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Ukraine Asks PlayStation, Xbox, And Many More To Stop Supporting Russia

Deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called on the gaming industry to pile pressure onto Russia as it continues its invasion of Ukraine.

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Update: One day later, Ukraine's Mykhailo Fedorov has now expanded his call for even more gaming companies to halt sales in Russia. These include Epic Games, Nintendo, Rockstar, 2K, Bandai Namco, and Activision Blizzard. Meanwhile, CD Projekt and Bloober Team have both taken the step of halting sales in Russia and Belarus, a move that includes GOG.

Original story: In an open letter published via Twitter, deputy prime minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov has called on the gaming industry--specifically Xbox and PlayStation--to put more pressure on Russia. Currently involved in an invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been met with swift sanctions from across the globe as punishment for its unprovoked military attack.

"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 wrote. "I am sure that you will not only hear, but also do everything to protect Ukraine, Europe and finally, the entire democratic world from bloody authoritarian aggression - and I appeal 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."

While Microsoft and Sony have not released an official statement regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several studios and publishers in the gaming industry have stepped up efforts to provide humanitarian support.

Esports team Navi has severed ties with Russia's main esports group, This War of Mine developer 11 Bit Studios is donating all proceeds from its anti-war game to the Ukrainian Red Cross, and CD Projekt Red has pledged 1 million PLN (about $240,00 USD) to the Polish humanitarian group Polska Akcja Humanitarna. If you want to help relief efforts, we've assembled a list of humanitarian organizations like the Ukrainian Red Cross and Unicef that you can donate to.

In the entertainment field, Warner Bros. Interactive has delayed the release of The Batman in Russia, Sony's Spider-Man spin-off Morbius won't be shown until further notice, Disney has paused all movie releases in Russia, and Apple has suspended product sales.

Darryn Bonthuys on Google+

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tsunami2311

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Edited By tsunami2311

seriously can we keep political, and other social rightness or wrongness crap out of our games.

Every goverment on this planet is trying to manipulate and control other governments which leads to more issue.

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johnny0779

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@tsunami2311: Since when millions of people being affected and displaced out of their lands is political??

It shows how little you care for others in need.

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faithxvoid

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Edited By faithxvoid

Go get 'em keyboard cowboys! I'm sure that the overlap between people in a position of power to control any of this and hardcore Playstation fans in Russia is MASSIVE!

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Sound_Demon

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Edited By Sound_Demon

"Fight my war for me". No. This goes for everyone.

If you don't like PS or whatever operating in Russia, don't use PS. Don't buy PS. Don't subscribe to PS.

Don't beg a company to sanction someone because of your flawed political views. Making it convenient for you to continue your life normally. You're weak, and can't live without these things.

If you want to defend Ukraine, go and do it. Don't compel others to fight for you.

You take the stand. Stop begging and compelling. Ukraine is accepting foreign military aid.

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angrycreep

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They not going to halt anything, because money is more important to them.

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Crazy_sahara

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Edited By Crazy_sahara

Cuba missile crisis.

Kennedy replies: get those missiles outta our region or its ww3.

Russia: but you have them pointed at us in Turkey.

Kennedy: alright we will agree to remove them from Turkey.

Cuba missile crisis over, or was it.

Mexico: America Russia gave us missiles we wish to return America back to Mexico former place.

Bidden: Go shut those clowns up with a removal team, and make sure it doesn't get in the media.

Irony: let's sanction the fk outta Russia, (after all Ukraine was once capital of Russia 800ad)and our ties with NATO will result in us never once having to lift a finger for Ukraine because its ww3.

Atleast computer components will be cheaper given the bitcoin surge dropping in China, and most definitely in Russia.

Normality in prices will return.

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gpicora

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Edited By gpicora

@Crazy_sahara: fair claims, except the part that a country belonging to another 1k years ago in history, doesn’t gives the damn right to invade and kill on the way. If that was a country’s right, then, Hungary has the right to invade, lets say, Slovakia, or Venezuela Colombia, just to mention a couple.

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Sound_Demon

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@Crazy_sahara: Someone who knows how it is.

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stziggy

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Where does Steam stand on this?

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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Meh, Ryan doesn't strike me as the type to say "no" to sales.

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Rios_0th

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I mean you could be prioritizing all your efforts to negotiate peace instead.

But at the same time you could just hang out in social web and do that silly boycott to show how much you really appreciate human life over a simple commodity.

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NilsDoen

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@rios_0th: this is negotiating boy

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mogan

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mogan  Moderator

@rios_0th: I seriously doubt that, because the deputy prime minister is asking gaming companies to stop selling to Russia, that's ALL he's doing.

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NilsDoen

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Edited By NilsDoen  Online

@mogan: you seriously doubt that the unprecedented global unity of boycotting and hard hitting sanctions which are turning russia into a north koreran paria is negotiation?

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mogan

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mogan  Moderator

@nilsdoen: I suspect the deputy prime minister is doing more to help solve this crisis than asking the games industry to boycott Russia.

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NilsDoen

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@mogan: uh ok well why point that out to me?

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@rios_0th: They tried diplomacy for a whole month before the invasion began.

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sladakrobot

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Edited By sladakrobot

@Barighm:

Thats where the diplomacy failed on all fields.

The Ukraine exists since 1991 (when it seperated from CCCP back then).

Russia made it clear it wont tolerate any NATO expansion toward their borders.

Europe and west forces had 3 decades of time to figure out a peacefull way to settle any problems.

After 30 years(!),it climaxed to a point where Russia demanded (thats your month before the attack) a clear NO to planned Ukraines NATO membership (and a clear NO to all countries along the Russian borders aswell) and the west manouvered them into a spot where they could not backtrack their promises and plans to expand toward east.

I blame Russia and the west the same for what happened to the poor Ukraine ppl.

It is again a country which got a playfield of worldforces flexing their muscles(military and/or ideology)...a victim like Korea,Vietnam,Afghanistan,Syria,Iraq,Georgia etc.

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NilsDoen

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Edited By NilsDoen  Online

@sladakrobot: truths here but kinda strange conclusion. russia is to blame for what happened to the ukr ppl ffs. russia is shelling the civilian population.

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Sound_Demon

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@nilsdoen: They're not shelling civs. Not intentionally but warfare begets collateral damage. Every war has had civilian casualties. You know that reminds me. Didn't the US have quite a few civilian casualties? Idk say in Japan where they intentionally NUKED REGULAR PEOPLE. So it's not even a comparable situation. The US and NATO allied countries are the ones that need to be split and sanctioned because they were involved in more wars, and far more aggressive and deadly.

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deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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@Sound_Demon: "THEY'RE NOT SHELLING CIVS. NOT INTENTIONALLY but warfare begets collateral damage."

Congrats, you contradicted yourself in the space of two sentences.

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Sound_Demon

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@thecupidstunts: Yeah, "contradiction". Look up the meaning of collateral damage. You're literally everywhere making no point. Using buzz words to make yourself feel smart when you don't know what words mean. Sorry troll buddy but I don't think you're capable of discourse of any kind.

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Avatar image for deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8
deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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@Sound_Demon: Whether intentional or not, they are indeed shelling civs. So saying they are not shelling civs in one sentence, but saying they're not shelling them intentionally in the next speaks for itself.

And how are you claiming that I'm using buzzwords? Who is saying things like "troll buddy", and "virtue signaling", and "straw manning"? That would be you, not me.

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NilsDoen

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@Sound_Demon: ok troll farm

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Sound_Demon

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@nilsdoen: Go back to twitter buddy. Virtue signal using ignorance there. You can't get famous here.

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VampireLord123

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While everyone can understand that war is a terrible thing for human lives, this cancelling culture of anything that is Russian is very dangerous. People are just proving to them that we are just the same as them. Willing to commit cultural genocide around the world is not the answer.

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NilsDoen

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Edited By NilsDoen  Online

@VampireLord123: putin needs to go. we cant really remove him ourselves bc that would ww3. second option is making it worthless to be russian until they fix their fkng country

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chaosemerald

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@VampireLord123: Would you say its more or less dangerous than the 40 mile long convoy of Russian Vehicles staging outside the capital of Ukraine, setting up to take over the city? More or less dangerous than the thousands of Russian Soldiers their government has sent to their deaths over the past few weeks and the Ukrainians they have killed along the way? Is canceling sales of video games more or less dangerous than the missle and artillery strikes targeted at population centers, killing people that are just driving to work?

