Sony's PlayStation division and Nintendo have halted product sales in Russia, becoming the latest major brands to suspend sales from the country due to the Ukraine invasion.
On Wednesday, a representative from Sony's video game division explained the decision to halt PlayStation sales and operations of the PlayStation Store in Russia : “Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) joins the global community in calling for peace in Ukraine. We have suspended all software and hardware shipments, the launch of Gran Turismo 7, and operations of the PlayStation Store in Russia.”
Sony also said it will be donating $2 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Save the Children to “support the victims of this tragedy.”
Separately Wednesday, Nintendo also announced that it was suspending all shipments to Russia "for the foreseeable future," citing "considerable volatility surrounding the logistics of shipping and distributing physical goods."
The maker of the Switch console has also postponed the release of Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, a military-themed strategy game, "in light of recent world events."
Sony and Nintendo's decision follows in the footsteps of gaming boycotts of Russia, whose war in Ukraine has reportedly killed over 400 civilians so far, beginning last week with CD Projekt Red, the developer of Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3. Other major gaming companies like Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Microsoft, and Ubisoft have since followed suit after Ukrainian First Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov previously called on both Xbox and PlayStation to ban users from Russia.
On Friday, Microsoft said it would suspend all new sales of its products and services in Russia, including its Xbox games consoles, software and subscription services. The next day, Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, followed suit, announcing that it was “stopping commerce with Russia in our games.”
Polygon reported that some of Ukraine's game developers are among those volunteering to fight invading Russian forces.
Several game studios have spoken about the war on social media. Over on Twitter, GSC Game World, the developers of the Stalker franchise, said:
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