Steam payments suspended for Ukrainian developers, but Valve says it's for technical reasons

Steam payments to Ukrainian developers have been suspended, though Valve has confirmed this is for technical reasons.

"Due to the current environment, we are unable to send bank payments to Belarus, Russia and Ukraine," reads an email sent by Valve to developers affected two weeks ago.

Following criticism, this was followed up by a further email apologising for the lack of information and offering more detail on the issue.

"This past week, our bank notified us that they will begin requiring that we provide intermediary bank information for all wire payments to accounts in Russia and Ukraine," it reads. "In addition, they will no longer be allowing payments to Belarus."

As Valve works to resolve the issue, it confirmed that payments to affected accounts will not be available by the end of March.

Developers must either wait for Valve to complete their work, or change payment instructions to a bank outside of Ukraine, Russia, or Belarus. "Rest assured, if there are any outstanding balances on your account they will be paid as soon as they can be sent," Valve confirmed.

"It's a very frustrating situation and we hope to find the resolution soon."

The email was shared multiple times on Twitter by Ukrainian developers and Valve has confirmed to PC Gamer its content is accurate.

Stas Shostak was one such Ukrainian game developer who shared the statement on Twitter. Though he was relieved to see this is a technical problem, he is still unsure whether the issue will be resolved in time for payments in April.

"I'm not sure about April," he told PC Gamer. "Will they really sort it out between the banks, or will Ukraine still be cut out just in case? All my Ukrainian gamedev friends report the same situation. Some (me included) are just waiting for the next month, some decided to open accounts in foreign banks to be completely sure they get the next payment."

The issue will impact many Ukrainian developers - as well as those in Russia and Belarus - but it's individual developers like Shostak who will be most affected.

Eurogamer has contacted Valve for comment.