An Open Letter to the Global Gaming Industry from a Russian Gamer
Dear representatives of the gaming industry.
This open letter is written on behalf of an ordinary Russian gamer. Not a politician. Not a government official. Not a businessman. Simply a person who loves video games and has been buying them honestly on your platforms for many years.
More than four years have passed since the events that left millions of Russian players unable to purchase games normally. Not through intermediaries. Not through shady schemes. Not through friends in other countries. Not through dozens of unnecessary steps and the constant fear of losing access to their accounts. Simply buying games the same way people in most other countries do.
Over the years, I have never been able to understand what exactly was achieved by such restrictions.
If the goal was to influence political decisions, ordinary Russian players never had that opportunity. Most of us don't make government decisions, don't participate in international politics, and can't change what's happening. At the same time, criticizing the government, its actions, and the consequences of those actions can be quite unpleasant in any country, especially if you're personally vulnerable to the consequences of such criticism.
But the consequences of the restrictions have been felt keenly by ordinary players. Politicians have already managed to lift some of the truly serious restrictions. And no one even mentions the possibility for ordinary people to buy the game.
People who spent years buying games on Steam, Xbox Store, and PlayStation Store. People who built up their game libraries. People who supported developers with their money. People who preferred licensed copies to piracy.
It was these people who were punished.
The most unfortunate thing is that those for whom such measures were supposedly introduced likely experienced minimal inconvenience. For wealthy individuals, foreign bank cards have never been a serious problem. Neither has traveling to other countries. Nor have increased prices for games, consoles, or computer hardware.
But for the average player, everything has changed very dramatically.
When I was buying my consoles and building my gaming PC, no one warned me that in a few years, the ability to legally buy games could suddenly become a quest. No one said the political situation could directly impact someone who just wants to play a new game after work and have a good evening.
This all seems especially strange against the backdrop of years of talk about games being outside of politics.
It turns out they do. Until the moment comes when politics suddenly becomes more important than the players themselves.
But what surprises me most isn't even the restrictions themselves. What surprises me is what they've actually pushed ordinary players to do.
For years, gaming companies have been telling us about the importance of security. We've been taught to use strong passwords, enable two-factor authentication, never share our account information with anyone, and avoid purchasing games from dubious sites. We've been warned about scammers, phishing, viruses, and account theft.
And then millions of people were effectively asked to forget all these rules.
Today, Russian gamers often have to use intermediaries to purchase a game. They must hand over account access to third parties. They must top up their balances through unknown services. They must open bank cards in other countries. They must provide various organizations with their personal information, including documents that were previously never required to purchase a typical video game.
It turns out to be a rather strange picture.
First, the player is taught for many years not to trust strangers.
Then they create conditions in which he can no longer use the service normally without the help of strangers.
The situation with piracy is even more interesting.
For years, the gaming industry has been fighting against pirated copies of games. We've been urged to buy licenses because it's convenient, safe, and the right thing to do. And many have indeed embraced this approach. A huge number of players have long since abandoned torrents and dubious repacks. Why risk your computer when you can click "Buy" and be playing the official version in minutes?
But when the ability to buy games normally disappears, some people inevitably start looking for workarounds.
Some people are returning to piracy.
Someone is downloading repacks.
Someone is risking the security of their computer.
Some people start to learn how to hack consoles.
This creates a paradoxical situation: players are literally being pushed into the very actions that the gaming industry itself has been fighting for decades.
And for what purpose?
To create inconvenience for people who have no influence on political decisions?
To make life difficult for someone who just wants to buy a game honestly with their own money?
The saddest thing is that nothing has fundamentally changed over the years. Restrictions remain. Risks remain. The need to use intermediaries remains. And ordinary players continue to choose between inconvenience, shady schemes, and piracy.
And we're not even talking about any special privileges. No one's asking for free games. No one's asking for discounts. No one's asking for exclusive terms.
People want to be able to simply buy a game. Just like they did before. Just like millions of players around the world still do.
I would like to say a few words about localization.
