The video game industry reacts to the war in Ukraine: in Russia, private players of Gran Turismo 7

Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Electronics Arts, Activision Blizzard… Most of the big names in the video game world have taken a stand against the war in Ukraine and decided to boycott the Russian market.

Day after day, the list of companies and services in the high-tech sector announcing a suspension of their activities in Russia continues to grow. The invasion of Ukraine decided by Vladimir Putin led to a series of economic sanctions decided by the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom to which the private sector has largely adhered, particularly in the digital sector. Apple, Intel, Microsoftthe social networks Meta, Twitter, Reddit as well as netflix have in turn announced a boycott of the Russian market.

The reaction is also generally unanimous in the sector of the video game where the majority of the big names have taken a stand. Thereby, sony has decided to cancel the Russian release of its latest flagship game, Gran Turismo 7, for its PlayStation consoles. The Japanese firm has not officially announced this decision but this highly anticipated title which is in full global launch does not appear in the Russian version of the PlayStation store. On the side of nintendosales on the Russian version of its online store nintendo eShop are suspended. But it seems to be related to the inability to process online payments following the withdrawal of PayPal, Visa and Mastercard.

French Ubisoft suspends sales in Russia

Other players in the video game industry have also taken steps to sanction Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is the case of the manufacturer of graphics processors Nvidia which, like Intel and AMD, has chosen to halt its business activities in Russia.

the movement is also powerful on the side of publishers and video game development studios. Ubisoft, the French publisher to whom we owe the successful sage Assassin’s Creed, has just made a similar decision. ” Ubisoft has suspended sales physical and digital in Russia “, Confirmed to us today the press service. Electronic Arts ceased game sales and in-app purchases in Russia and Belarus. The company has also removed Russian teams from the latest versions of its sports games. Fifa and NHL.

Polish publisher CD Projekt Red (Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher) stops its sales in Russia and Belarus. Same reaction for Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of the series Grand Theft Auto. Activision Blizzard (Candy Crush, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft), a studio recently acquired by Microsoft for $68.7 billion, stopped distributing its games in Russia.

Epic Gameseditor of the planetary hit Fortnite, has chosen a middle way by stopping sales of content in its online games in Russia, without prohibiting access to it. “ Epic stops trading with Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. We do not block access for the same reason that other communication tools remain active: the free world must keep all avenues of dialogue open. “explains the company in a tweet.

An important voice is still missing in this outcry against the war in Ukraine. This is Valve, operator of the Steam cloud video game service, which has not yet taken an official position. Some critics have risen to denounce these decisions, which penalize the Russian people more than their leaders.