GSC Game World is not the first game to offer mods on console, but Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl’s rollout of mods has not been smooth. While games like Baldur’s Gate 3 have used the same Mod.io process as Stalker 2, GSC Game World has encountered a number of issues getting mods through the system.
Unlike something like Nexus Mods, services like Mod.io require a lot of manual checks and flags, and some types of mods simply aren’t allowed on console. For example, while Baldur’s Gate 3 on PC can run massive custom campaigns like Path to Menzoberranzan, that can’t be added to the game’s Mod.io page.
Speaking to FRVR last month, GSC Game World’s technical producer Ievgen Kulyk explained that the studio is working on massively reducing the time it takes to get mods approved and working on Xbox, PC and, of course, PlayStation 5.
“Consoles are still a pretty new spot for mods,” they said. “Thanks to our partners at Mod.io, we brought such a big part of the Stalker world to consoles. We’ll keep making the mod rollout smoother, and we’re also working on the next stage of the Zone Toolkit—it’s an important internal field of work, so players can expect some major updates.”
GSC has also been keen to discuss the situation with fans on their Discord server. In a discussion with fans, the team explained that “all mods on Xbox [and therefore PlayStation] require our (GSC) involvement/ We need to test the mods on our side first, before green-lighting them for release on Xbox.”
While the team explained that they have “already improved processes for the next major update”, it still takes time to individually vet every mod on console. “Each modification is unique in its size, scale, and technical complexity,” the developer explained.
Nevertheless, mod support in Stalker 2 is still a major pain point for the game which GSC is planning to continue solving in the future. While the game is a long way from offering the sheer scale of mods as Baldur’s Gate 3 or even Fallout 4 to console users, there is hope from the team (and fans) that it can one day.
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has only just released its major 1.7 update alongside the launch of its PS5 port, but GSC is still hard at work on the survival game. While GSC has revealed they could update the game “forever”, the next major update will be focusing on a massive engine update for the game that will greatly improve performance on all platforms.
“The main problem is that our game engine is very heavily modified,” explained Stalker 2 technical producer Ievgen Kulyk. “We wrote a lot of custom things (and even systems) ourselves, and now we have to move all of that to the newer version. It’s a big job. Still, if the new tech helps the game run better and feel nicer, we’re all in.”
Additionally, GSC is hard at work on the first major DLC for Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, which is set to release sometime next year. Little is known about the new game content, but GSC has said it will be offering a more “cinematic” tone than the main game.
