West Games has launched a Kickstarter campaign for the supposedly ‘definitive spiritual successor’ to the STALKER series, called Areal. The team aims to raise $50K in the next 29 days, and as you’d expect, this Kickstarter did not pass unnoticed from Vostok Games; the team that has released the MP spiritual successor to the STALKER series.
According to Vostok Games, Areal’s claims of being the core team of the STALKER series are inaccurate. In fact, Vostok Games has went ahead and contacted GSC’s lawyers regarding this ‘fraudulent claim of being the developers of Stalker and Metro Last Light.’
Here is what West Games claims on its Kickstarter page:
“The core people that developed the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series have come together to create a new team called West Games. Together, we’re developing a game called Areal, which continues the spirit of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and adds an engrossing story, unique game-play and innovative features.”
And here is what Oleg Yavorsky – PR Director of Vostok Games (Former GSC Game World PR Director) – had to say about this claim:
“So that you understand, over the years of development of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and then Metro series, there have been literally hundreds of people involved in working on various bits and pieces, starting from beta-testers up to modellers responsible for certain weapon models. Many people came to the studio to work for a few months just for the sake of adding “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. development” to their portfolio. Frequently they claimed afterwards to be the ‘core’ developers behind the game – you wouldn’t know anyway, right?). Yet, my biggest concern is that West Games are using the footage and assets of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and representing them as their own, which is not only illegal, but simply just not right. I guess it’s all made for the sake of getting extra publicity (which unfortunately works), but guys on Kickstarter should probably pay attention”
In short, Vostok Games may not have a case here but that’s GSC’s lawyers to decide whether those claims are inaccurate or not.
For what is worth, Areal will most probably be funded in the next days as it’s already halfway there.
Enjoy and stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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