How the games industry has responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

The games industry has rallied to condemn Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine – here’s a roundup of everything that’s happened so far.

On February 24, Russia sent military forces into Ukraine. According to the United Nations (via New York Times), the conflict has killed 227 civilians so far – though the organisation notes that the actual number is likely much higher.

The invasion has drawn global condemnation, and countries across the world have hit Russia with severe financial sanctions. Within the games industry, several studios and companies have also taken action – with responses ranging from charity fundraisers to cutting off sales in Russia.

Some studios have been directly affected by the invasion – Ubisoft recently shared that it will provide alternate housing and early paychecks for its employees in Ukraine, while Kyiv-based studio GSC Game World announced that Stalker 2: Heart Of Chernobyl development has been “shifted to the sidelines” and will be picked back up “after the victory”.

To support those caught in the Ukraine conflict, several major studios across the world have opted to make donations to charities providing help in the region. 11 Bit Studios announced that it raised £520K from sales of This War Of Mine over the last week, which will be sent to the Red Cross in Ukraine.

Likewise, Doom co-creator John Romero recently created an all-new Doom 2 level to raise money for the Red Cross and UN Central Emergency Response Fund.

Another big donation came from Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 creator CD Projekt Red, who donated approximately £181,000 to Polska Akcja Humanitarna, a humanitarian organisation located in Poland.

Across the industry, individual game developers are teaming up to create a Bundle For Ukraine, a collection of games that will donate all proceeds to Voices of Children and International Medical Corps.

Outside of charity fundraising, several large game studios have also moved to halt their titles being sold in Russia and Belarus.

Today (March 4), PlayStation pulled Gran Turismo 7 from sale in Russia on the day of its launch, though Sony is yet to make an announcement. This follows Ukrainian vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov calling for both PlayStation and Xbox to “temporarily block all Russian and Belorussian accounts.”

CD Projekt Red has also stopped selling its games in Russia and Belarus, a decision that was mirrored by Layers Of Fear creator Bloober Team several hours later.

Though stopping short of halting sales in Russia, EA Sports has announced that all Russian clubs from its FIFA and NHL games would be removed.

In other news, the in-game economy of Escape From Tarkov has crashed due its primary currency being tied to the real-world Russian rouble, which has tanked in value due to international sanctions.

In the music world, multiple artists have cancelled shows taking place in Russia, including Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Franz Ferdinand and Yungblud while Live Nation have confirmed they won’t be promoting any shows in the country for the foreseeable future.

Ukrainian electro-pop duo Bloom Twins told NME the situation in their home country was “terrifying”.

Earlier this week (March 2) at the BandLab NME Awards 2022, Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes used the bands closing set to speak about the conflict in Ukraine.

The band displayed the Ukrainian flag on their drum kit for the duration of their six-song set and before ‘Throne’, Sykes spoke to the crowd. “I guess it’s better being here in a room full of influential people: they need to use their voice every single day until this crisis is over”

“If Kyiv does not survive, international peace will not survive,” he added.