Epic Games stops commerce in its games in Russia, but won’t block access

Epic Games will join the list of companies ending business in Russia due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The company will be “stopping commerce” with Russia but will not be cutting off access to its services, according to a tweet from yesterday. 

Epic will not block access to titles but will stop “commerce with Russia in [its] games,” the announcement says, because the company believes “the free world should keep all lines of dialogue open.”

The decision comes after several gaming and esports companies ceased or limited services in Russia over the past week. The measure comes days after the deputy prime minister of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, asked for esports and gaming companies to end their business in Russia and Belarus. 

On March 4, shortly before Epic’s decision, EA stopped all content sales in Russia and Belarus and Microsoft ended all sales of products and services in Russia. Likewise, Riot Games announced it would be hosting a fundraiser across all of its games to benefit humanitarian relief efforts in Eastern Europe, donating $1 million and the proceeds from battle pass sales from March 5 to 12 to three nonprofit organizations dedicated to providing humanitarian relief. Activision Blizzard also suspended game sales in Russia and raised over $300,000 in humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

With a growing list of companies ceasing or imposing restrictions on their services in Russia, users may see more and more gaming companies follow suit as the Ukrainian crisis drags on.