The current war in Ukraine also hit the video game industries ed sports, which are starting to make themselves felt. They have indeed begun protests ed actions to support the invaded country. Let’s find out all the details together.
War in Ukraine: video game and eSports industries also protest
Alexander Molodkindeveloper of Weasel Token based in Kiev, he was never a political person. He didn’t follow the news. When Russian troops began to approach the Ukrainian border, he was optimistic – within limits.
“Something will definitely happen,” he recalled thinking, even though he had foreseen a more local conflict. Perhaps, she thought, Russia would taken the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine e it would stop there. Then, he heard Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 21 speech promising “true decommunication,” and his hope diminished. On February 24, Russia launched its attack on Ukraine.
Timing was professionally unfortunate, to say the least. Recently, “Puzzles for Clef”the game of 2D puzzle adventure to which Molodkin and his partner, Tay Kuznetsova, they were working on, released a demo as part of a festival on the Steam game distribution platform. This has led to an influx of attention and effort into the team’s Discord server, which Molodkin and his partner moderate. Doesn’t mention proactively invasion but when people ask, they are frank about it.
“It’s virtually impossible to work,” said Molodkin, who spends most of his waking hours a monitor the news on the war via Telegram. “The moment you try to focus on something other than war, your mind keeps drifting away and your thoughts come back to it. More than half an hour of work is simply impossible ”.
Molodkin keeps his family – his mother, grandmother and partner, Kuznetsova – in the corridor; all stay away from rooms with windows. They did not leave the country because the difficulties of finding accommodation for a family of four were too daunting. I’m not in a shelter because her grandmother has difficulty moving. He and his partner take turns to sleep, so that someone is awake in the event of an airborne warning siren.
The video game industry ready to support the country
Since the invasion started, the whole industry of video games began to support the country. Some studios, such as the Kiev-based developer of the STALKER series, GSC Game World, were directly affected. After initially inviting fans and game developers to provide financial support to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, GSC has completely suspended development to focus on employee safety.
“We are striving to help our employees and their families survive,” reads the text of a video posted by GSC on YouTube this week. “The development of the game has taken a back seat. But we will definitely continue. After the victory “.
The creator of the Metro series, 4A Gameswho also has a studio located in Kiev, made similar appeals for support. Instead its parent company, Embracer Group, donated $ 1 million in humanitarian aid to support the Ukrainians affected by the invasion. Numerous other Ukrainian developers, including Frogwares e Vostok Gameshave issued statements in support ofindependence of Ukraine.
The video game publisher Ubisoftwho owns a number of studios around the world, has started advance salaries to its employees in Ukraine in February in anticipation of the economic disturbance. He has also implemented others precautionary measureshow to make available accommodation options for its Ukrainian employees in neighboring countries. On March 1, the company donated approx 221,000 dollars to the Ukrainian Red Cross it’s at Save the Children.
Studies outside Ukraine also contributed; CD Projekt Redthe Polish powerhouse behind The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077, vowed 1 million Polish zlotych (about $ 230,000) for humanitarian aid. People Can Fly e 11 Bit Studios – two other Polish companies, whose best-known game, This War of Mine, have similarly promised large donations to humanitarian aid groups and to Ukrainian Red Cross.
Numerous other companies and industry figures have spoken out in support of Ukraine, including the indie publisher Raw Fury and the CEO of Bungie, Pete Parsons. In addition, the director of Necrosoft Games, Brandon Sheffieldhe spent the week assembling a indie game bundle the proceeds of which will be divided to 50% between two Ukrainian charities. The bundle won’t launch until Friday but Sheffield says it already contains more than 700 games.
The Ukrainian government has urged video game companies to cut out the Russian market. On Thursday, CD Projekt Red announced it would do just that, suspending the sales of its games in Russia e Belarus.
Wednesday, EA Sportsannounced that it would removed clubs and national teams associated with Russia from its games, following the example of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the governing bodies of FIFA. The IIHF has also suspended the Belarusian teams from the game; these teams will also be removed from NHL 22.
The world of eSports also speaks
The world of eSports, for its part, it has moved in step with its counterparts in traditional sports. Since the invasion began, two tournament organizers have announced that they would have prevented the Russian teams from participating at their events, e they canceled O paused events in the region CISwhich includes Russia and Ukraine.
The teams most affected by these decisions are Gambit Sports e Virtus.pro.
For now, Molodkin and his partner, Ukrainian game developers working on Puzzles for Clef, intend to stay in Kiev. However, he admitted that he considered the possibility of moving to Poland o in Portugal if the invasion ended with the integration of Ukraine into Russia. Molodkin said:
Let’s hope the war ends soon, and we’ll win so we won’t have to leave. We have never been some kind of super patriots for our country, but we still love it. We never intended to leave this place. All our families, relatives and friends are here, and we don’t want to leave.