GSC Game World, the Ukrainian game developer behind the much-awaited “STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl,” recently confirmed that its systems had been breached by hackers who stole game assets.
The company said that a “community from a Russian social network” is responsible for the attack and is using the stolen data to blackmail the developer by threatening to release the data.
The hackers have demanded that GSC Game World reconsider its attitude towards Russian and Belarusian players and introduce Russian localization for the upcoming game.
GSC Game World has been the target of several hacks, cyber-aggression, and blackmail attempts in the past year, according to the company’s statement. The company requests that the community not watch or redistribute any data leaks that may appear online and claims that the hackers’ stolen data primarily concerns outdated and work-in-progress materials.
Meanwhile, the game developer asks the players to stay patient and wait for the official release for the best experience possible.
The hackers have claimed to have stolen a “vast amount of STALKER 2 material,” including the entire storyline, cutscene descriptions, concept art, global maps, and more.
Samples of this data have already been released to serve as proof of the data breach claims, but most of it is being withheld to extort the game developer.
Finally, the hackers have set a deadline of March 15 for GSC Game World to meet their demands. Otherwise, they claim they will leak tens of gigabytes of data stolen from the company’s systems, jeopardizing the release of the game.
