In the midst of the Russia-Ukraine war, several Industries have taken their path to support a side sharing a strong message of how unlawful and threatening to society it is.
War has always been bizarre for the entire world, destroying the habitation and this even includes the innocent species other than humans who have no role to play in this context. Not just it destroys everything around us but also leaves a deep mark that takes several years to heal. Such a scenario starts to take place with a small conflict between two countries engaging in a physical fight and shapes to a larger scale engulfing the entire world once the superpowers start to participate. And once it happens, this is what we call a World War which lasts as long as any time frame that is unpredictable and wipes out the population insanely. Now, this is the scenario to which we are moving with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. It is high time to stop the situation right here itself before it escalates to a point where there is no looking back.
With this concern moving over to a high level each day, several countries are working together to stop the invasion of Russia and calm down the situation at its best. The United States has been seen to impose several Sanctions over Russia that would choke the neck of the Russian economy and also ban the Air Space for the Russian Aircraft to enter. Along with the US, several other countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine have adopted the same policy of banning Air Space in order to avoid Russian flights coming over. Several Sanctions from various regions like the EU and US have been marked, moreover, weapon and funds supply from several countries to Ukraine have been seen. And all this ongoing process is taking place just for one cause, Stop Russia going into a Full-Scale War, and with that being said, no more WORLD WAR 3 and no nuclear bombing!
Coming back to the reaction of the Gaming Industry, several Game Companies have started to cut off their services from the Russian region. Ukraine has asked the Game Companies and the related field to stop all the services in Russia which could potentially have a good impact on the Russian government to rethink the decision.
Here are the details of the companies stand and their action as of now-
Microsoft Suspending New Sales in Russia
As per the recent blog post by the company, Microsoft condemns the ongoing war and states it as an unjustified, unlawful, and unprovoked invasion by Russia. Therefore, in that context, Microsoft would be suspending all new sales in Russia. Along with that Microsoft would be also taking out several aspects of the business from the Russian region while abiding with the Sanctions imposed by the US and EU. The company stated to stand with Ukraine and add up all possible measures to keep Ukraine strong.
Read the Official Blog Post.
EA Suspends Games and Content Sales in Russia and Belarus
EA has announced to halt all its services that including Games and Content Sales in Russia and Belarus seeing the escalating situation of the Russian Invasion. The company started to stand strong with the people of Ukraine and help them with possible solutions. This decision would also include the halt of virtual currency bundles and all the related aspects to that.
Check out the Official Announcement.
Nintendo Stops the Payment Services in Russia
As per the recent Nintendo statement, the company said that it has kept the Payment Services and payment processing to be under maintenance in Russia temporarily without any further notification on fixing it. This might not be official participation in supporting a side in the ongoing war but makes sense that Russia is facing trouble with these kinds of stuff.
Check out the Nintendo Notification.
Pokemon Company Donated $200.000 to Support Ukrainian Citizens
In a recent tweet, Pokemon expressed its feeling on the ongoing conflict and stated to support the people of Ukraine with a donation of $200,000 for a novel cause of providing humanitarian relief. This step was much appreciated by the people around the world and it adds up great value to aiding the injured ones in Ukraine.
CD Projekt Halts all Sales of Games in Russia and Belarus
CD Projekt is a tweet announced to halt all the sales of its game in Russia and Belarus until further notice. This will include all the services from the partners to go down as well. The company stands firm with the people of Ukraine and hopes to have an impact on the current situation in a motive to stop the ongoing process.
IGDA Condemns Russian Invasion of Ukraine
The International game Developers Association IIGDA) showed its concern over the safety and the well-being of the Ukrainians as well as the employees and game developers residing there. IGDA has updated the resources that will be helpful in the current context giving support to the people of Ukraine during this period.
Check IGDA Official Website.
4A Games, Gameloft, Bungie is up for Supporting Ukraine
4A Games, Gameloft, and Bungie have also come forward to support the people of Ukraine with all possible means. This would be a great motivation for the Ukrainians to feel strong and calm as the whole world has now stood up for them.
The Scene doesn’t end here, there are many more such companies standing up to raise their voice and give a helping hand to Ukraine to stay strong and united. You can check Twitter for the relevant hashtags in order to get sufficient news in the given context.
How does it matter?
Well, Russia is a well-known home to the Gaming market and with a huge region covering the Map, Russia has a vast list of players. With an estimation of nearly $2.3 billion in 2021, Russia is evidently home to a great gaming marketplace. Now, the only way to stop Russia without engaging directly is to break down the economy in such a way that it stops further escalating the situation and moves a step back. And that can be possibly done by pulling out international markets from the region, Gaming Companies in our case so that Russia's economy goes down and it becomes harder for the government to run in full scale as it is doing now.
Now, Microsoft and Sony being the largest Global Distributors play a major role in dealing with such a situation in Russia, Therefore, as per the open letter by Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister, pulling out the business by these two companies along with other operating companies in Russia could impact largely on the current scenario. This is what we have seen so far and we expect this to concern Russia and enforce to rethink about going too far with the war.
But after all these pieces of stuff, the major question arises, Is it even impacted the current scenario yet? Does Russia even care about all these actions? Well, it's quite evident that no significant changes have been recorded from the Russian side as of now which concerns more than usual. Even after several Sanctions and Proactive measures from international companies, threats from world superpowers, Russia is still intact with the actions. However, there is still time to stop this with more force, let’s hope for the best of this world!
With Love From VOiD1 Gaming
**VOiD1 Gaming is not sponsored by the above companies. The trademarks appearing in this article are registered trademarks of the respective companies.**
*Thumbnail Image Attribution - Photo by Fahrul Razi from Unsplash*
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