S.T.A.L.K.E.R. delayed

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 11:26 pm

[Game -> Update]

Most people saw it coming I think: <a href="http://www.stalker-game.com">S.T.A.L.K.E.R.</a> has been delayed until May 2005. <a href="http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=27111">HomeLAN Fed reports</a>,<blockquote><a href="http://home.businesswire.com/portal/sit ... g=en">This THQ press release</a> announces that the publisher had $96.3 million in net sales for the second 2005 fiscal, a loss of $6.4 million from the same period a year ago. Despite the loss the results were sitll better than first anticipated. The press release also has some news on upcoming games, including yet another delay for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, the long awaited first person shooter from GSC GameWorld. The game, which previously was planned for release in the first quarter of 2005, is now set for release in May of 2005. The Pandemic B-movie console action game Destroy All Humans has also been delayed from a first quarter 2005 release to April 2005. THQ also plans to port its Xbox-PC military tactical action game Full Spectrum Warrior to the PS2 for release in March 2005. THQ also announced that they have opened up a new internal development studio in San Diego. The new studio, called Concrete Games, will be working on unnamed next generation console games.</blockquote>I really hate the 'next generation console' phrase. It represents a lot of what I hate about the publisher-dominated gaming industry; all about money and following the trend. The interesting thing is that, if I read the press release correctly, the PC platform accounted for 24% of the company's platform revenue this year, which beats every single other platform (the next highest earner being the Playstation 2 at 21.6%).

SDMVersion3 · Post by **SDMVersion3** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 3:36 am

An interesting note you may not know:

THQ is being sued by WWE (wrestling company) for violations under the RICO racqueteering laws, alledging that the owner of their games devision was taking kickbacks from liscensing fees WWE paid, and that moreover, they were bribing a WWE agent to negotiate/renogotiate their liscensing deal with them. THQ makes the god-awful WWE PS2/X-Box/GC games that sell a couple of million copies on a semi-annual basis. Anyway, depending on the outcome of the suit, they might lose a lot of money and almost certainly will need some new management, which will mean that some games could be cut back in order to save money. Since STALKER isn't an in-house project, they can't really cancel it, but it is possible they will end up pulling out of their distribution deal.

Here's the court filing: http://corporate.wwe.com/JakksComplaint.pdf

And the press-release from WWE:
http://corporate.wwe.com/media/2003/101904.html

I believe Jakks/THQ filed a countersuit.

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 3:48 am

I doubt any company would dare not to publish STALKER.

Spazmo · Post by **Spazmo** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 3:50 am

Yeah, everyone wants to fund a bunch of sneaky fucking Russians for ten years or until they finally decide to release their stupid game! Not to mention that the quality of STALKER is far from guaranteed.

Mad Max RW · Post by **Mad Max RW** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 4:27 am

Try not to be too surprised when STALKER becomes an Xbox exclusive.

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 5:55 am

Xbox? You lamer. I r teh waiting for my PSone version.[/list]

Koki · Post by **Koki** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 6:16 am

Or is this just a move to avoid noveber?

Dan_Wood · Post by **Dan_Wood** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 7:36 am

ZOMG SHOCKER!1! They've been too busy doing interviews to actually code a game!

SDMVersion3 · Post by **SDMVersion3** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:17 am

Dan_Wood wrote:ZOMG SHOCKER!1! They've been too busy doing interviews to actually code a game!

Hahahahaha.

I mean they do have to do interviews to promote the game, but damn he's got a point. Maybe it's too much talk and not enough work.

Hellstorm · Post by **Hellstorm** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:58 pm

Ou crap, you just can't get away from WWE. Can you? Dam those bastards. It's unbelievable that something like WWE can slow things like STALKER down. That sucks. Curse on them.

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 1:05 pm

The only company to have won a battle against the WWE is the WWF D :

SDMVersion3 · Post by **SDMVersion3** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 1:46 pm

Hellstorm wrote:Ou crap, you just can't get away from WWE. Can you? Dam those bastards. It's unbelievable that something like WWE can slow things like STALKER down. That sucks. Curse on them.

No, the WWE had nothing to do with the delay, I'm sure.

The impending cancellation perhaps...

S4ur0n27 wrote:The only company to have won a battle against the WWE is the WWF D :

If you can get your ass kicked t by a bunch of latte drinking tree hugging whale saving emo fags, you're fair game for anyone I say.