STALKER 2 Likely to be Microsoft's Temporary Exclusive
What do Apple and Epic Games have in common with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2? Birtually nothing, but thanks to their court battle we've learned that GSC Game World's will game be a temporaty exclusive for Xbox Series X/S and PC.
The court hearing on Apple's conflict with Epic Games is fast approaching. But while many are keeping a close eye on the case, fans of a certain video game series have taken an interest in it for reasons other than the nuances of digital distribution practices. One of the witnesses called by both sides is Lori Wright, vice president of Xbox business development at Microsoft (via The Verge). This translated into the inclusion of the documentation from the Redmond giant in the proceedings, of course, edited so as not to reveal confidential data. However, by some miracle, one of the materials contains intriguing information that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is to be a temporary title exclusive to Microsoft consoles for a period of three months. We owe the discovery to Reddit users.
Recall that so far the creators of the new installment of the Zone survivalseries strongly denied that the sequel is to be released outside of Xbox and PC. Meanwhile, the information about the three-month exclusivity indirectly confirms that the game will also appear on other consoles. Obviously, this means specifically the PlayStation 5, because Zakhar Bocharov from GSC Game World has just made it clear that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will skip 8th-gen platforms. In the same interview, the developer said that the team is not thinking about the release on PS5 at all, which in a way means that they do not reject the possibility of the game's debut on Sony's new console.
It should be noted, however, that the document containing this information relates to Microsoft's plans from August 2020 (which can also be seen from the debut date of Cyberpunk 2077 and the unannounced status of Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War, among others). So it was prepared long before the first official information about the exclusivity of the new STALKER for PC and Xbox in January 2021. By this time, GSC Game World could have abandoned the game's release on PlayStation 5 or decided to extend the exclusivity period.
Nevertheless, the mention confirms that the developers at least considered the debut of their work on this platform. Another thing is that so far we do not even know the release date on PC and Microsoft consoles. In this situation, it is impossible to speculate about the possible launch date of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 on other devices.
