Of the games industry’s three big console manufacturers, Microsoft and Sony have both publicly made announcements in recent days of the suspension of all of their operations in Russia due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing conflict in the region, and Nintendo has now joined that list as well.
In a statement to Eurogamer, the Japanese company said it was suspending all product shipments in Russia, with the decision being made due to complications arising with shipping products to the region. “We have decided to suspend shipping all Nintendo products to Russia for the foreseeable future,” Nintendo says. “This is due to considerable volatility surrounding the logistics of shipping and distributing physical goods.”
Recently, it was also reported that the Nintendo eShop’s services had also been suspended in Russia, though until now, the company hadn’t provided a reason for the same. It now confirms that the eShop is “currently under maintenance following the suspension of transactions in Russian rubles by the payment provider.”
Recently, Nintendo also indefinitely delayed the launch of Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, which was due out next month, due to “recent world events”. EA is another company that has suspended all operations in Russia, while Ukraine-based developer GSC Game World recently confirmed that it had paused the production of upcoming shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl.