GSC Game World, the studio that created S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, is actively expanding. Over the past few months, its staff has increased by 50 people.
This is evidenced by rating of Ukrainian gamers published by Gamedev.dou. In August 2024, GSC Game World employed 220 people, and in February 2025, it already had 270. This is the best result in the top 25 Ukrainian game developers compiled by the website. Burny Games (+34) ranks second, and Ulysses Graphics (+30) is third.
At the same time, the total number of employees in Ukrainian gambling companies continues to decline. From August 2023 to February 2024, their number decreased by 1020, which is 11.8%. From February 2024 to August, the domestic gaming industry lost another 564 developers (7.4%), the last six-month period brought a decrease of 250 specialists (3.5%).During the market decline, the number of technical employees increased slightly as a percentage.
The authors of the ranking also provide the top list of layoffs. 16 out of 25 companies experienced layoffs. In the ten largest studios, the total number of employees decreased by 241 in six months.
The results of GSC’s activity after the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 are positive from all sides: the game paid off In the early days, more recently, developers reported about 6 million players. However, technical condition of Heart of Chornobyl still needs to be improved. Even after patch 1.3.1 the author of this news faced several departures in the quest, which is a favorite of players to protect Zalissia from «Monolith»In particular, in the chest and trading interfaces.
