Sony, Microsoft, EA Suspend Sales in Russia Amid Ukraine Invasion

Two days removed from Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov calling on video game companies — particularly PlayStation and Xbox — to stop selling in Russian markets, it appears they are taking action.

On Friday, Gran Turismo 7 launched just about everywhere except Sony's Russian PlayStation Store, Microsoft suspended all new sales of its products and services in Russia, and Electronic Arts suspended all sales of its games and digital currency in Russia and Belarus.

Sony, Microsoft, EA Suspend Sales in Russia Amid Ukraine Invasion

On the Russian PlayStation Store, the product page for Gran Turismo 7 still reads "Release date pending confirmation," a move that was made by Sony last night, according to Eurogamer.

Despite pulling the game from sale in Russia, Sony has yet to make a formal announcement about the decision.

Meanwhile, Microsoft President Brad Smith didn't outright mention Xbox by name but announced in a blog post that the company has suspended its sales in Russia.

"Like the rest of the world," Smith said in the post, "we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia.

"We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia. In addition, we are coordinating closely and working in lockstep with the governments of the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and we are stopping many aspects of our business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions."

Following the decision to remove the Russian National Team and all Russian clubs from its EA Sports FIFA titles, Electronic Arts put out a new statement announcing its decision to suspend all sales, as well as remove its game and content listings within Russia and Belarus.

"We continue to be shocked at the conflict that is unfolding in Ukraine," EA's statement reads, "and join so many voices around the world in calling for peace and an end to the invasion. We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. Our primary concern is the ongoing safety of those in the region, particularly colleagues and partners, and we are seeking to understand how we might best help them further beyond our programs that are already in place.

"We have made the decision to stop sales of our games and content, including virtual currency bundles, in Russia and Belarus while this conflict continues. As a result, our games and content will no longer be available for purchase in our Russian region storefront on Origin or the EA app, including through in-game stores. We are also working with our platform partners to remove our titles from their stores and stop the sale of new in-game content in the region."

Elsewhere, other video game companies have voiced their support for Ukraine in recent days, from the CD Projekt Group suspending digital sales and physical stock deliveries of its products to Russia and Belarus to The Pokémon Company making donations to provide humanitarian relief.

At the time of writing, a support page confirms that all digital purchases are currently suspended on the Russian Nintendo eShop, with the store remaining in maintenance mode.

"Due to the fact that the payment service used in Nintendo eShop has suspended the processing of payments in rubles," a Google-translated version of the message reads, "Nintendo eShop in Russia is temporarily placed into maintenance mode. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. We will share updates as the situation develops."