As the support for Ukraine amidst the Russian invasion increases, Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced to extend its solidarity to Ukraine by withdrawing all of its operations from Russia. This latest move includes freezing all hardware and software shipments, the launch of Gran Turismo 7, and shutting down the PlayStation Store in Russia.

Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, countries like the US, Germany, and others have put out economic sanctions against Russia. Even the gaming community and tech & video game industries have raised their voice against Russia’s barbaric military operations, with many organizations banning Russian players and withdrawing their deals with Russia. Across the gaming industry, big companies including Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, Take-Two, Epic games have held back sales in Russia.

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Apart from cutting off ties with Russia, the Sony Group has announced to donate $2 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the international NGO, Save the Children, to help the victims of the war. This comes at a time when Sony pledged to join hands with the global community “in calling for peace in Ukraine”.

Meanwhile, the US-based video game holding company Activision Blizzard also announced to halt all new sales "of and in" its games in Russia. "We are doing everything possible to assist employees, and their families, who are being directly affected by this tragedy," Activision Blizzard president Daniel Alegre said.

In a tweet from its Newsroom account, Epic Games said that it was "stopping commerce with Russia in our games" in response to the current crisis in Ukraine. Even Mykhailo Federov, the deputy prime minister of Ukraine, has urged Xbox and PlayStation to abandon the Russian market. It is evident by now that many more companies will resort to suspending their operations in Russia in an attempt to support and restore peace in Ukraine, by paralyzing Russia financially.