# Xbox Paid More Than It Cost to Make STALKER 2 to Keep It Off PS5 for a Year

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/xbox-paid-more-than-it-cost-to-make-stalker-2-to-keep-it-off-ps5-for-a-year/
- Published: 2026-07-22T14:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-22T15:39:09+00:00
- Original publisher: Push Square
- Original article: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026/07/xbox-paid-more-than-it-cost-to-make-stalker-2-to-keep-it-off-ps5-for-a-year
- Topics: Art, Culture, Entertainment, Gaming, Software, Technology

## Key points

- Xbox paid more than STALKER 2's dev cost for exclusivity
- Deal made before game's release, per GSC founder
- Game hit Xbox first, PS5 followed one year later

## Summary

GSC Game World founder Sergiy Grygorovych has revealed that Microsoft paid more to secure a 12-month Xbox console exclusivity deal for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl than the game actually cost to develop, meaning the studio turned a profit before a single copy was sold. The disclosure, made in a translated video interview, offers a rare concrete glimpse into how lucrative timed-exclusivity agreements can be for developers, and highlights how aggressively Microsoft pursued the title for its platform.

According to Grygorovych, Xbox's interest was driven largely by the strong performance of the game's trailers on YouTube, some of which racked up several million views, prompting the company to move quickly, bringing contracts for signing within about a week. The game launched as an Xbox console exclusive before arriving on PS5 exactly a year later, in a deal GSC Game World's founder describes as having "paid for itself before the first day."

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.