In recent days we are seeing a huge number of reactions to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and how could it be otherwise, The gaming world has not wanted to sit idly by either.and consequently we have already seen several movements of various companies that have decided to establish bans on Russia, which according to the cases range from the elimination of content related to Russia to leaving said market.
One of the first reactions of the gaming world, and I admit that it gave me goosebumps, it was the one from 11 bit studiosthe creators of This War of Mine, a jewel that perfectly reflects what a war means for the civilian population, and which, in immediate response to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, announced that 100% of the proceeds from the sale of both of the game as well as of the DLCs would go entirely to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Another of the reactions that also took place during the first days was that of Bungie, a studio recently acquired by Sony and that donated 100% of the proceeds for several days with his Game2Give action. Crytek, for its part, issued a statement condemning the events and regretting the situation, although it has not taken any specific action in this regard.
— GSC Game World (@GSC_GW) February 24, 2022
A long-awaited reaction, this one for obvious reasons, was that of GSC Game World, the studio responsible for titles like Cossacks 3 or STALKER, and which, as you probably already know, is located in the Ukraine. In this case, although they have not taken measures such as allocating funds, they have asked the gaming world to support Ukraine, both with actions such as those that we will see below, and through non-governmental organizations that are currently in the country.
Quite a remarkable reaction. it’s in two beats, it’s CD Projekt Red’s. And it is that a few hours after the Russian attack, this studio announced its plans to donate one million Polish zotlys, just over 200,000 euros, to a Polish NGO that is collaborating with the Ukrainian population in the conflict. In addition, today they have announced that sales of both their games and their platform, GOG, are ceasing in both Russia and Belarus.
— CD PROJEKT RED (@CDPROJEKTRED) March 3, 2022
This movement has also been joined by Bloober Team, a studio specializing in horror games that last year published the successful The Medium, and which also extends its veto not only to Russia, but also to Belarus. Thus, it is to be expected that more studios and distributors decide to join these actions in the coming hours, thus showing the clear position of the gaming community against Russian aggression.
On the other hand, in a more symbolic measure than anything else, EA has removed the Russian teams from its FIFA 22 and NHL 22 titles, a move that seems clearly aimed at stirring up the gaming world in Russia, looking for a reaction from the Russian side. of the same in the face of the actions that their rulers are carrying out.
Now, there is something that is stirring things up even more within the Russian borders in the world of gaming, and that is that, according to some developers in the country, Steam would not be making payments corresponding to the sales of the games they have published in the store. This, of course, could be due to the expulsion of SWIFT from several Russian banking entities. If so, Valve would not be able to make the payment transfers to said developers.
You are definitely aware of what is happening in Ukraine right now. Russia declared war not for Ukraine but for all civilized world. If you support human values, you should live the Russian market! pic.twitter.com/tnQr13BsSv
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 2, 2022
For its part, the Ukrainian executive has also sought the involvement of the gaming world in conflict with a message published by the Prime Minister of Ukraine on his Twitter account, in which he tagged the official profiles of PlayStation and Xbox to ask them, directly, to leave Russia. A request that, at least so far, has not found an answer.
What do you think of these actions? Do you think that the gaming world should also actively respond to Russian aggression, abandoning said market and preventing Russians from accessing their titles as much as possible? Or maybe you think that, as in some opinions that I have read out there, this measure only punishes the civilian population and has no real effects on the conflict?
