GSC Game World Receives Xbox 360 Certification

GSC Game World, the company behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, has announced it has been certified by Microsoft as an Xbox 360 developer.

The certification, which took over two years to receive, means the company will now have access to the tools and support necessary for development on the platform. The company said it is "happy" about the new multiplatform development possibilities, but that PC development will continue to get its "maximum attention."

"We are happy to say the big efforts of our company aimed to obtain the official Xbox 360 developer status now ended with success," said GSC Game World CEO Sergiy Grygorovych. "Obtaining such a status for an independent developer based in ex-U.S.S.R. means a lot - it took us over two years to get. We are very thankful to Microsoft for the assistance and high esteem of our team's professionalism."

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is GSC Game World's most successful North American title, with widespread critical and popular reception despite a significant amount of bugs in the initial release. In July the Ukrainian-based company announced a follow-up to the game, called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, which is expected to ship in the first half of 2008.