#Games similar to stalker software
#Games similar to stalker series

GSC Games World, set up in 1995 by Sergei Grigorovich, was the most successful Ukrainian gaming company. Each claimed for themselves the status of 'heir' to the STALKER franchise, while dismissing Kim's West Games as a false pretender to the title. Some commentators hijacked the threads on the AREAL Kickstarter page, suggesting the studio's lack of original promotional material meant it was either an outright fraud, or the studio hadn't really moved its idea for Areal off the drawing board.ДЄs the controversy widened, West Games' Ukrainian rivals - mainly a large modder called Misery Development Ltd, Vostok Games and 4A Games - launched broadsides against West Games. It is this claim of GSC pedigree, as well as West Games' use of STALKER material, that prompted an angry response from various Ukrainian modders and rival studios, each claiming to be the true successor of GSC and Stalker. But the guys here worked on STALKER for a decade and it is galling for them to see their work used this way' 'I can see why they are doing it - this publicity has helped promote the Kickstarter. Not to use them commercially, but to demonstrate their skills.'

#Games similar to stalker series

'Our artists who worked on the STALKER series own a non-property copyright on the art assets they've made - I mean they have a right to show them as a result of their art work. 'We found it appropriate to show some of the STALKER art as a demonstration of our previous work and current possibilities,' says Eugene Kim, West Games founder and a former project manager at GSC Games World.

West Games began marketing AREAL as the 'spiritual successor' to Stalker, including using footage, trailers and other concept art from STALKER on the studio's Kickstarter page. It's this brand value that seems to have caused the latest ruckus. The franchise name alone is said to be worth millions of dollars. It was an immensely popular franchise on various platforms, especially in GSC's core Russian-speaking market. The funding round kicked off last week, targeting a goal of $50,000 by the end of July to develop AREAL - its post-apocalyptic first-person shooter.ДЄREAL looks like it's being developed in the same mould as Stalker, the futuristic FPS survival game, where players roamed around the infamous Chernobyl nuclear zone, strafing atomic mutants and various assorted foes. And, of course, there is West Games - a relatively new studio that's seeking to cash in on its STALKER pedigree by launching a similar game funded through Kickstarter. There's a bunch of braying developers, each squabbling for the mantle of successor to GSC and its still-popular STALKER franchise.

#Games similar to stalker software

It's a truly Ukrainian saga, featuring legal threats and an unruly succession ruckus, as well as a reclusive software millionaire who closed his GSC Game World studio at the height of its popularity. Last week's controversy around West Games' Kickstarter campaign has all the elements of a mystery novel and a slavic Game of Thrones plot line.