Game News Having fled during the invasion of Ukraine, this video game studio is in the sights of the KGB for terrorism
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In the video game industry too, the war in Ukraine has serious consequences. We are thinking in particular of Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp on Nintendo Switch, which has been postponed to an unknown date because of the situation. But for the developers at Wargaming, the consequences could well be even greater.
Wargaming (World of Tanks) distances itself
World of Tanks, you know? This game featuring tanks of all kinds is a bit like the goose that lays the golden egg of the Belarusian studio Wargaming. And if it has worked so well, it is thanks in particular to the Russian community, which is particularly active in the game. So much so that it allowed World of Tanks to break the record for the most players online simultaneously on a server on January 23, 2011 (more than 91,000 players on the Russian server). Inevitably, a close link has therefore been built between the studio, Russia and any associated country. Especially since Anton Pankov, director of public relations for the Russian subsidiary of Wargaming, had supported, in 2014, the presence of “educational and patriotic elements” especially in World of Tanks. A particularly important detail for the Russian government, which for a time graciously funded developers promoting patriotism in their games.
But this beautiful story without a hitch finally gave way in the face of the war in Ukraine. Quickly, Wargaming found itself embarrassed by its ties to Russia and Belarus and the economic consequences these could have. The studio has therefore worked hard to send a clear message: its members do not validate the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. It started with donations to the Ukrainian Red Cross, then it continued with the dismissal of Sergey Burkatovskiy, creative director who posted his support for the Russian invasion on Facebook. But it was in April 2022 that the coup de grace was delivered: Wargaming has decided to close its Belarusian and Russian studios. And that doesn’t really benefit the Belarusian government, involved in the conflict.
Over the past few weeks, Wargaming has conducted a strategic review of business operations around the world. The company has decided that it will not own or operate any business in Russia and Belarus and will leave the two countries. Effective March 31, the company transferred its live gaming operations in Russia and Belarus to local Lesta Studio management, which is no longer affiliated with Wargaming.
Wanted by the Russian government
The Belarusian KGB (the only country in the former post-Stalinist USSR to have kept this name for its intelligence service) recently updated its list of “organizations or individuals involved in terrorist activities”. There is now a certain Nikolai Katselapov, in charge of marketing development at Wargaming. The latter would have financed terrorist activities, probably opponents of the government. Indeed, Belarus has recently been strongly singled out, in particular by the UN, because of its “continued repression of opponents”. Doubts therefore arise as to the true dangerousness of Nikolai Katselapov. What did he actually do and how bad is it? Hard to say at the moment. But for some, it is above all a pretext to take revenge for the departure of Wargaming.
Wargaming was indeed the biggest video game studio in Belarus, a real source of pride and a pillar for the economy. His departure (and the moving of his headquarters to Cyprus) was therefore experienced as a real betrayal. Last July, the studio had already been added to the list of companies hostile to Belarus according to the government. It remains to be seen if we will soon have more information on what Nikolai Katselapov is accused of or if Wargaming will speak out against this new attack.
