The move comes after Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation Mykhailo Fedorov’s plea in an open letter to PlayStation, Xbox, and the whole gaming industry. His request was for game companies to “temporarily block all Russian and Belarusian accounts, temporarily stop the participation of Russian and Belarusian teams and gamers in all international esports events and cancel all international events holding on the territory of Russia and Belarus.”
“The armed forces and citizens are defending Ukraine till the end. The whole world is repelling the aggressor through the imposition of sanctions — the enemy must suffer significant losses. But we need your support — in 2022, modern technology is perhaps the best answer to the tanks, multiple rocket launchers, and missiles,” Fedorov said in an open letter on Twitter.
Since then, the three console platform holders have responded in their own way like Sony quietly pulling Gran Turismo 7 from sale in Russia seemingly in response. Microsoft meanwhile is suspending sales of all of its products in Russia, Nintendo’s investment partner The Pokémon Company is donating $200,000 which is set to go toward helping “community-led organizations supporting families and children” in Ukraine.