The point of sanctions and industry revoking support from Russia is part of a continual effort get them to scale back their plans to take over the country and to send a message to not to this in the future. Noboby is mad at the population of Russia. Its the government and money talks. Doesnt work immediately but over time its better to do that than do nothing.

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Avatar image for deactivated-64efdf49333c4
deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@VampireLord123: If you got a better way to disarm a country unjustly invading another without the use of force, by all means, share.

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deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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@VampireLord123: Listen, I'm sure your heart is in the right place, but you should take a little time to educate yourself on what is actually happening so that you can come from a place of knowledge.

"this cancelling culture of anything that is Russian is very dangerous". - I think the word you're looking for is sanctions, which has nothing to do with "cancel culture", and is absolutely appropriate in this situation.

"People are just proving to them that we are just the same as them". - How could you possibly equate the sanctioning of Russia with invading a non-hostile country and murdering it's citizens without provocation?

"Willing to commit cultural genocide around the world is not the answer." - You really need to get a better understanding of what cultural genocide actually means, because it doesn't in any way apply to what is happening right now.

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Sound_Demon

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@thecupidstunts: How could I equate invading hostility with sanctions? Oh idk let's see the list of countries that were damaged and destroyed with a death toll in the millions by the US/NATO.

"I'm sure your heart is in the right place". Who are you to claim the moral highground when you literally have shown your ignorance in taking a side? Are you actually that daft to not see the vice grip the US has been spreading like a plague across countries that don't even border it? Purely for it's own gain, and not defending their core values? You have a LOT of reading to do before you talk the way you do. Start with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Maidan coup of 2014 and who the militia were, the censorship of 3 major media outlets, Biden/Sons seats in Ukrainian energy companies, Minsk Accords and the Donbas Region AT LEAST.

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deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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@Sound_Demon: You're trying very hard to justify something that is indefensible.

We could certainly list instances where the US, (and other countries), have been involved in engagements, and made decisions that resulted in unjustifiable loss of life. It wasn't right then, and it certainly can't be right now. But this isn't at all about whether or not the US is the shining, spotless beacon that some believe it is, (it would be pure ignorance to claim we don't have blood on our hands).

A lot of things can look different depending on which flag you're standing under, but you simply cannot justify what Russia is doing right now. Period.

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Sound_Demon

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Edited By Sound_Demon

@thecupidstunts: You've either misunderstood me or are trying to misrepresent me, very gravely both ways. I am not in favour of Russia. I'm just not in favour of Ukrainian government nor NATO's hypocritical cries, whether for help or condemnation and sanctions. There is blood on everyone's hands, especially the US, whom might I remind you dropped TWO NUKES on CIVILIANS. They are NOT the policemen of the world. They bombed 2 countries and backed another country bombing a third the same week the invasion occurred. The US is also active in more wars. Again I refer you to my stated references to know that this exact situation has happened before but is happening again with one perpetrating side, which is the US/NATO. That doesn't justify actions but you turn a blind eye to all the others? Where is your condemnation for the other wars? Why are you suddenly so proactively against war? I've been there from the beginning condemning war, where were you? I don't think you care. There are many of you on twitter parroting the exact same thing. Get in line.

I have a friend in Ukraine I have financially aided and am providing for on any capacity. I will not donate to shady organizations that send money to their government. I've done my part and I know where I stand.

You can "Period" all you want but you've failed to connect the dots. Sorry but having to explain over and over what's clearly stated in my first comment isn't in my interest. Bye.

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deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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@Sound_Demon: "Where is your condemnation for the other wars? Why are you suddenly so proactively against war? I've been there from the beginning condemning war, where were you? I don't think you care."

I find it very interesting that you think you know something about me. Please, do tell me more about my personal beliefs, (especially as relates to my opinions on war, or government sanctioned murder, or the general callousness regarding loss of human life). You apparently missed the part where I succinctly acknowledged that it's not only Russia that has blood on their hands. Would that we could go back and change every bad choice that has been made throughout history, (but that's just a distraction from what is happening right this moment, as we speak).

"There are many of you on twitter parroting the exact same thing. Get in line."

Except I'm not on Twitter, because I'm not a fan of derp in the short form. So again, please continue to tell me more interesting things about myself.

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deth420

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...and send us some playstations!

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