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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl caused major Internet outages in Ukraine

All due to the immense popularity of the GSC Game World project.
Ben Lyons Senior Editor 5 December 2024

Occasionally we see a game debut to such a mega reception that it actually puts huge strain on Internet and broadband providers in some countries. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 caused some issues for UK providers, but not nearly as many issues as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl caused for Ukrainian providers.

Ukrainian publication ITC.UA has reported on two reports from providers in the country (Tenet and Triolan) who state that the Ukrainian developed game from GSC Game World was so popular that it actually strained Internet services in the country during its launch.

Tenet notes: "Dear friends, due to the massive download of the long-awaited Stalker 2 game in multi-threaded mode, our partners' external backbone channels are currently experiencing overload. All subscribers may be affected by the decrease in Internet access speed. Unfortunately, the problem is beyond our direct influence. We are keeping in touch with the backbone operators so that they can stabilize the situation as soon as possible."

Triolan then adds: "Currently, there is a temporary decrease in Internet speed in all directions. This is due to the increased load on the channels due to the massive interest in the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R."

We have seen very impressive numbers from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl so far, as only a few days after release the game had sold over a million copies, meaning the actual player figure is likely much higher due to the inclusion on Game Pass on day one.

Have you played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl yet? If not, don't miss our review to see if this is a game for you.

Senior Editor Ben was a Senior Editor at Gamereactor UK. When he wasn’t writing, editing or filming for Gamereactor, he could usually be found playing an FPS or getting lost in a sprawling RPG.
Full profile Gamereactor author since October 2020 · 18,577 published articles
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