PLAYSTATION has become the latest major tech brand to pull out of Russia in the wake of the Kremlin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Sony’s gaming division said Thursday that it was halting sales of consoles and software in the country.
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The PlayStation Store will also no longer be available in Russia.
“Sony joins the global community in calling for peace in Ukraine,” the company said.
“We have suspended all software and hardware shipments, the launch of Gran Turismo 7, and operations of the PlayStation Store in Russia.”
In a statement, Sony said it was donating $2million to the UN refugee agency and Save the Children to support the victims of the tragedy.
International brands are increasingly halting operations in Russia amid Moscow’s escalating war with its neighbour.
Other video game giants including Xbox, Fifa-creator Electronic Arts and The Witcher developer CD Projekt, have also boycotted the country.
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Other multinationals, from McDonald’s to Adidas and Samsung, have fully or partially halted business in Russia in recent days.
Some have cited supply chain disruption while others have directly linked the move to outrage over President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine.
Nintendo, which makes the Switch console, announced Thursday that it would be suspending sales of its products in Russia.
A Nintendo spokesman told AFP that it is suspending shipments of all goods to Russia “for the foreseeable future”.
Nintendo cited “considerable volatility surrounding the logistics of shipping and distributing physical goods” in the country as the reason for the move.
While a string of major companies have now pulled out of Russia, Sony’s withdrawal is likely to hit the country hardest.
That’s because it boasts the largest presence in Russia of any console maker, according to industry insiders.
“PlayStation has the largest installed base, so if a company on the console side has a particularly hard choice from a purely financial angle, it’s Sony,” Lewis Ward, an analyst at research firm IDC, told CNBC.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
