According to the UN Refugee Commission, millions of people are fleeing the violence. Numerous game developers in, but also outside of, Ukraine are expressing their horror at the situation, expressing solidarity with Ukraine and asking for help in public statements.

What are the developers saying?

Many studios are concerned for their employees and are calling for an immediate end to the violence. There are also calls for relief and donation campaigns. Here we summarize some of the statements and reactions from the industry.

Studios in Ukraine

• Wargaming (World of Tanks, World of Warships): The developer has decided to stop doing business in Russia or Belarus. On March 31, management of the live service in Russia was transferred to Lesta Studio and is no longer the responsibility of Wargaming, which expects “significant revenue losses” as a result. The official statement promises “security and support” for the affected employees. In addition, the company is currently working on the dissolution of the studio in Minsk. The Kiev office, which has 550 employees, will be provided with housing, early salary payments and additional funds for travel or relocation to safe neighboring countries, the game maker says. It also says it has donated $1 million to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
• Vostok Games (Survarium, Fear the Wolves): According to information from PCGamer, the developer studio has abandoned its location in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev for the time being due to the ongoing fighting. They are letting work rest while some team members relocate to safer areas, according to the statement.
• Frogwares (Sherlock Holmes, The Sinking City): The developers emphasize on Twitter Ukraine is a peaceful country and Russia violates its sovereignty. There is a call to put an end to Russia’s aggression.
• GSC Game World (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2): The studio based in the capital city of Kiev Calls for donations for the Ukrainian military calls for donations to the Ukrainian military. The future is uncertain, but one stands by the armed forces of Ukraine. Another consequence of the current emergency: In the meantime, the development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has been temporarily halted.
• Sengi Games (The Serpent Rogue): In one Tweet to fans says that they will not be able to help them much with the game at the moment. Russia is attacking the citizens of Ukraine, according to the statement.
• Ubisoft Kiev (Rainbow Six Extraction, AC Valhalla): In a statement to IGN, they say they are trying to protect employees as best they can and are monitoring the situation very closely.
• Yevhen8 (Ostriv): The studio behind the city-building simulation set in 18th century Ukraine, posted a fundraising appeal with a List of charity institutions in Ukraine.

Studios outside Ukraine

• Square Enix: The developer group Square Enix Group has via Twitter announced that it will donate 500,000 USD for humanitarian aid. In addition, donations will be collected in several campaigns for the International Red Cross, UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders. It is hoped that peace will be restored quickly.
• 11bit Games (This War of Mine): The polish studio shows itself appalled by the attack on the neighboring country and wants to donate all proceeds through the anti-war game This War of Mine to the Red Cross in Ukraine for the next seven days.
• GOG: The store operator joins 11bit Games in temporarily giving all revenue from This War of Mine and all DLC via the GOG site to the Ukrainian Red Cross as well.
• Raw Fury (Sable, Bad North, West of Dead): The indie publisher expresses solidarity with Ukraine and people affected by the war on Twitter and plans to provide financial aid itself. It becomes Donations through the Red Cross called.
• Bungie (Destiny 2): The US developer expresses its support for Ukrainians affected by violence. All proceeds from the current Game2Give initiative will be donated to humanitarian aid organizations in the first 48 hours.
• Draw Distance (Serial Cleaner, Vampire: Shadow of New York): The indie studio from Poland strongly condemns the Russian attack. It is in the greatest concern for the safety of Ukrainians and their families.
• Riot (League of Legends, Valorant): The “Valorant Champions Tour” e-sports tournament has been paused for the time being. Priority would now be the players, casters, fans and employees affected by the crisis, according to the Statement. In addition, proceeds from Battle Pass sales are to be donated, Riot adds one million US dollars according to its own statements.
• CD Projekt Red (Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher): The Polish studio also expresses shock about the attacks in Ukraine and donates one million Polish zloty (about 215,000 euros) to the Polish humanitarian aid organization PAH. Furthermore, they provide all sales in Russia and Belarus.
• Electronic Arts (Fifa 22, NHL 22, Fifa Online, Fifa Mobile): The publisher will in the coming weeks remove all Russian teams, including the national team, from the current spin-offs of the Fifa and NHL series. EA will also temporarily stop all sales in Russia and Belarus.
• Activision Blizzard: The publisher has also announced to stop all sales in Russia. In addition, they will increase all employee donations that go to aid organizations by a factor of 2:1, as they stated in an internal letter.
• Epic Games: Epic has also decided to stop allowing purchases from the Epic Store in Russia. In a tweet however, they stated that they were not restricting access to already purchased titles for Russian players. Later, Epic also stated that it would donate all Fortnite proceeds to humanitarian organizations in Ukraine from March 20 to April 3, 2022. As of March 21, $36 million has already been collected.
• Amazon Games (New World): A consequence of the somewhat different kind draws Amazon Games from the current situation. They have announced that they will not continue working on the Russian localization for the MMORPG New World for the time being. However, this suggests that you will still be able to buy and play the game in Russia.
• Microsoft: The Redmond-based company has announced in a blog post that it will suspend sales of all products and services in Russia. It is also working with governments to maintain Ukraine’s cyber security.
• Take-Two and Rockstar: Both publisher Take-Two and developer studio Rockstar Games announced via PCGamer to stop all new sales and marketing campaigns in Russia and Belarus.
• Ubisoft: Ubisoft is also stopping all sales in Russia. In addition, they want to help Ukrainian employees leave or move out of Ukraine. For example, they will be offered accommodation in neighboring countries. In addition, aid organizations such as the Red Cross will receive financial support.
• All in! Games and The Farm 51: The makers of Chernobylite have released a charity DLC, the proceeds of which will be donated to an organization that supports victims of war. The charity pack contains four wallpapers, as well as 2 print templates for Chernobylite posters and can be purchased for 4 euros on Steam or Epic.

Meanwhile, several major hardware manufacturers have also stopped doing business in Russia. Among others, Apple, Nvidia, Intel, AMD and Samsung no longer ship goods to the country, Sony stopped sales of PlayStation consoles. In addition, several online services such as Netflix and Tiktok were disabled.

Meanwhile, more game studios are apparently beginning to evacuate their staff from Ukraine. For example, the head of publisher Tinybuild (Hello Neighbor, Cartel Tycoon, Potion Craft) reports. on Twitter:

As the industry magazine Axios reports, other studios had already flown their employees out of Ukraine days before the attack.