Stalker 2 was a financial success before it ever got into the hands of players.
In a new interview with YouTuber OLDBoi, GSC Game World founder Sergiy Grygorovych spoke about the game’s launch and the decision to release it as a timed exclusive on Xbox. And though he wouldn’t go into full details on the financials, he did make it clear that it was financially worth it for the company.
Xbox Covered Development Costs
Grygorovych says that the company understood that Sony and Microsoft are “at war” with each other for the attention of gamers. He also said that Microsoft being successful on the stock market meant that they had the money to invest in games they’d like.
One of those games was 2024’s Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl.
“We took more than the cost of Stalker 2,” he said via translation. “It paid for itself before the first day.”
Grygorovych said that a reason Xbox was so interested in Stalker 2 is because of how well the game’s trailer performed online. He says that when Xbox looked at the number of views on the trailer, they “quickly joined”.
“They brought in all the documents for signing in about a week,” he said.
Stalker 2 released on November 20, 2024 for Xbox Series X|S and PC. In its first five months, the game had sold over 3 million copies and reached over 6 million total players. It wasn’t until November 20, 2025, when the one-year exclusive window on Xbox ended, that the game found its way to PlayStation 5.
What do you think of Xbox paying more than the cost of the game’s development to make Stalker 2 a timed Xbox exclusive? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, or join the discussion in the official Insider Gaming Discord.
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Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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That was another Phil being nice to a studio that was going through it… Covid and the damn Russian War/invasion. So pretty much, Stalker 2 only really ever came out because of Xbox. Because the game barely made it out the door, it got delayed2 or 3 times with super long delays… And what is honestly BS… The game was so damn buggy that whole time it was exclusive. It wasn’t until the game made it on PS5 and then about 6 months or a year until they had as big patch that finally got the game playing at where everyone would have wanted it to be at lunch (especially after waiting 2 years with delays)