GSC Game World - In a War Zone

Bluesnews reports on the status of GSC Game World who are located in Ukraine and are currently developing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. Needless to say, we hope everyone stays safe.

With Russia's invasion of Ukraine underway, there are concerns from all over about war in the region, in Europe, and the impact it will have on everyone. For gamers, this includes an active Ukrainian game-development scene. Prominent Ukrainian developer GSC Game World tweets about what's going on, putting out a request for assistance:

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More information.

Hmm…a game developer asking for donations for a foreign military?

I'm sure it's a legal grey area and illegal in some countries.

They're not the only ones, I didn't see this but I'll double-post what I quoted in another thread (don't miss the IGN link):

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Blue's News posted that 11 Bit Studios were donating their profits from next week's sales to their Red Cross.

This War of Mine Profits Donated to Ukrainian Red Cross
Polish publisher/developer 11 bit studios tweets plans to donate all profits from the next seven days of sales of This War of Mine and its DLC to the Ukrainian Red Cross. We've also received word from GOG.com saying all of its end of the proceeds from those sales will be donated to the cause as well. Here's the studio's announcement:

"Today Russian military forces attacked the free country of Ukraine - our neighbors. As a Polish game studio and creators of the globally recognized anti-war game, This War of Mine - one that directly speaks about the suffering and misery of civilians who are affected by war - we'd like to hereby announce our company statement: we stand against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Just words would be empty without a meaningful act though, and the timing is crucial, so the act is as follows: for the next seven days, all profits from this war of mine , all its DLC's, on all stores and all platforms will go to a special fund. A week from now, this money will be donated to the Ukrainian Red Cross to directly support victims of war in Ukraine.

Let this message resonate with everything you know about this war and how war kills people, devastates their lives and homes. Let us - players and developers together - do everything we can to support victims of war in Ukraine."

There's a roundup of other industry responses and plans for action in this IGN article.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Hmm…a game developer asking for donations for a foreign military?

I'm sure it's a legal grey area and illegal in some countries.

Yeah, and I would certainly be careful before wiring any money to a mysterious account, their approach is a bit naive but they must be desperate.

The link you shared is for the red cross so that should be fine.

That's a civilian humanitarian group to help displaced and wounded.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
The link you shared is for the red cross so that should be fine.

That's a civilian humanitarian group to help displaced and wounded.

I was talking about GSC's tweet (EDIT: ah, but I don't think that's what you meant anyway); yeah, the Red Cross should be fine and it's indirectly anyway. Maybe I could be tempted to buy the game, though it has always seemed so depressing to me.

Some of the other companies have very clear messages such as Frogwares' "We call on everyone to force Putin to withdraw from our lands". I wonder how that could potentially backslash later, that takes some courage (or foolhardiness but I don't think so).