JAKARTA - Amazon Games has stopped its game development in Russia. Amazon Games vice president, Christoph Hartmann, explained that the company had discontinued one of the games from the MMO, New World in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We were looking for a way to localize New World for Russia, and we stopped it,” Hartmann told TechRadar.
An Amazon Games spokesperson later confirmed that this move was in response to the invasion.
Amazon Games did not specify whether it would discontinue their other services in Russia such as Lost Ark. Lost Ark, which was developed by Smilegate, has basically been playable in Russia since 2019.
Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov asked the game industry such as Sony and Microsoft in particular, to temporarily block all Russian and Belarusian accounts. Including stopping the participation of Russian and Belarusian teams and gamers in all international esports events. As well as cancel all international events held on the territory of Russia and Belarus.
Microsoft has responded to a request from Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, by suspending all Microsoft production and services in Russia.
EA Sport has also started removing Russian teams from FIFA 22 and NHL 22. CD Projekt RED, developer of The Witcher series, Cyberpunk 2077, and digital store operator GOG, have also stopped all digital sales of their games to Russia and Belarus.
These actions by the game industry won't end Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but they reveal how far-reaching the effects of this conflict are.
Russia represents a huge market for the gaming industry, especially for MMOs. For Amazon to stop localizing Russia in New World would mean choosing not to release its biggest games in key regions.
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