The war in Ukraine has also left its mark on digital games. The gamer scene with its virtual warriors is clearly speaking out against Putin’s war. The gaming industry is also drawing harsh consequences.
The Warsaw-based company “11 bit Studios” declared on its website at the beginning of the war on February 25: “Today Russian forces attacked the free country of Ukraine – our neighbors. As a Polish studio and developer of the globally praised anti-war game ‘This War of Mine’, which is about the suffering and misery of civilians in war, we stand against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, words without action are too little, which is why we will donate all proceeds from ‘This War of Mine’ to the Ukrainian Red Cross.”
Games industry: game industry donates to Ukraine
Many followed this call for donations: 650,000 euros were collected within a very short time. And the big players in the industry quickly followed suit: The Japanese company “Bandai Namco”, publisher of the currently much talked about fantasy epic “Elden Ring”, donated over 850,000 euros. “Riot Games”, the company behind the popular online game “League of Legends” donated five and a half million dollars. And in the candy-colored shooter “Fortnite,” one of the most globally successful titles, over 144 million dollars were collected for Unicef and other aid organizations.
Call for sanctions of Russian players
The games industry apparently fit in perfectly with Ukrainian efforts to activate support at all levels against the aggressors. Just a week after the war began, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mychaylo Fedorov had addressed the games industry on Twitter: “I ask them to block all Russian and Belarusian gamer accounts, and to exclude Russian and Belarusian teams and players from participating in all eSports competitions and cancel all events scheduled on the territory of Russia and Belarus.”
Since then, the biggest game publishers – Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, and Nintendo – have stopped distributing their titles in Russia and Belarus. Will these sanctions against the hobby of Russian gamers help turn local public opinion?
“Call of Duty”: Virtual wars continue
In unlocked areas of the world, various virtual wars naturally rage on in the games themselves, as combat, including military combat, has traditionally been a central mechanic in games: In the popular “Call of Duty: Warzone,” hundreds of thousands of people go into very realistic-looking combat every day – for several months now, at least, no longer in the largely devastated, very post-Soviet-looking game city of “Verdansk.”
War game as exciting-relaxing escape from reality?
However, because the images from “Warzone” are very close to what can be seen in the news every day at the moment, some people are withdrawing from the game. For others, however, the virtual war game remains an exciting-relaxing escape from reality, including “Warzone” player Michael B.: “Yes, it may sometimes resemble images from real war zones. But beneath the surface, it’s not about killing and destroying, but about team play, competition, excitement, communication and, above all, fun.”
No information on changed player numbers
As to whether the number of players – for example, in “Warzone” – has changed since the beginning of the Ukraine war, the publisher Activision does not comment. “Warzone” shootouts are extremely interesting as a game principle – which is why snowball fights are also popular with pacifists. But you learn little about the reality of war even in realistic-looking “shooters”.
“This War of Mine”: unusual game about war
An exception is the game “This War of Mine”, from the already mentioned Polish “11 bit Studio”. Since its release in 2014, it has repeatedly surprised players with a very unusual, ludic approach to the problem of civilization “war”. The initial situation: the house is half destroyed, some floors are no longer accessible, no electricity, no running water, no medicine, but three adults and a child hungrily persevere.
In “This War of Mine” players fight for the survival of these people, but mostly not with weapons, but by scavenging the ruins, trading with refugees or letting old neighbors rob them – always careful not to risk the slightest injury, because bandages are very rare. It’s difficult to maintain sanity, resolve conflicts with fellow fates, and dodge the threat of marauding soldiers.”
Gripping, harrowing and instructive
The gameplay experience in This War of Mine is very depressing, but how could war seem any different? Of course: the cruelty of war – if not abstracted, styled or concealed – can’t be fun. And fun is what most people expect from games.
But just as literature deals with war in an enlightening way, so can games. It’s not fun, but it’s gripping, shocking, and educational.
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