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CD Projekt Red, the Poland-based developer of popular games like Cyberpunk 2077 and the operator of the GOG store, is cutting off sales of its products to Russia and Belarus.
“In light of the Russian military invasion in our neighboring country of Ukraine, until further notice the CD PROJEKT Group has made the decision to halt all sales of our games to Russia and Belarus,” the company said on Twitter. “Today, we begin working with our partners to suspend digital sales and cease physical stock deliveries of CD PROJEKT Group products, as well as all games distributed on the GOG platform, to the territories of Russia and Belarus.”
In a report to investors, the company estimated that “the approximate cumulative share of Russia and Belarus in CD PROJEKT RED product sales and in sales revenues obtained in the GOG.COM segment over the past 12-month period was 5.4% and 3.7% respectively.”
CD Projekt Red joins Apple in entirely halting sales to Russia. Many other companies have also made changes to their products and services in response to Russia’s invasion, such as Spotify removing content from state-backed Russian media, Facebook no longer recommending Russian state media globally, and EA pulling Russian teams from its FIFA and NHL games.
Ukraine’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, has called on gaming companies around the world to take action against Russia. In a letter tweeted on March 2nd that’s addressed to “all game development companies and esports platforms,” Fedorov asked that they “temporarily stop the participation of Russian and Belorussian teams and gamers in all international esports events and cancel all international events holding on the territory of Russia and Belarus.” In the tweet, he tagged the Xbox and PlayStation Twitter accounts directly. A few minutes later, he asked companies like Riot Games, EA, and Ubisoft to close their offices in Russia.
And in a March 3rd tweet, he pleaded to big companies, including Nintendo, Epic Games, Tencent, and Rockstar, saying that Russia “doesn’t have any respect for the principles and humanity. Stop this by halting your games in Russia!”
Ubisoft has given Ukrainian-based employees “additional funds,” paid their salary in advance, and provided alternative housing in neighboring countries. The Pokémon Company is giving a $200,000 donation to GlobalGiving to help provide humanitarian relief. Kyiv-based GSC Game World, the developers of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, said in a video posted Wednesday that “the game development has shifted to the sidelines” because of the invasion but that “we will definitely continue” after Ukraine’s victory.
Source: TheVerge
