Nintendo has halted all shipments of software and hardware to Russia
The company has suspended shipping, citing logistical problems
Nintendo is the latest company to stop selling its products in Russia, in the wake of the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Reuters reports that the Japanese company is suspending shipments of all hardware and software to Russia “for the foreseeable future”.
Rather than taking a stance on the conflict, Nintendo has instead stated that the move was made due to the increasing difficulty of getting its products into Russia.
According to the company’s statement, the suspension is “due to considerable volatility surrounding the logistics of shipping and distributing physical goods”.
The Russian Switch eShop has been “temporarily placed into maintenance mode” since last week, after the payment service it uses for transactions stopped accepting Russian currency.
Nintendo also announced on Wednesday that it has delayed Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, which was originally scheduled to release on Nintendo Switch in early April, “in light of recent world events”.
Nintendo now joins PlayStation and Xbox in suspending sales in Russia. Last Friday, Sony Interactive Entertainment quietly pulled Gran Turismo 7‘s planned Russian release.
It didn’t comment publicly on the move until this Wednesday, when it stated that it had “suspended all software and hardware shipments, the launch of Gran Turismo 7, and operations of the PlayStation Store in Russia”.
Further reading
Ukraine calls on Xbox and PlayStation to end support in Russia
Last week, Microsoft also announced that it had stopped selling products and services in Russia.
Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith stated: “Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia.”
