.

Bethesda's been elusive when prompted for a comment. However, if this does prove true, will we see a faithful revival of the series, or something similar to Fallout 3?

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Catherine Cai
28 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Oh lord no.

    Stalker Call of consolitis.
    Reply
  • nitrium
    Well at least it not EA.
    Reply
  • hetneo
    I hope that in business sense this is diversification of portfolio by Bethesda and not just siphoning from popular brand :\ Diversification would imply it will at least not be same as some other Bethesda game, if not staying true to first game.
    Reply
  • molo9000
    Another great series ruined by Bethesda....
    They totally missed the point when making Fallout 3.
    Reply
  • nope123_08
    TomHardware has always has been slow on news. Joe Mullin of Vostok Games already denied this:
    https://twitter.com/joewillburn/status/230394092327165952
    Reply
  • killbits
    molo9000Another great series ruined by Bethesda....They totally missed the point when making Fallout 3.
    i haven't read a more false statement in several years. thanks for the laugh.
    Reply
  • molo9000
    killbitsi haven't read a more false statement in several years. thanks for the laugh.
    Have you played the original Fallout games?

    Fallout 3 was crap compared to them.
    Bad writing/storytelling, unbelievable characters, tiny world, 100% linear main story line, boring quests, black&white morality, one of the worst combat systems I've ever seen, the SPECIAL character system (which was one of the best ever devised) turned to shit...

    Fallout1&2 and their predecessor Wasteland were milestones of the RPG genre. Fallout 3 was just Oblivion with guns.
    Reply
  • JJ1217
    molo9000Have you played the original Fallout games?Fallout 3 was crap compared to them.Bad writing/storytelling, unbelievable characters, tiny world, 100% linear main story line, boring quests, black&white morality, one of the worst combat systems I've ever seen, the SPECIAL character system (which was one of the best ever devised) turned to shit...Fallout1&2 and their predecessor Wasteland were milestones of the RPG genre. Fallout 3 was just Oblivion with guns.
    GAMES ARE MEANT TO BE FUN. Who gives a flying fuck compared to the other games? They win Game of the Year 2008, and rightfully so.
    Reply
  • Gundam288
    It's for this reason why the possibility of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 game excited many PC gamers and why so many were saddened when GSC shuttered its doors earlier this year.

    It looks like GSC isn't completely closed yet, but it does look as if there game making days are over and are trying to live off of the stalker series to me...

    I own all of the stalker games from them, and I have yet to play the 3rd one but something tells me that the 4th is going to be something that I won't rush out and buy.

    also, it looks like the new studio made up of old GSC employees wanted to get the rights to STALKER 2, but couldn't fork over the cash like Bethesda did.

    Via:
    "To be clear the exact requirements for the owner of GSC to sell the IP rights of the Stalker franchise are as follows: Shares in the company purchasing the rights. The right to choose the development team that will work on the title. And last but not least a very high finacial sum. All those are the reasons (and a few more, but those are the outlined reasons) why a previous agreement between Vostok Games and GSC could not be met."
    Reply
  • rantoc
    Have all the stalkers and im happy it was bethesta who got the license. They have experience with open world type game play from the Fallout 3 and Skyrim for instance, i really hope they manage to get the Stalker feeling into the game if they make a new one. Fallout 3 or skyrim isnt "depressive" enough =)
    Reply