Russia-Ukraine war: Minecraft no longer available on Play Store & App Store in Russia

Following Microsoft's announcement about suspending all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia, popular sandbox- game Minecraft has disappeared from mobile apps store in Russia. According to several reports, Minecraft is no longer available on Apple's App Store and Google Play Store in Russia. This development took place yesterday, March 5, 2022. Keep reing to know developments related to gaming industry during Russia Ukraine war.  

One of earliest reports about removal of Minecraft from Apple App Store and Google Play Store comes from a publication called iMore. publication cites reports from or sources like Gazeta.ru and iPhones.ru while stating that video games in no longer available in Russia. A comparison between Apple's US website and Russian website indicates that Minecraft is no longer available on latter. 

Minecraft is not available on Google Play Store or Apple App Store in Russia

It is worth mentioning that se reports started to surface after Microsoft's announcement of halting all new sales of its products and services in Russia. "We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia," says Microsoft in an official blog post published on March 4, 2022. However, it is not clear wher Minecraft has intentionally been removed from app stores in Russia or not. 

Or popular video game development companies including CD PROJEKT and Electronic Arts have also reacted to ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. While CD Projekt has halted sales of all its video games in Russia, Electronic Arts has removed all Russian Teams from titles of FIFA and NHL. Popular video game Battlefield 2042 removed a Russian helicopter's skin from game last week. 

As Russian forces are inving Ukraine, technology leers in world are reacting to situation. Ukrainian leers have reached out to top tech companies of world, including Google and Apple to restrain ir services in Russian mainland. Apart from this, re are several companies that have been operational in Ukraine and have eir stopped operations or are preparing for future scenarios.