Rebrand
STALCRAFT: X is now STALZONE
EXBO renamed its free-to-play extraction shooter on 17 June 2026, citing trademark problems and a name that misled new players, and shipped new lighting and faces with the change.
EXBO renamed STALCRAFT: X to STALZONE on 17 June 2026. Characters and progress carried over unchanged.
In a letter to players, EXBO chief executive ZIV gave two reasons. First, trademark protection: Russia's intellectual property service refused to register STALCRAFT because it differs from StarCraft by one letter, and EXBO lost court challenges running from 2022 to April 2026. The studio says it met similar obstacles in Europe and the United States. Second, the name no longer described the game: new players often expected a crafting sandbox or something tied to Minecraft, where the project began as a server.
The rename arrived with a large update. It added an optional light-sources lighting system in the South Zone, the Wild North, safe zones and main story dungeons; new character faces with lip-sync; reworked southern locations; an English voice-over for the southern storyline; and changes to chat and Subdivision Battles. EXBO warned that the new lighting can reduce frame rates on weaker PCs and can be switched off in the graphics settings.
EXBO also described a reorganisation of its studio into dedicated teams for onboarding, core gameplay, live service, endgame and monetisation, with the aim of more consistent updates through the rest of the year.
STALZONE remains free to play on Windows through Steam, the Epic Games Store and the EXBO launcher.
