BitComposer Entertainment picks up exclusive rights for future games, killing speculation that Bethesda would take series over.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series has a new license-holder, and it is not Bethesda, as was rumored. BitComposer Entertainment announced today that it had acquired the exclusive worldwide rights for future game adaptations of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. brand created by brothers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. Boris passed away on November 19 this year, the announcement said.

BitComposer Entertainment is no stranger to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, as the Eschborn-based company served as publisher on 2010 open-world shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat in Europe and the United States.

The fate of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series has been enshrouded in mystery of late. Earlier this year, rumor had it that Fallout and Elder Scrolls publisher Bethesda was to take over the series. Before that, developer GSC Game World was shut down, with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 being canceled outright, despite efforts to keep the project alive.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are centered around Chernobyl, which suffered a nuclear reactor meltdown in 1986. In the original game, the town is subjected to a second dose of nuclear fallout, spawning a rash of hideously mutated monsters. GSC Game World released two follow-ups to the original game: Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat.

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