The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 publisher, CD Projekt has announced until further notice it’s suspending the sale of digital game sales, its PC game Store, GOG and halting shipping of physical CD Projekt related products in Russia and Belarus.
The move from the company comes a day after Ukraine’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov’s plea to the game industry to temporarily cease business with Russia amid the ongoing Ukraine conflict. It has been one full week since Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine and one of the biggest game developers – based in Poland which is a neighbour to Ukraine – is taking a stand against the invasion that’s resulted in one million refugees fleeing the country.
“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,” CD Projekt said in a statement on Twitter.
“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 galvanize the global community to speak about what is going on in the heart of Europe.”
CD Projekt adds one final message – “To our brothers and sisters fighting for their home country… stay strong!” The Polish game company ends their statement with “Слава Україні” which is the traditional Ukrainian salute that translated to “Glory to Ukraine.”
Outside of games, companies like Apple and Google have restricted operations in Russia. On the media side, Disney, Sony and Warner Bros. are pausing theatrical releases in Russia for some of their upcoming releases like Turning Red, The Batman and Morbius.
