Sanctions have affected almost all areas of people's lives, from changing access to Internet resources to the space industry around the world. Despite the absence of a direct legal requirement to stop work in Russia, game companies stop selling games to Russian users, suspend work on games and Russian localizations, fire Russian developers, and more. This material is a summary of the decisions and statements of gaming companies.

CD Projekt Red (CDPR)

On March 3, CDPR announced the suspension of sales of digital and physical studio games in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus (RB). A ban on the sale of games has also been introduced on GOG. The platform stopped accepting payments in rubles, it is also impossible to replenish the account in rubles.

Bloober Team

On March 3, the Polish studio Bloober Team stopped selling its games in Russia and Belarus. She is known for games like Layers of Fear, Observer and The Medium.

Electronic Arts (EA)

On March 2, journalist Tom Henderson published information from an EA internal letter to employees on his microblog. It states that the company plans to remove all Russian teams and clubs from the game of the FIFA and NHL 22 series. A little later, EA confirmed this information, specifying that the changes will affect FIFA 22, FIFA Mobile and FIFA Online. Also, all teams from Russia and Belarus will be removed from NHL 22.

In an updated statement, EA spoke about the suspension of game sales in the Russian Federation and Belarus until the conflict stops. The ban also applies to the purchase of in-game currency.

Microsoft

On March 4, Microsoft suspended the sale of its products in the Russian Federation, which also affected the game division of the studio. At the moment, the games of the company (for example, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Gears of War or Forza Horizon) in the Russian Federation can only be purchased through the Microsoft Store. In other digital stores, sales have been suspended indefinitely.

The Minecraft mobile app has been removed from the App Store and Google Play.

Microsoft blocks Xbox features for using the Russian language in Europe

Bethesda

In early March, Bethesda supported the initiative of other gaming companies and stopped selling their own projects in the Russian Federation.

Kevuru Games

Kevuru Games dismisses employees who support the actions of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine or take a neutral position on this issue. Dismissals take place without pay — these funds are promised to be sent to finance the needs of the Ukrainian army.

The studio urged other companies to stop working with clients from the Russian Federation. With its own Russian clients, Kevuru Games severed all relations, sending them "to x **".

Remedy

The Finnish studio Remedy did not support the policy of the Russian Federation, but did not apply sanctions against Russian developers and users. The company provides support to both Ukrainian employees and their families, and Russian employees. She does not intend to blame people who are not responsible for the events taking place, and restrict access to her games in Russia.

Bandai Namco

On March 4, Russian players began to report the appearance of forced returns to the game Elden Ring. The game crashes and requires you to make a purchase again, and in the history of users there is information about the return process. The problem affects users regardless of the date of purchase and the amount of time spent in Elden Ring. Bandai Namco has not yet commented on the situation.

Steam

On March 2, Valve disabled all major payment methods for users from Russia in the Russian segment of Steam. Now they can only pay for purchases through PayPal or an internal wallet. The service no longer accepts Visa, Mastercard and Mir cards in the Russian Federation. Valve has not released an explanation for this. You can replenish your wallet through Qiwi by selecting Steam (Kazakhstan).

epic games

Epic Games announced on its Twitter about the suspension of commercial relations with the Russian Federation. What specific relationship the company has in mind is not specified, but access to games will not be blocked. At the moment, all free games can be freely added to your library, in-game purchases are allowed. Netizens noticed only the inability to purchase V-bucks in the mobile version of Fortnite downloaded from the Epic Games website.

Activision Blizzard

On March 4, Activision Blizzard suspended the sale of games and blocked in-app purchases in Russia.

Rockstar Games

In early March, Rockstar Games stopped selling games in the Russian Federation - the change affected only the company's own official store.

Amazon

Amazon has suspended work on the Russian localization of the game New World /

Ebony Spire, Book of Demons and Supercell

The author of the game Ebony Spire temporarily increased the cost of the game on Russian Steam to 14 million rubles.

The developers of Book of Demons raised the price of their game in the Russian Federation from 549 to 6666 rubles.The developer of games for smartphones Supercell (for example, Brawl Stars and Clash of Clans) announced its withdrawal from the Russian market.

Wargaming

Wargaming fired the vice president and creative director for supporting the actions of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, indicating that his opinion does not agree with the position of the company.

Niantic

On March 11, Niantic announced its withdrawal from Russia and Belarus. The company's games (such as Pokémon GO) are no longer available in these countries. In addition, all current players will also not be able to run the company's games.

Humble Bundle

Humble Bungle announced their departure from Russia. The company's games can no longer be purchased on Steam, and the sale of additional content has not yet been suspended.

Sony

On March 9-10, according to foreign media reports such as The Verge, CNBC and Reuters, Sony suspended the sale of PlayStation consoles and games in the country. The launches of games planned for the near future will not take place. In addition, Sony closed the PlayStation Store in Russia.

Sanctions against the Russian Federation affected residents of Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and other regions close to the Russian Federation, which are not in the PlayStation Store. Residents of these countries had to indicate Russia when registering.

Plarium

Plarium has started removing Raid Shadow Legends, Mech Arena, Vikings War Of Clans and other games from app stores in Russia. Current players still have access to the game.

Rovio

Rovio has removed Angry Birds and its other games from sale in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, and has disabled all in-game purchases and updates.

Ubisoft

Ubisoft has canceled pre-orders of Assassin's Creed Valhalla Dawn of Ragnarok in Russia.

GSC Game World

GSC Game World has blocked S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 on Steam and stopped selling games in Russia. After receiving a lot of negative feedback, the company blocked the pages of its products for Russians.

nintendo

On March 4, Nintendo closed its digital store in Russia because the payment provider stopped accepting rubles.

On March 10, Nintendo suspended the supply of its consoles and the sale of games in the Russian Federation.

Digital Extremes

Digital Extremes, owned by Tencent, has temporarily banned in-game purchases in the Warframe game for users from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.

The material is being added.

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