STALKER 2 – this game can’t catch a break (Picture: GSC Game World)



Early builds of STALKER 2 have made their way online, but there are conflicting claims of it being a hack or an accident.



After needing to put development on hold due to the Russia-Ukraine war, GSC Game World announced last year that its upcoming STALKER 2: Hearts Of Chornobyl will launch in 2023 .



While it still lacks an exact date, or month, this means it could be featured at next month’s Xbox showcase . Ahead of any such appearance, though, GSC Game World is going to be busy with damage control.



That’s because development builds for the game have leaked online, which some have attributed to a Russian hacking attack.



For some context, GSC Game World was targeted by Russian hackers once before in March, which resulted in screenshots and artwork from STALKER 2 leaking online.



This was part of a blackmail attempt to get the Russian localisation of the game uncancelled, as well as for GSC Game World to ‘apologise for [its] unworthy attitude towards ordinary players’ from Russia and Belarus, among other demands.



The hackers threatened to share ‘tens of gigabytes’ of material if their demands weren’t met, which they weren’t as GSC Game World made a public statement about how it wouldn’t give in to such threats.



As such, it’s easy to believe that the same hackers are responsible for this recent leak, which is said to contain early builds of STALKER 2.



The above in-game screenshot is proof that the builds are out in the wild (Picture: VK via Gagadget.com)



We obviously won’t be sharing links to places where you can access it, but according to Gagadget.com , the builds were shared via a Russian social media group called That Stalker’s Messenger.



This included a screenshot of an in-game logo which is displayed when the game starts, serving as proof that the leak isn’t a bluff and people have access to the data.



At the time of writing, GSC Game World hasn’t issued any sort of statement on the matter and there’re conflicting statements online, which suggest that this leak isn’t the work of hackers but instead an accident, with Insider Gaming reporting that it comes from the studio’s IT department.



Plus, the leaked builds are currently encrypted, and no one can actually access and play them anyway. At least for now.



Regardless of how it happened, there are probably some very angry and concerned conversations taking place at GSC Game World. Whether or not this will result in STALKER 2 being delayed is anyone’s guess, but hopefully we’ll find out for sure soon.



STALKER 2: Heart Of Chornobyl launches for Xbox Series X/S and PC in 2023.









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