Start here?

Takes games put in cart for black Friday sale out of cart. Goes outside instead.

Are you sure about that? Apple.

Google, fair enough, but I don’t know to what extent they actually do business in Russia. Can you buy a pixel in Russia?

Then yeah, I’m surprised valve is cooperating. I suppose they are planning for the future, should the sanctions end.

I don’t disagree.

It’s not as simple as about backbone. I agree that ethics are a good reason to stop doing business with an individual but if a company like Valve were to pull out of every country based on ethical matters, they’d need to found their own country.

Valve had a big piracy problem in russia and it was ofc because of service issues. While I obviously don’t agree with this censorship and would prefer valve to entirely pull out of russia, I can see why they are absolutely not doing that. They want to provide the best PC gaming store service across the world, and they don’t want competitors or piracy to eat into their sales

They ignored (legitimate) youth protection laws long enough, they could ignore this one, too.

“Non-traditional”? Homosexuality has been around and recorded since the Romans and even prior. 2000+ years isn’t traditional? That’s just as long as Christianity.

It’s a dictatorship. It’s not logic. Fuck the Kremlin.

Also, Valve with every other company should already have been ordered to stop operating in Russia by their respective countries.

I can’t answer if Pussians^inten^ can buy a pixel or not. But I guess even Tim Cook needs НКВД money.

This sucks.

However, I think it is important for Steam to continue operating in Russia: by seeing the living standards of other people across the world, younger Russians will develop those same expectations. Everyday things like furnishings, food, how people treat each other, and so forth. When the Russia we know dies, it will be important for the Russians of the future to have ideas and desires to drive them forward. Also, Russian authorities won’t be able to fully inspect ALL media for LGBTQ+, which means that people will see something that they “shouldn’t”.

In the long run, the media that people consume will determine how they feel their nation should become. It is my hope that Putin’s Russia will die in the coming years, and a better nation born from the ashes.

Okay, we’ll impose Canadian morals, ethics and laws across the world. /s

Good luck I guess? I was talking about the topic at hand. But the idea that you fucking Canucks are imperialist bastards is not a surprise.

K buddy.

You couldn’t buy a Pixel in Russia even before the sanctions.

Google did pause most of their Russian business. They don’t pay YouTube creators, don’t allow Google Play purchases, and while Google Workspace is available, it’s only with a non-Russian payment method. All the free online stuff is available same as before. They don’t comply with Roskomnadzor’s requests for content takedowns as far as I know (I might be wrong since I moved out of Russia and stopped paying close attention to it).

But in the end, it all comes down to business. Apple sells their devices through “unofficial retailers” that were pretty official before sanctions. They have a much stronger business presence there. Google doesn’t, and they don’t have as much to lose so they can afford this PR stunt. I’m certain that if Google’s Russian business was stronger, they wouldn’t be so uncompromising.

It was illegal in the UK till the mid 60s, Russia is still holding out

What’s the alternative? They have to obey the law, right? What should they have done? How is this “bowing to Kremlin” as if they’re kneeling, waiting to suck their dick or something.

Genuinely curious about these questions.

It is, but the alternative is that everything would get pirated instead. And like Trump, Russia is fishing for a “woke” escape goat to continue to come up with excuses to shut down exposure outside of the state controlled media, which Steam provides.

If Steam goes out of Russia, there will be a state sanctioned pirate streaming service for games, and it will include spyware. Steam isn’t just one entity, it is an entity for every country it decides to operate in.

Still, I’m not going to complete defend Valve on this, but at least they aren’t pulling a “many gamers complained about this and we listened” card. They also didn’t remove the game from the store in its entirely just because Russia was complaining, but limited access to it locally.

Maybe Valve should get out of Russia, but I don’t see this negatively affecting Russians as much as it will make the bubble they live in even more closed off. VPNs would be an alternative if Russia wasn’t criminalizing them.