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Possible consequence of the sanctions on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russian Switch users report that they can no longer make payments in the Switch eShop. Nintendo has confirmed that the Russian eShop has been placed in a maintenance state. According to a Russian-speaking supportpagina This is because the payment services no longer work properly. As a result, the eShop can no longer process payments. It is unclear whether Nintendo took this step itself, or whether it is due to a failure of Russian payment systems. This is because of the heavy economic sanctions imposed on Russia when they launched an invasion of Ukraine last week. However, the official statement suggests that Nintendo itself is not behind it.
In the past week, many companies in the game industry have responded on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Many indie studios, as well as big names such as CD Projekt Red and Electronic Arts, have expressed their support for the Ukrainian people and denounced Russia’s actions. For example, they stop selling their games in Russia, place Russian teams from their e-sports tournaments, and donate to charities. Microsoft yesterday decided to stop all their activities in Russia, including the sale of Xbox games and consoles. The Pokémon Company also spoke out about the situation this week and donated an amount of money. There are currently no further comments from Nintendo.
