Steam Game Developers in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine Suspended Payments Due to Sanctions

Valve has suspended payments to Steam developers from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

According to 3dnews, in an initial email to game creators affected by the situation, Valve said that “due to the current situation” it is unable to send bank payments to these countries. Valve explained that the company’s bank will soon begin to require it to provide information about the intermediary bank for all non-cash payments to accounts in Russia and Ukraine, and will also prohibit payments to Belarus.

The company is trying to find ways to collect this information and send it to the bank. Valve suggests either waiting for the problem to be resolved by the company itself, or switching to a bank outside of Ukraine, Russia or Belarus. The company does not waive its obligations.

In early March, Valve disabled all major payment methods on Steam for Russians, and in recent weeks, publishers and developers have been actively withdrawing their games from sale in the Russian segment of the service.

Recall that on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin made an emergency appeal to the Russians and announced a special military operation in the Donbass. In his speech, he stated that “circumstances require decisive action from Russia” and stressed that “Russia will not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons.” The goals of the special operation are called “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine. This was followed by tough economic sanctions by the US, the EU and other countries against Russia. Many Western companies left the Russian Federation.

You can follow the chronicle of events around Ukraine here.