Reports have revealed today that the American multinational technology company, Microsoft has removed the popular Minecraft game from App Store and Google Play store in Russia.
Recently, the American tech giant announced that it will suspend all sales of new products to Russia over the Ukraine invasion war.
According to the company’s president Brad Smith, who announced the suspension of the sale of all of its products and services to Russia on March 4, via Windows Central, said:
“Like the rest of the world, 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,” said Smith.
In response to the Russian government’s war on Ukraine, many countries and businesses have employed different measures to sanction the country. And this is depicted in Microsoft declaring last week that it would stop selling its products in Russia and subsequently removing the popular Minecraft game from the country’s App stores.
While Microsoft has yet to make an official announcement on the game’s removal, several reports have confirmed the same today. The official release mentions that digital sales of Minecraft will be included with all new sales of Microsoft products, thus it’s not surprising that the game would be pulled from the Russian app store.
CD PROJEKT and Electronic Arts are two more well-known video game creation companies that have reacted to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. While CD Projekt has ceased all video game sales in Russia, Electronic Arts have banned all Russian teams from FIFA and NHL titles.
Recently, the popular computer game Battlefield 2042 deleted a skin for a Russian helicopter from the game.
As Russian armies invade Ukraine, the world’s technology titans are reacting to the crisis. Ukraine’s officials have contacted the world’s major tech giants, including Google and Apple, to ask them to limit their services on the Russian mainland.
Aside from that, some corporations that were formerly active in Ukraine have either ceased operations or are planning for future situations.
