Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl–the long-awaited sequel to developer GSC Game World’s 2007 classic–was delayed several times during development, with an initial announcement in 2010 and a launch date planned for 2012. 14 years after its announcement, the sequel is finally here, and although the game has sold well, its condition at launch wasn’t exactly perfect. Now, GSC Game Worlds CEO Ievgen Grygorovych wants players to know why.

“You’re so tired that you would just die if you say, ‘Let’s run an additional [development] marathon,'” Grygorovych said in a recent interview. “We didn’t have a chance to say, ‘Let’s do it more.’ We just had a chance of, ‘Let’s do until this moment–the release date–as much as we can.'”

Grygorovych added that additional patches (and potentially story expansions) could always be implemented in the future, but the team decided it was best to stick to the 2024 release date. The decision was influenced in part by the sheer level of exhaustion experienced by the game’s developers, who endured multiple “marathon” crunch sessions to make sure the game was the best it could be, without resorting to another delay.

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Source: Gamespot Why Another Stalker 2 Delay Was Never An Option For Its Ukrainian Developer