Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl has been anticipated for over a decade, and the game had such a huge launch that it throttled Ukraine’s internet and caused slow speeds for hours.
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As reported by Eurogamer, Stalker 2 was so popular in its home country of Ukraine that there were countrywide internet issues for several hours when the game first landed.
“It was hard for the whole country and it’s a bad thing because the internet is important, but at the same time it’s like whoa,” said Stalker 2 creative director Mariia Grygorovych.
The news that the game affected the country’s internet was first reported by ITC, which wrote: “The opinion that the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: The Heart Of Chernobyl is to blame was confirmed by providers.”
Internet service provider Tenet said: “Due to the massive download of the long-awaited Stalker 2 game in multi-threaded mode, our partners’ external backbone channels are currently experiencing overload. All subscribers may be affected by the decrease in Internet access speed.”
Another ISP, Triolan, wrote: “Currently, there is a temporary decrease in Internet speed in all directions. This is due to the increased load on the channels due to the massive interest in the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.”
In a four-star review of Stalker 2, NME called the game “an apocalyptic thriller you won’t want to put down”.
Stalker 2 is set in the aftermath of a second Chornobyl disaster, and the surrounding exclusion zone became a hotbed of anomalous activity infested with mutants and hunters, known as stalkers.
The game has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance amid its war with Russia. The developers fled Kyiv sometime after the conflict started and relocated to Prague.
In other news, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 has a free week coming up.