Over the past weeks or so, multiple major tech giants have taken steps to comply with government sanctions on Russia, stopping sales, limiting access to their products, and taking other measures. Big names like PayPal, Apple, Intel, AMD has stopped providing services in the country and Microsoft has joined them by removing Minecraft from the App Store and Google Play of Russia.
Players can no longer purchase Minecraft in Russia
The official blog post by the President and Vice Chairman, Brad Smith says “Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia.” it continues,“We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia.
In addition, we are coordinating closely and working in lockstep with the governments of the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, and we are stopping many aspects of our business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions.”
Since Minecraft’s developer and publisher, Mojang was bought out by Microsoft, it’s no surprise that the game is also no longer available for people residing in Russia. While those who have the game downloaded will still be able to play it, those who didn’t buy it can’t do that anymore until the situation improves and the sanctions are lifted.
The recent conflict has had quite an impact on gaming, with the soft launch of Apex Legends and the closed beta of Battlefield Mobile being delayed and multiple developers issuing statements in solidarity with Ukraine. For now, nothing can be said for when the game will come back.
What are your thoughts as Minecraft is no longer available in the Google Play Store and App Store of Russia? Tell us in the comments below!
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