The Witcher, Cyberpunk dev CD Projekt pulls all business from Russia and Belarus

CD Projekt, developer of The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077, as well as the owner of the GOG PC store, will halt all game sales in Russia and Belarus.

This includes games it has made – including physical stock deliveries – as well as all games sold via GOG.

The move is a significant one, as it marks CD Projekt as the first major publisher and platform holder to decide to pull all business from Russia and its ally Belarus over the former’s invasion of Ukraine.

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— CD PROJEKT RED (@CDPROJEKTRED) March 3, 2022

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Yesterday, Ukraine deputy prime minister called specifically on PlayStation and Xbox to do similar. CD Projekt’s decision today will likely add further pressure on both Sony and Microsoft to do so.

Outside the world of games, other spheres of entertainment – including Sony’s movie arm – have pulled business from Russian markets. Eurogamer yesterday contacted Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft on their plans, but has not heard back.

“In light of the Russian military invasion in our neighboring country of Ukraine, until further notice the CD Projekt Group has made the decision to halt all sales of our games to Russia and Belarus,” CD Projekt stated this afternoon. “Today, we begin working with our partners to suspend digital sales and cease physical stock deliveries of CD Projekt Group products, as well as all games distributed on the GOG platform, to the territories of Russia and Belarus.

“The entire CD Projekt Group stands firm with the people of Ukraine. While we are not a political entity capable of directly influencing state matters, and don’t aspire to be one, we do believe that commercial entities, when united, have the power to inspire global change in the hearts and minds of ordinary people.We know that players in Russia and Belarus, individuals who have nothing to do with the invasion of Ukraine, will be impacted by this decision, but with this action we wish to further galvanize the global community to speak about what is going on in the heart of Europe.

“To our brothers and sisters fighting for their home country – stay strong!”

CD Projekt was previously one of several companies to previously donate sizable amounts to humanitarian charities as the crisis in Ukraine developers.