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The Japanese company Konami has demonstrated the wonders of a “lightning-fast” response. Only four years after the start of the full-scale invasion and announcements about suspending sales in 2022 did the publisher finally realize that its servers were still operational for users in Russia and Belarus. As of June 15, access via the Konami ID has been officially shut down.
Konami accompanied its decision with a farewell message to players in those regions, thanking them for their “tremendous support” and stating that “nothing would have been possible without them.” Exactly who the company’s management is thanking so fervently after so many years of deliberation – and for what – remains an open question. The Japanese company never managed to explain what exactly prevented it from doing this sooner or why the “decisive shutdown” took so long.
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Due to this strange delay, gamers from the aggressor country have been quietly enjoying online benefits all this time. However, the online fun is now over for a whole range of key projects. The popular stealth-action game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the upcoming online component MGS Delta Online, the free-to-play soccer simulator eFootball, as well as the arcade game Super Bomberman R and other multiplayer titles from the developer.
In the case of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, users instantly lost access to the competitive Metal Gear Online mode and the asynchronous construction of forward bases that other players could raid. What’s more, Konami decided to seal itself off as completely as possible, so even the page with the notice about the service shutdown in Russia currently returns a 403 error.
Upset users in Steam discussions have already confirmed the block and are frantically searching for loopholes to bypass the restrictions. The usual method of changing the account region isn’t working this time, as the Japanese have blocked access based on IP addresses. Now, fans of virtual soccer and stealth games will have to find working VPNs, put up with high ping, or simply forget about the online features of these games.
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