Will the video game industry be the next to distance itself from Russia? This is what Ukraine ardently wishes.
The cascade of sanctions that has fallen on Russia since its decision to invade Ukraine could soon extend to the video game industry. In any case, this is the undisguised wish of Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. On Twitterhe never ceases to call for the banishment of Russia wherever it is.
His latest demand (March 2, 2022), in an attempt to push the Russian population to hold the Kremlin to account for the ongoing war? That the giants of the video game industry leave the Russian market, by stopping the sale of consoles and games as well as the provision of various services, such as multiplayer, the purchase of dematerialized content and everything related to the cloud.
The entire industry called to mobilize
And the least we can say is that Mykhailo Fedorov hopes for resolute action from the entire industry, starting with the behemoths. They are likely to have the most impact on Russian youth, by cutting off access to a very popular hobby, and, more generally, the entire population who enjoy video games.
Are called upon to take a stand console manufacturers such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, which also develop video games for their platforms, as well as major studios which are Riot, Ubisoft, Gameloft, Wargaming, Epic, Rockstar, 2K, Bandai Namco, Moonton, Paradox Interactive, Activision Blizzard, Konami, Bethesda, Tencent, Electronic Arts, Valve and Supercell.
We also find in another post a call to video game distribution platforms or game broadcasts, with a direct mention to Garena, Twitch, Gog and Steam. But on March 3, the request made by Mykhailo Fedorov found little response in the sector, despite a harsh reminder consequences of a war.
However, this could change, in the event of a snowball effect and if the players also get involved.
Already, a few specific actions are emerging: Electronic Arts has decided to exclude Russia from its football game, Fifaas well as of his ice hockey simulation, NHL. The Polish studio CD Projekt Red, to whom we owe The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, skipped over to him. The measure is duplicated on its video game sales platform, Gog.com.
” CD Projekt Board of Directors [annonce] that it took the decision, on March 3, 2022, to suspend the sale of CD Projekt group products as well as games distributed on the Gog.com platform in the territories of Russia and Belarus “, is it announced in a note. Belarus is sanctioned for its complicity in the Ukrainian invasion.
In the early hours of the war, the initial reaction of several studios was to express their sympathy for the Ukrainian population, as well as their opposition to Russian military adventurism. Companies have also pledged donations to support victims of the conflict — including large groups, such as CD Projekt Red and Bungie.
Elsewhere in the cultural industry, coercive measures are taken. In terms of the seventh art, big blockbusters (The Batman, Morbius, Disney films) have at least been postponed to an uncertain date. Netflix, for its part, no longer intends to submit to certain provisions of Russian law, which could sooner or later expose it to expulsion from the country.
In the field of tech too, consequences are to be expected. Apple has thus announced that it was suspending all its activities in Russia and also ejecting Russia Today and Sputnik from the App Store – a few days earlier, Mr. Fedorov had precisely asked the Cupertino company to act. Since then, the vice-minister has multiplied similar calls to all global tech.