A day after Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister called on gaming companies to withdraw from Russian markets, CD Projekt Group – arguably the region’s most influential gaming company – has taken action. On Thursday the editor of Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher series announced that it would stop selling its products in Russia and Belarus.
“In light of the Russian military invasion of our neighboring country Ukraine,” the company said in a statement published on Twitter, “CD Projekt Group has taken the decision to halt all sales of our games to Russia and Belarus until further notice. ”
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is now entering its second week, with thousands of civilian casualties and civilian casualties reported at least one million refugees flow west into Central Europe. Unprovoked attack brought international condemnationand a tightening of financial restrictions on Russia and its oligarchs. Big corporations like shell, BP, and Apple have taken steps to cease operations in the region. Now game developers are doing what they can to show their support.
CD Projekt went on to say that not only will it stop shipping physical inventory to Russia and Belarus, but it will also stop digital distribution of games there. The move includes its own online platform, GOG.
“The entire CD Projekt group stands firmly by the people of Ukraine,” the company said. “While we are not, and do not aspire to be, a political entity capable of directly influencing state affairs, we believe that commercial entities, when united, have the power to effect global change in the world to stimulate the hearts and minds of ordinary people. We know that players in Russia and Belarus, individuals unrelated to the invasion of Ukraine, will be affected by this decision, but with this action we want to further engage the global community to speak up about what’s on the heart going on from Europe.”
CD Projekt is headquartered in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, a country bordering both Ukraine and Belarus. According to Vox, More than 280,000 Ukrainian refugees have sought refuge in Poland, many of them being taken up by average Polish citizens. Meanwhile, the Polish government along with many other governments in Europe and around the world Delivery of arms to Ukraine.
“To our brothers and sisters who are fighting for their homeland,” CD Projekt said, “stay strong!” The company then added the traditional Ukrainian greeting of Слава Україні, which translates to “Glory to Ukraine.”