STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is already looking like a hit, with developer GSC Game World reporting that it has sold a million copies.

In a tweet, Ukrainian studio GSC said that in addition to these sales, “many more” will be played through the initial launch of STALKER 2 on Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service.

“No wonder the Zone is a bit crowded,” GSC tweeted. “A million copies were sold and many more stalkers joined the artifact hunt with Game Pass.

“This is just the beginning of our unforgettable adventure. The Heart of Chernobyl radiates more strongly from each of us.

“Thanks, stalkers!”

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl reached the milestone of one million copies sold less than 48 hours after launch on PC and Xbox Series Valves is. platform. Microsoft does not make Xbox player numbers public.

It’s clear that STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is already a success for GSC, even before its first weekend went on sale. The launch isn’t without its problems, however, with players reporting a variety of bugs (check out IGN’s currently running STALKER 2 review for more information). GSC has promised to fix STALKER 2’s ‘rough edges’ with a steady stream of patches.

There will also be free in-game content coming to the game. Expect more on that when GSC Game World shares its roadmap later in December.

To help you survive in the Zone, we have a list of Essential Stalker 2 tips and tricksplus a guide about Things to do first in Stalker 2 to help you through the early game, and Things Stalker 2 doesn’t tell you – everything we wish we knew before we started playing. Save time searching the wasteland with our Artifact checklist and location guideand every Storage location that we have found so far.

STALKER 2 has suffered some understandable delays, most recently in July when the game came out in September. GSC said at the time that the extra two months would give developers a chance to fix “unexpected anomalies”, also known as bugs.

GSC has also spoken out about the challenges the studio faced in getting STALKER 2 off the ground after a mixed response to the debut show last year. At gamescom 2023, GSC addressed what some had mentioned a “downgrade” sparked by STALKER 2’s then-latest gameplay trailer. At the time, GSC told IGN that it was still aiming for a visual quality and level of sophistication suggested by STALKER 2’s striking 2021 trailer, despite the terrible conditions the staff had to endure during the war with Russia.

Wesley is the UK news editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].