UPDATED: BitComposer acquires STALKER licence… maybe

The STALKER IP has a new home.

BitComposer, which published the third title in the STALKER series Call of Pripyet, has acquired the licence from its developer GSC Game World.

The deal gives BitComposer exclusive worldwide rights to all video games carrying the STALKER name.

The acquisition of the STALKER license serves as an important cornerstone for the further international orientation of bitComposer Entertainment AG,” BitComposer board member Stefan Weyl.

For us, this brand represents a bridge to an important segment of triple-A products and a milestone in the history of the company. We would like to express our gratitude to Boris Natanovich Strygatsky.”

Fellow board member Wolfgang Duhr added: STALKER is a reputable brand with a long history of success. To date, the series has sold many millions of units worldwide. Naturally, we’d like to tap into the success of this series, and we see a great deal of potential for the future.”

UPDATE: The exact status of the STALKER licence has since publication become the subject of some disagreement.

Sergey Galyonkin, director of marketing at Russian games company Nival, has claimed that BitComposer has actually acquired the rights to book series Roadside Picnic, which provided the original source material for STALKER.

BitComposer has denied this, however, insisting to Gamasutra that it does now own the STALKER game license, adding: "We hold the license for PC and video games from the Strugatsky brothers. The owner of the license was the Strugatsky brothers. As far as we know, GSC never had the license for STALKER."