War Game: The Making of Stalker 2 is a behind the scenes look at game development during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

September 19, 2024
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War Game: The Making of Stalker 2 is a behind the scenes look at game development during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Stalker 2's creation is truly remarkable, and it's not just because this latest addition to the notoriously weird and janky series of shooters has become one of most anticipated games of the past year. The circumstances of its creation are what's most notable. Developer GSC Game World continued to work on it even as Ukraine struggled to fight off a full-scale Russian invader that began in 2022.

In October, War Game: The Making of Stalker 2 will give a closer look at this process. It follows the members of the development teams as they work to create the game in the midst of war.

"It was not my dream to make this film." GSC Game World's creative director Maria Grygorovych said to Variety, "I really think it's essential to share." "It's really not that I want to share something personal or for my team," Maria Grygorovych told Variety. It's hard for us to share anything personal because we are not very public people.

"But when we were given this opportunity by Microsoft, we felt it was important to share a little more with the world about how difficult it can be to live during a wartime. Most people only notice something when something terrible happens, and everyone, I hope, thinks 'Oh, that's bad. When you see people who have real stories to tell, perhaps someone can understand how difficult it is and why wars are bad. It's impossible to me to find a reason to start a conflict."

Microsoft first pitched its idea for a documentary to Tina Summerford of Xbox's general manager of programming, Tina Summerford said that as the war continued, "it became clear their situation would continue be dire, not only professionally but also personally."

Summerford said, "We see every day the challenges and difficulties of making games. But this was on a totally different scale."

GSC Game World opened an office in Prague soon after the invasion began. Some members of the studio remained in Kyiv's capital, while others joined in the fight against the Russian invaders. Microsoft included a video in the Xbox Showcase 2022 that gave a glimpse of "the new reality" for Ukrainian developers working at GSC Game World.