Did Bethesda Buy S.T.A.L.K.E.R.?

This week GSC Game World shut its doors and took S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 down with it. Immediately rumors began swirling that Bethesda Softworks was going to buy the franchise. However, the former development team for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 denies that the rights have been sold.

"There is no truth to the allegations that the Stalker rights have been sold to Bethesda," reads a post on the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Facebook page. "The rights belong to Sergiy Grygorovych, the founder of GSC Game World."

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a series of open-world shooters that take place in the Chernobyl region following a second, catastrophic nuclear accident. The accident mutates much of the flora and fauna in the area, now known as "The Zone." The Zone is now home to a number of competing factions.

The rumors of a Bethesda acquisition started yesterday when this alleged statement from Grygorovych showed up on a Russian gaming site: "I realized that this concept is the STALKER will not be of interest to many players and decided to remove all the work. Announcement will not be shown instead, all that the team managed to do without me. STALKER brand into the hands of Bethesda games. I'm leaving the game development - fed up with ..."

Bethesda, meanwhile, is staying quiet.

"We don't confirm or deny rumors. So I have no comment on the STALKER rumor," tweeted Bethesda vice president Pete Hines.

Regardless of whether or not Bethesda buys the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. license , the former development team on the series is moving on. They've founded a new studio called Vostok Games. Their first game will be Survarium, a post-apocalyptic MMO.