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The first-person-shooter game, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, is reportedly being targeted by a Russian disinformation operation. They’re claiming that the game scans players’ computers and geo-locates them on behalf of the Ukraine government in a bid to “locate citizens suitable for mobilization”. The Russian disinformation campaign is spreading a fake short-form video that wrongly claims that the game is being used to enlist Ukrainian soldiers by collecting personal data from players.
The one-minute-long video, which falsely bears the Wired watermark, was being circulated on social media and directly emailed to different journalist websites in an attempt to generate disinformation surrounding Stalker 2. The video states that “an embedded program was discovered in [Stalker 2’s] code that collects player data and transmits it to the developer’s servers”. It then goes on to claim that the stolen information, which includes player name, IP address, and location, is then passed on to the Ukrainian government so that they can enlist more soldiers against the Russian invasion. It asserts that GSC Game World has made a “deal with the state” to hand over player data, concluding by writing that players should “boycott [Stalker 2] for [their] own safety”.
But why would Russian operations want to target this post-apocalyptic shooter? Well, other than its huge success across Xbox and PC, it was developed by GSC Game World, a Ukrainian video game developer which has temporarily relocated to Prague. With many of the developers being enlisted to fight in the war, Stalker 2 has since become something of a Ukrainian symbol of resistance in the face of Russia’s invasion, which has been ongoing since 2022. One of the game’s developers, Volodymyr Yezhov, was killed in 2022 in a battle near Bakhmut. Stalker 2 was majorly delayed as a result of the ongoing invasion, with an original release date of 2022, but only just being released on November 20th, 2024.
This is the Ukrainian flag 🇺🇦 at Gamescom, one of the symbols representing Ukrainian Independence, which goes back far beyond 1991. For centuries, our culture and traditions were divided and suppressed. But not today. Today, in Ukraine and around the world, we proudly share the… pic.twitter.com/RFOPAP13Vn
— S.T.A.L.K.E.R. OFFICIAL (@stalker_thegame) August 24, 2024
GSC has also been vocal online in their condemnation of the Russian invasion, further making them a prime target for Russian disinformation propaganda. The Russian state had even blocked access to the Stalker 2 website for Russian audiences.
It makes sense then that Russian propagandists would target such an influential and momentous Ukrainian-made game. Despite Russian attempts to suppress and undermine the game, the hotly anticipated sequel has seen great success across platforms, reaching upwards of 100k+ concurrent players.