The Russian market has never been the easiest. But even in the best of times, high-quality Russian voiceovers and translations weren't as plentiful as one would have liked. This made every studio that found a way to translate a game into Russian and give players the opportunity to fully experience the work all the more valuable.
After many companies left, the situation became even worse.
Some publishers have stopped releasing Russian localizations. Some have begun doing so significantly less frequently. Some have even chosen to pretend that tens of millions of Russian-speaking players no longer exist.
Against this backdrop, I'd like to sincerely thank the teams and studios that continue to translate and dub games. Thanks to them, many projects remain accessible to a huge number of people.
But this doesn't make the situation any less strange.
To be honest, over the years I've increasingly come to the feeling that the average Russian player is to blame simply for being born in a certain country.
Not by my actions.
Not by my own decisions.
Not according to my views.
But exclusively at the place of residence.
I understand perfectly well that many companies left Russia not on their own initiative. Some faced legal restrictions. Some faced financial risks. Still others had problems with their local representative offices.
But more than four years have passed.
During this time, many processes have been restructured. Many companies have found ways to continue operating in various countries around the world. Many restrictions have been revised or modified.
This is why it is increasingly difficult to understand why the average player should still have to face the consequences of decisions they had no influence on.
Especially when it comes to digital products.
After all, to buy a digital game, you don't need to open an office. You don't need to build stores. You don't need to maintain warehouses. You don't need to transport physical discs across borders.
A person just wants to pay for the game and get access to the product.
All.
Exactly the same way as it happens in almost the rest of the world.
Instead, millions of people continue to look for workarounds, use intermediaries, and worry about the security of their accounts.
And the more time passes, the more it all begins to resemble ordinary discrimination based on citizenship or place of residence.
Not a temporary measure.
Not an emergency solution.
And a situation that for some reason has become the new norm.
This is what raises the most questions. Not four months. Not a year. Not even two years.
More than four years later, the average gamer still can't simply go to a store, click "Buy," and start playing. Even though that's exactly how things should work in a civilized digital world.
Therefore, this letter is not about politics.
And it’s not about trying to convince someone.
This letter is about the players.
About the ordinary people who have been buying your games for years, supporting your studios, recommending your projects to friends, and helping the gaming industry make money.
About people who didn't ask for free games.
They didn't ask for any special conditions.
They didn't ask for exclusives.
They only wanted one thing: the ability to buy games fairly.
In recent years, Russian gamers have proven something remarkable. Despite all the restrictions, many of them continue to seek out ways to acquire licensed copies. They continue to buy games through intermediaries. They continue to fund their wallets through backdoors. They continue to support developers even when the developers themselves have made it extremely inconvenient.
Frankly, I'm not sure many other markets would have shown the same loyalty.
But any patience has its limits.
When buying a game becomes more difficult than pirated downloading it, the problem is no longer with the players.
When a person is forced to risk their account in order to give you money, the problem is no longer with the players.
When it's easier for a player to hack a console than to officially buy a game for it, the problem is no longer with the players.
When millions of people remain in limbo more than four years later, the problem is no longer with the players.
That's why I ask the gaming industry to consider a simple question.
What's the point of continuing all this today?
What goals were achieved?
How has the inability to buy another game on Steam, Xbox, or PlayStation helped solve any serious global problem?
Because from the perspective of the average player, the answer seems quite simple.
No way.
However, it created additional risks for user security.
Pushed some people towards piracy.
Made access to legal content more difficult.
And it struck those who could least influence the reasons for its appearance.
I'm not asking for the offices to be returned.
I am not asking for large-scale investments.
I am not asking for special conditions for Russia.
I ask for only one thing.
Give people back the ability to buy games normally.
Without intermediaries.
No grey schemes.
Without transferring accounts to third parties.
Without the need to search for foreign maps and workarounds.
Just give the opportunity to pay honestly for the product and receive it.
How it was before.
How it works for most players in the world today.
How is this supposed to work in an industry that has called players its top priority for years?
Sincerely,
a Russian player.
And I'm sure far from the only one.
