It's a video game that fans have been waiting for for years, but also a work that, without having sought it, has become a symbol. Developed by the Ukrainian studio GSC Game World, STALKER 2 does not escape the repercussions of the war in Ukraine. The development team, partly moved to Prague, had to work in extreme conditions: under bombs, with some members being engaged directly on the front.
A game at the heart of geopolitical tensions
It is precisely this particular context that is today attracting the spotlight of a Russian disinformation campaign. A video widely distributed on Telegram and relayed by email claims that STALKER 2 would hide a spy program. According to this misinformation, the game was financed by the Ukrainian government and used its servers to collect players' personal data: name, IP address and location, transmitted every second for military purposes. An accusation as spectacular as it is unfounded, especially since the video displays a false logo of WIRED to give it some semblance of credibility.
Despite these assertions, there is no evidence to support these accusations. GSC Game World has not yet reacted officially, but everything suggests that this attack aims to discredit the game, and by extension, Ukraine itself.
This is not the first time that this disinformation network has attacked high-profile targets. Already last March, this same organization was identified by the AFP agency and researchers from the Atlantic Council, who named it “Operation Matryoshka”. Its goal: to flood social networks, Telegram and journalists' mailboxes with false or manipulated stories. By targeting projects like STALKER 2the campaign seeks to undermine trust in Western media and cast doubt on Ukraine's actions.
For now, the impact of these campaigns remains limited. Most messages get lost in the twists and turns of social media or are quickly deleted. But the choice of STALKER 2 as a target is not trivial. The first opus, released in 2007, was already a cult success, mixing survival, horror and science fiction in an open world inspired by Chernobyl. By becoming the product of a Ukraine at war, its sequel today carries a symbolic charge that goes far beyond the simple framework of entertainment.
This sabotage attempt highlights once again how the conflict between Russia and Ukraine goes beyond the military field to destabilize the world of culture and global public opinion.
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