Stalker 2 Moved to 'Unconfirmed' Release Date, Refunds Issued

gamerant.com:

The release date for upcoming survival action title Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is being referred to as «unconfirmed,» and refunds are being issued by Xbox for those who have already pre-ordered the title. Initially revealed back in 2020, Stalker 2 is a direct sequel to the cult-classic Stalker: Shadow of Chornobyl. The game was initially planned for a 2022 launch, but there have been quite a few big bumps in Stalker 2's road to completion, the biggest of which being the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

For Ukrainian-based developed GSC Game World, this immediately halted development on Stalker 2, with the studio claiming that it would not continue work on Stalker 2 until a Ukrainian victory had been achieved. However, two months after the war started and development was stopped, GSC Game World revealed that work on Stalker 2 was continuing. It seems that this delay still managed to contribute to a major halt on Stalker 2's release, as it is now being reported that the game is facing an indefinite delay, resulting in an «unconfirmed» launch.

STALKER 2 Video Shows the Game’s Opening Sequence

As reported by Polish site XGP, it seems that the ability to pre-order Stalker 2 has been removed from the Xbox store page, with the reason for this being that the game has been postponed to its «unconfirmed» date and those who have already pre-ordered the game are set to receive refunds. While this isn't exactly a surprising move considering Stalker 2's recent development history, it does not bode well for the future of the game.

Back in June, Stalker 2 was given a new release window of 2023, but now it seems that this is no longer the planned launch date. Microsoft has yet to officially confirm its reasoning behind the pre-order scenario