Nintendo will no longer ship its products to Russia, at least for the foreseeable future, a company spokesperson told Eurogamer today.
The decision comes two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, but Nintendo has not mentioned the war in its statement. Not only have shipments of products been suspended, but the Nintendo eShop in Russia is also currently under maintenance.
“We have decided to suspend shipping all Nintendo products to Russia for the foreseeable future,” Nintendo said. “This is due to considerable volatility surrounding the logistics of shipping and distributing physical goods. In addition, Nintendo eShop in Russia is currently under maintenance following the suspension of transactions in Russian rubles by the payment provider.”
This is the second business move Nintendo has done this week amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On March 9, the company delayed the release of Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp as a result of “recent world events.” Eurogamer reported that even the marketing footage of the game has been removed from YouTube.
Gaming companies such as Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and CD Projekt have imposed sanctions on Russia after Mykhailo Federov, the vice prime minister of Ukraine, asked PlayStation and Xbox to leave the Russian market on March 2 if they “support human values.”
While these companies are imposing sanctions on Russia, some of them have also donated money in aid of Ukraine. On March 3, Nintendo donated $200,000 to humanitarian relief.
