Some good news from the Ukrainian video game industry: After losing 200 employees from 2021 to 2023, STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl developer GSC Game World is slowly starting to rebuild.
According to a new report from DOU.ua, a community for Ukrainian software developers, and analysis by ITC.ua, GSC Game World’s workforce has grown steadily since February 2023. The studio recently saw its most significant increase, with 50 new specialists joining GSC Game World between August 2024 and today.
While this would be good news anywhere in the world, it’s especially great to hear coming out of Ukraine as the nation enters its third year of fending off an invasion from Russia. Other companies like Burny Games (Playdoku), Ulysses Graphics (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Mortal Kombat 1), and AB Games (Hidden City) saw increased hirings as well, though overall employment numbers in the country’s video game industry continue to trend downwards.
Despite a rocky debut contributing to middling reviews at launch, STALKER 2 has reportedly been a commercial success. GSC Game World owner Max Krippa told Forbes Ukraine the game was profitable less than a month after its release, and the success was so clear that the developers were already looking towards expansions at the time. STALKER 2 has improved by leaps and bounds post-launch thanks to several updates to its strong core gameplay.
It feels like every day we receive grim news about another video game studio cutting its workforce or going out of business entirely, so it’s nice to hear a genuine success story.
