S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Dev GSC Certified For Xbox 360

Ukraine-based GSC Game World (American Conquest, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl) has announced its certification by Microsoft as an Xbox 360 developer, receiving the necessary tools and support from Microsoft to develop games for Xbox 360. GSC Game World previously developed multimedia encyclopedias and edutainment programs in Russia and Ukraine before it began focusing solely on game technology and computer game development. The company's first project was the historical real-time strategy title Cossacks: European Wars, released in 2000. The company says the focus on console and multiplatform games is new for them, but stresses that it will continue "paying maximum attention" to the PC platform. Previous GSC titles include Back to War, American Conquest, American Conquest: Fight Back, Alexander, and Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars. GSC Game World CEO Sergiy Grygorovych said, "We are happy to say the big efforts of our company aimed to obtain the official Xbox 360 developer status now ended with success. Obtaining such a status for an independent developer based in ex-USSR means a lot - it took us over 2 years to get. We are very thankful to Microsoft for the assistance and high esteem of our team's professionalism."