STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl might be the first game of 2022 that was officially delayed, but one insider claims that it's just the beginning of what is going to be a trend in the coming months. Giant Bomb contributor and No Clip Video producer Danny O'Dwyer believes that STALKER 2 won't be anywhere near the last game that gets a delay announcement in part of because the effects of the coronavirus pandemic are still being felt in the industry.
STALKER 2 was originally supposed to be arriving in April after loyal fans had to wait 15 years for the sequel to the original cult classic to release. However, developer GSC Game World announced last week that it had to delay the launch until much later in the year. It turns out the game won't be arriving in December and O'Dwyer thinks that the gaming community needs to prepare itself for more bad news as 2022 continues to roll on.
O'Dwyer made his proclamation by quote tweeting the announcement of the STALKER 2 delay with a very simple message at first. He told people that they needed to "get used" to seeing those kinds of announcements.
While his first message was short and to the point, he followed that tweet up with another where he explained exactly what he meant. The Giant Bomb contributor said that 2022 is filled with games that were quite early on in the development cycle when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
He added that the lag that some of the games that are expected to come out this year is going to be longer while also pointing out that some of the games people are expecting to see in the next couple of months were only given tentative 2022 release dates in the first place. However, he also pointed out that most of the games that are slated for February release seem to be on solid footing and the month is absolutely packed. Because of that, gamers won't be in danger of running out of things to play.
It's also worth pointing out that pushing STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl to the end of the year means that while the beginning of 2022 is still going to be loaded with games, so will the end of the year. Now it's just a matter of what other games might get delayed into next year or beyond.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl will release on PC and Xbox Series X/S on December 8, 2022.