Epic Games suspends sales in Russia but keeps communication tools online
"The free world should keep all lines of dialogue open."
Epic Games is the latest games company to suspend sales of its products in Russia whilst its unprovoked war against Ukraine persists.
In a statement shared to its social media channels yesterday, Epic Games confirmed it was "stopping commerce with Russia" but stopped short of restricting access for Russians entirely in order to "keep all lines of dialogue open".
"Epic is stopping commerce with Russia in our games in response to its invasion of Ukraine," the company said in its brief statement.
"We're not blocking access for the same reason other communication tools remain online: the free world should keep all lines of dialogue open."
It follows calls from Ukraine's deputy prime minister to video game companies, esports organisations - and specifically both PlayStation and Xbox - to do more to pile pressure on the Russian regime, resulting in publishers and developers like Activision Blizzard suspending new sales of games in Russia.
Across the games industry, companies have responded with large donations to humanitarian organisations, and support for staff based in Ukraine. Earlier this week, the PC and console release of The Chinese Room's Little Orpheus was delayed due to the game's Russian themes and content, and top esports team Navi also said it would no longer work with Russia's main esports group. Apple has paused product sales in the country.