Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl may be delayed until later this year

Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl
(Image credit: GSC Game World)

Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl may soon be delayed until Fall 2022. 

According to Ukrainian YouTuber OldBoi - who has made claims about the game and developer GSC Game World in the past - Stalker 2 will not release on April 28, 2022, as is currently planned, but will instead soon be delayed until the Fall - meaning around August - October later this year or potentially even until early 2023 (quotes discovered via Championat using DeepL translator). 

OldBoi has also claimed that we may not have to wait too long to find out about the rumored release as they claim it may possibly be announced during the next gameplay showcase. Until that announcement takes place, however, it's worth assuming that STALKER will still release in April.

When contacted, GSC Game World declined to comment, stating that "we don't comment on rumors and speculations." 

It’s possible that the Stalker 2 NFT controversy last month could have played a part in the game's rumored delay. A few weeks ago, GSC Game World announced that the game would feature an NFT-powered "Stalker Metaverse." Fans quickly reacted negatively to this and prompted the studio to release a statement that read: "If you care, we care too" and that it's canceled anything NFT-related in Stalker 2.  

GSC World did announce recently that Stalker 2 will take up 190GB on your Xbox console. That's pretty hefty considering it's around half of the space available on an Xbox Series S.

Find out what other games you can look forward to this year with our new games 2022 list. 

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.