It looks like Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is set to leave Xbox Game Pass this month, exactly one year after it first launched.
- READ MORE: ‘Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl’ review: an apocalyptic thriller you won’t want to put down
After being delayed several times, Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl was finally released November 20, 2024 for Xbox Series X/S and PC. It was also a Day One launch for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, but players had to deal with a number of game-breaking bugs.
“Stalker 2 is a massive game. We understand that in such a game, there may still be rough edges: we literally haven’t released anything of this scale before. We’re absolutely committed to being here, monitoring your feedback, and quickly fixing any issues that need our attention,” said developers. Hotfixes were released in the days after Stalker 2’s launch before larger updates were implemented over the past twelve months.
The fixes come just in time for the PlayStation 5 version of Stalker 2, which is set to launch later this month. However Xbox Game Pass subscribers are annoyed that the game is set to leave the service on November 15.
STALKER 2 got announced in 2020 at the Xbox Showcase in August.
STALKER 2 took 4 years to develop beyond announcement and officially dropped in November 2024.
STALKER 2 will leave Xbox Game Pass in November 2025.
I think it’s a really bad precedent that a game stays shorter in… https://t.co/TZg486uoeg
— Kloot (@ZakkenKloot) November 2, 2025
“It’s such a shame. I was waiting for the game to be fixed before playing it again & don’t really fancy gambling a purchase now, even if it is good,” wrote one fan on Reddit. “Yeah, that’s bullshit, Microsoft teased the game everywhere as a core game from game pass, then it released in such outrageously shitty state, and as soon as some of major issues are more or less fixed they’re leaving Game Pass. That’s like literally the biggest beta test we’ve ever seen lmao, you even need to purchase a game after you’ve tested it,” added another.
“I both downloaded and deleted the game on my console on the same day because I kept having trouble playing it. Now that it’s good to go, they’re getting rid of it,” said a third.
Stalker 2 Launching on game pass, with shit performance and an unfinished A-Life system and an empty region of the map, getting performance patches on PC and Xbox, getting a PS5 release then leaving game pass while barely addressing any of these issues is nuts
Can’t blame the war https://t.co/HKyfNIFbhy— Laj3eb Rondila (@Bouch3ar1003) November 2, 2025
“Wow. Another reason to justify cancelling my Game Pass subscription,” added another, with a number of players promising to cancel their membership after Microsoft confirmed a huge price hike for the service.
“We understand price increases are never fun for anybody, but we’re trying to reinforce by adding more value to these plans as well,” Dustin Blackwell, Microsoft’s director of gaming and platform communications, said in defence of the changes. “It’s something we don’t take lightly, and we’re listening to the feedback of players and the community to try to provide them with more of what they’re asking for.”
In other news, The Simpsons has celebrated its long-awaited return to Fortnite with a brutal couch gag that sees a fan-favourite getting butchered.
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