Why block games for Russian players?

[Mat'e Bal]

I'm from Russia and now I can't play the purchased Sea of ​​Thieves. Why do games need such a policy? I want to ask how you feel about this

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

It's the sanctions and Valve has no control over it. They are just following the US guidelines regarding the sanctions. Please use the search function before making a thread. This has been discussed to death.

[LarryV]

Sea of Thieves Forum

[xAlphaStarOmegax]

Now I knew Steam was blocking the ability for Russians to purchase games which is terrible in my opinion, but I did not know that some Russian players are being blocked from using some games they have already purchased... wow... unbelievable. I never thought Steam would stoop this low. Smh.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by xAlphaStarOmegax:

Now I knew Steam was blocking the ability for Russians to purchase games which is terrible in my opinion, but I did not know that some Russian players are being blocked from using some games they have already purchased... wow... unbelievable. I never thought Steam would stoop this low. Smh.

Valve wasn't the one blocking anything. That was payment processors. And Steam didn't do anything to "stoop" anywhere either..

[Mat'e Bal]

Originally posted by xAlphaStarOmegax:

Now I knew Steam was blocking the ability for Russians to purchase games which is terrible in my opinion, but I did not know that some Russian players are being blocked from using some games they have already purchased... wow... unbelievable. I never thought Steam would stoop this low. Smh.

It's not Steam's fault, it's Microsoft's.

[Glimmer]

Originally posted by xAlphaStarOmegax:

Now I knew Steam was blocking the ability for Russians to purchase games which is terrible in my opinion, but I did not know that some Russian players are being blocked from using some games they have already purchased... wow... unbelievable. I never thought Steam would stoop this low. Smh.

So far, it's only games that have Microsoft as the publisher that are blocking Russian players. It is not a Valve/Steam decision.

[my new friend]

CDPR pulled all their products from the Russia region on Steam.
And Microsoft, Id Software, Bethesda and Activision games.
And all Rockstar games.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by xAlphaStarOmegax:

guys I read online Steam blocked the payments.

Swift did that. The Steam wallet works just fine.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by ВЛАDICK:

Originally posted by my new friend:

CDPR pulled all their products from the Russia region on Steam.
And Microsoft, Id Software, Bethesda and Activision games.
And all Rockstar games.

Do you think blocking games will help the situation in Ukraine?

Ask the ones who block the games. They seem to think it will do something or just jumping on the train just for funzies.

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

Originally posted by xAlphaStarOmegax:

Now I knew Steam was blocking the ability for Russians to purchase games which is terrible in my opinion, but I did not know that some Russian players are being blocked from using some games they have already purchased... wow... unbelievable. I never thought Steam would stoop this low. Smh.

You really are not watching the news are you? Do you know how sanctions work? Valve has to follow the US sanctions against Russia. Furthermore, the US isn't the only country that has sanctions against Russia right now.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by ВЛАDICK:

Originally posted by my new friend:

Ask the ones who block the games. They seem to think it will do something or just jumping on the train just for funzies.

all this hypocrisy

You are already a part of a thread on this subject.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/26/3183487463214627470/?ctp=2#c3183487463215700371

[Mentally Unstable]

There's a difference between steam doing it and other companies doing it.

Payment wise, it's not steam that is blocking the payment methods. It's because those payment methods no longer work outside of Russia due to the sanctions. Steam relies on payment processors like Visa and Master. As such, if Visa and Master are no longer processing payment from Russia then there's nothing steam can do about it. Steam did not block paypal either but paypal later on declared that it would stop processing payments from Russia which is why it is no longer working for Russian steam users.

See the following news:

https://www.reuters.com/business/paypal-shuts-down-its-services-russia-citing-ukraine-aggression-2022-03-05/

Same goes for the ability to play games.

Sea of Thieves has its own servers, they do not use steam servers to host the game. Steam is only for the purpose of downloading the game. As such, if a country is blocked from the Sea of Thieves servers then it is the developers/publisher(ie microsoft) that did it, not Steam. Just like how it was CDPR that removed witcher and cyberpunk from Russia and not Steam.

[Mat'e Bal]

Originally posted by my new friend:

Originally posted by ВЛАDICK:

all this hypocrisy

You are already a part of a thread on this subject.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/26/3183487463214627470/?ctp=2#c3183487463215700371

thanks, didn't know

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

Originally posted by ВЛАDICK:

Originally posted by C²C^Guyver |NZB|:

... Why did they block the payments? Because the US which is the entire country placed sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine. A sovereign nation.

we know it

Then why are you acting as if you don't know it? And why are you acting surprised that Valve has to follow US law? You want to blame someone? How about blaming the Russian president?

[my new friend]

Originally posted by ВЛАDICK:

Originally posted by my new friend:

You are already a part of a thread on this subject.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/26/3183487463214627470/?ctp=2#c3183487463215700371

thanks, didn't know

Really? Are you really sure you didn't?