CD Projekt RED Halts All Sales of Games in Russia and Belarus - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 April 2022 / 5,473 Views
CD Projekt Red, The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 developer, via Twitter announced it is working with its partners to suspend all digital sales and physical stock deliveries of its games in Russia and Belarus due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"In light of the Russian military invasion in our neighboring country of Ukraine, until further notice the CD Projekt Red group has made the decision to halt all sales of our games to Russia and Belarus," said CD Projekt Group in a statement.
"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.
"The entire CD Projekt Group stands firm with the people of Ukraine. While we are not a political entity capable of directly influencing state matters, and don't aspire to be one, we do believe that commercial entities, when united, have the power to inspire global change in the hearts and minds of ordinary people.
"We know that players in Russia and Belarus, individuals who have nothing to do with the invasion of Ukraine, will be impacted by this decision, but with this action we wish to further galvanize the global community to speak about what is going on in the heart of Europe."
CD Projekt Red has pledged 1 million Polish złoty ($230,000 USD) to the Polish humanitarian group Polska Akcja Humanitarna.
— CD PROJEKT RED (@CDPROJEKTRED) March 3, 2022
A number of video game companies are removing games for sale in Russia and Belarus, as well as donating money to humanitarian organizations.
Ukraine-based developer GSC Game World announced it has paused development on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, due to the invasion. The studio is focused on helping its employees and families.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Ah yes, blocking Russian citizens who have nothing to do with the attacks from playing The Witcher or Cyberpunk is definitely going to solve the problem. CD Projekt RED really saved the day here.
I think a bigger punishment would be to leave Cyberpunk in Russia without the bug fixes..
Roll back all of the patches to day one
Does CDPR have any high in demand games at this time?
yes, oil, gas and mineral companies also!
Hopefully, they're waiting until such a time as there becomes something for them to do that makes sense. Cutting off access to Western media is the opposite of a good idea. It means that the Russian state controls even more of what average Russians see, hear, and play. Further, punishing ordinary Russians and Belarussians because of their scumbag dictators' misdeeds doesn't help anyone. Russian and Belarussian people don't have the ability to apply political pressure to Putin in the way that people in Western democracies do.
Maybe, if all of the big tech players joined together to cut off all services to Russia, that would cripple their government. However, that would require a bunch of Chinese companies to cooperate, and that seems highly unlikely.
Cutting off the ability of ordinary Russians to access video games and streaming video is doing nothing but helping the Russian state. It isn't really the fault of the companies though, it's the fault of consumers in the west putting pressure on them to do dumb shit like this.
If you want to help, head on over to Ukraine and fight, or donate to appropriate humanitarian (or even military, if you want) organizations. Whatever you do, do not be an ignorant westerner and play into the Russian PR machine's hands by limiting the flow of information into Russia.
Microsoft is working heavily with the Ukraine Government in protecting them from Russian cyber attacks.
Microsoft also has the Philanthropies and UN Affairs teams which are working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and multiple UN agencies to provide humanitarian support.
Microsoft also has a Disaster Response Team... Which are working with the first responders in Ukraine (They also work with us in Australia) in providing support for first responders on the ground to help save lives.
Microsoft also has an employee donation program so employees (All 182,268 of them!) can donate, Microsoft will then match the donation figure of any employee donation which will go towards the likes of ICRC or UNICEF to provide support to Ukraine.
Sony has also donated a few million dollars to the effort in Ukraine.
But it's Microsoft which is the stand out here... Not only are they providing financial support... But technology as well... Plus getting involved directly with the war effort in the digital space.
Keep in mind that Microsoft's market cap is more valuable than the entire Russian economy too...
This is likely just the start as well, things will continue to ramp up over the long term.
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