CD Projekt halts all sales in Russia and Belarus in support of Ukraine
As the invasion of Ukraine continues, sanctions of all kinds are being placed on Russia. In the games industry, we've seen esports organisations suspending tournaments and teams, and EA pulling Russian clubs from FIFA. Now, CD Projekt is halting sales of all its games in Russia and Belarus.
The studio took to Twitter with a statement in support of Ukraine. It begins: "In light of the Russian military invasion in our neighbouring country of Ukraine, until further notice the CD Projekt Group has made the decision to halt all sales of our games to Russia and Belarus. Today, we begin working with our partners to suspend digital sales and cease physical stock deliveries of CD Projekt Group products, as well as all games distributed on the GOG platform, to the territories of Russia and Belarus."
CD Projekt is located in Poland, which has already played a large role in harbouring refugees from Ukraine. According to the UN Refugee Agency, the country has already accepted 280,000 refugees—a huge portion of the one million people who have fled Ukraine and war so far.
pic.twitter.com/C2TMk7m2KCMarch 3, 2022
CD Projekt goes on to explain the impact it hopes it has with halting sales: "The entire CD Projekt Group stands firm with the people of Ukraine. While we are not a political entity capable of directly influencing state matters, and don't aspire to be one, we do believe that commercial entities, when united, have the power to inspire global change in the hearts and minds of ordinary people.
"We know that players in Russia and Belarus, individuals who have nothing to do with the invasion of Ukraine, will be impacted by this decision, but with this action we wish to further galvanise the global community to speak about what is going on in the heart of Europe. To our brothers and sisters fighting for their home country—stay strong!"
The recent invasion on Ukraine, our friends and neighbours, left us shocked and outraged.In solidarity with all victims of this act of aggression, the CD PROJEKT Group has decided to support humanitarian aid efforts by donating 1 million PLN to the @PAH_org (1/2)February 25, 2022
In other tweets, CD Projekt also declared that it will be supporting humanitarian aid effort with a donation of one million PLN, which is roughly equivalent to £173,000 or $232,000.
This donation and decision to pull games from Russia and Belarus comes just a day after Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, pleaded for Xbox, PlayStation, and the industry as a whole to act.