Since the now defunct developer of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, GSC Game World has gone under many of the former employees have taken the initiative to form a new company, Vostok Games. This new studio has put themselves hard to work working on their first big release, a free-to-play MMO called Survarium. In which this game will be developed on the new Vostok Engine and planned for a late 2013 release.

“Despite no official continuation of [S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2] it looks like the ideas and spirit will live on in the team’s new game – ‘Survarium'” said the developers through a tweet under the GSC’s Stalker account.

“Our company appeared in March 2012 in Kiev. Ten years earlier, when at GSC Game World we started developing the renowned S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series and continued working on it until December 2011 when the studio was unexpectedly shut down and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 project – frozen. We did not reach agreement with the rights owner regarding the use of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. brand, that’s why we made the decision to move forward as an independent studio with a new project. That day became our starting point for Vostok Games,” says the company’s official homepage.

Survarium will be taking a lot of elements from the would have been S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, with it being set in a ravaged land with players struggling to survive. This game appears to be for everyone who though the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games needed a co-op campaign. We should hopefully be seeing this game sometime late next year unless delays occur.