Gaming Companies Are Deciding They Don’t Want Russian Sales
It seems that a lot of gaming companies have decided that they do not want Russian sales. But the way that they’ve gone through with suspension of sales has varied.
With Nintendo, they have decided to not make any transactions at all in the Nintendo e-shop. The Nintendo Shop has a notice, stating (via google translate:) “Due to the fact that the payment service used in Nintendo eShop has suspended the processing of payments in rubles, Nintendo eShop in Russia is temporarily placed into maintenance mode. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. We will share updates as the situation develops.”
Electronic Arts, otherwise known as EA, has announced that all sales will be suspended in Russia and Belarus as the result of the invasion. “We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.” Stated in an EA blog post. They continued with, “Our primary concern is the ongoing safety of those in the region, particularly colleagues and partners, and we are seeking to understand how we might best help them further beyond our programs that are already in place.”
Game sales, in-game content, and virtual currency sales through Origin and the EA app have all been suspended in Russia, and are currently working with “platform partners” to remove their games from those two regions as well. CD Projekt has already suspended sales, as well as Microsoft.
There have also been individual companies, such as CD Projekt, that have decided to suspend all sales of their games. Bloober Team, developers of Observer, Blair Witch, Layers of Fear, and the Medium, have stated the reason that they are suspending sales is: “This action is not meant as a retaliation against the people of these regions, but as a statement against the war,” the developer stated. This was not about punishing the people of the region, but putting  “pressure on Russian and Belarussian public opinion.”
There may be more joining the fray when it comes to suspending sales in Russia and Belarus; when we hear about it, we’ll let you know!