Sony And Nintendo Suspend Game, Hardware And Software Shipments To Russia

Sony Group Corp and Nintendo Co Ltd have suspended shipments to Russia. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA – The games divisions of Sony Group Corp and Nintendo Co Ltd announced that they have suspended shipments of software and hardware to Russia following the invasion of Ukraine last February.

Sony Interactive Entertainment, which makes the PlayStation 5 console, said it had suspended the launch of racing game "Gran Turismo 7" and the operation of the PlayStation Store in Russia.

The Sony Group also announced that it has made a $2 million donation to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Save the Children. This donation is intended to support the victims of this tragedy.

Meanwhile, as reported by Reuters, Nintendo said it was suspending shipments of all products to Russia "for the foreseeable future... due to the considerable volatility surrounding the logistics of shipping and distributing physical goods."

The Kyoto-based company also said it had delayed the release of "Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp," which was due to launch on Switch consoles on April 8, due to "recent world events." The game is turn based strategy making has a military theme.

Nintendo last week said its eShop was under maintenance in Russia after its payment provider suspended transactions in Russian rubles.

FTX US, a Chicago-based cryptocurrency exchange, said it operates several regulated licenses and continues to "implement and strictly comply with" all sanctions.

“For the most part, most of these companies already have very robust systems in place, and it is very easy for them to comply with sanctions, just like any other financial institution,” said Kristin Smith, executive director of the Blockchain Association.

From the start, the cryptocurrency community touted digital assets as a vehicle for anonymous transactions, and the numerous federal enforcement actions for fraud, money laundering, and unregistered coin offerings only reinforce the perception that crypto companies are likely to break the law.

But as all cryptocurrency prices surged past $3 trillion last year and more Americans are investing in this asset class, the industry has tried to shake off its bad image by improving its overall compliance credentials.

While lawmakers are concerned about evading crypto sanctions, U.S. President Joe Biden's administration officials said they don't believe digital assets can be used to circumvent all restrictions.

The US Treasury has reached out to several crypto exchanges and trade groups to explain its expectations for sanctions compliance and to establish a line of communication with questions.

The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said officials were impressed by the majority of the company's compliance controls.

“For many exchanges, the risk of not complying with existing rules is “existential,” said Charles Delingpole, chief executive officer at ComplyAdvantage, an anti-money laundering technology firm that works with several leading crypto companies, including Binance and Gemini.

"Not only in terms of being fined (and) removing dollar clearing access," he said. "If you launder money, which is the flip side of this, there's a huge backlash from the public against companies that appear to be facilitating the flow of illegal money."