Epic Games halts sales of games in Russia, but allows access to keep “lines of dialogue” open

The global reaction to Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine has been one of condemnation across the board. It hasn’t just been world leaders or governments imposing sanctions on the country, but also private companies who have been cutting off access to their services for the Russian people. Nintendo, EA, and even Activision Blizzard have suspended sales to customers in the country.

Epic Games has joined this list of companies that are seeking to encourage the Russian people to put pressure on their government to halt the invasion of Ukraine. In a statement on Twitter, the company said that they were “stopping commerce with Russia in our games in response to its invasion of Ukraine.” This will stop players in Russia from purchasing games by Epic.

The company specifically mentioned that Russian players could still access games like Fortnite, including chat functions, in an effort to “keep all lines of dialogue open.” This seems intended to allow players to continue to communicate with friends outside of Russia and, hopefully, to allow them access to more balanced news than is currently being provided by the Russian government.

Sanctions like this are unlikely to heavily impact the Russian economy the same way that those imposed by governments, but they do have a more direct impact on people’s lives. This should, hopefully, spur them on to greater action against their government and push for a more substantial change.