Gaming leaves Russia vol. 2

Last week we’ve made an unusual gaming digest, which was solely devoted to the companies that left the Russian market in solidarity with Ukraine. Today we continue our list as many other big names in the industry have expressed their support of Ukrainian people and left the troubled market.

• Sony Interactive Entertainment has suspended all hardware and software shipments to Russia. This also includes halting Playstation Store operations in Russia and a $2 million donation to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Save the Children NGO to support victims of the tragedy.

• Bungie stands with the people of Ukraine. In a blog post, the now Playstation studio announced the suspension of sales in Russia and Belarus. And a donation of $120 000 to a list of charitable organizations. Another effort is a “Cоняшник” emblem which is now available for free to all Destiny 2 users to show their support of Ukraine.

• Ubisoft shows its support to the Ukrainian teams and people of Ukraine. The company put their effort toward employees’ safety and also announced the suspension of sales in Russia in light of the ongoing tragedy.

• Take-Two stopped new sales and installations of its games in Russia and Belarus. Take-two is Rockstar Games and a 2K parent company. So no more GTA or Mafia in Russia, except for the real ones

• Supercell has removed its games from app stores in Russia and Belarus. It also donated €1 Mln. to UNHCR. In case you’re wondering who Supercell is – they are makers of Hay Day, Clash of Clans, Boom Beach, Clash Royale, Brawl Stars, and other popular mobile games.

• Rovio, a company behind Angry Birds, stands with Ukraine. And removed all of their games from app stores in Russia and Belarus. No in-app purchases or updates will be available in these regions as well. Further, the company provides all of the in-game ads space in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus to humanitarian organizations such as Unicef.

• Boosteroid, a cloud gaming platform, has also left Russia. The company also actively calls other developers and publishers to abandon the market

Given the current trend, Russia should seriously consider reverting back to Tetris, but it’s an EA title, and EA is out of the market. So let’s just watch an Iron Curtain falling on Russia and Belarus and prepare ourselves for all the beautiful new games to play, once the war is over.

You can also help Ukraine fight with Russian occupants via Savelife or via an official page of the National Bank of Ukraine.

Read more:

• Ukrainians create charitable NFT-collection to raise funds for the army
• John Romero released new DOOM II map in support of Ukraine