PlayStation, Nintendo suspend shipments to Russia

PlayStation and Nintendo are suspending shipments to Russia, the Japanese gaming giants said Thursday, as international brands increasingly halt operations in the country following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Sony Group, which owns PlayStation, said in a statement on Twitter that its video game unit "joins the global community in calling for peace in Ukraine".

pic.twitter.com/1KV95QiFHN

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) March 9, 2022

The statement added that Japanese tech and entertainment giant Sony Group was donating $2 million to the UN refugee agency and Save the Children "to support the victims of this tragedy".

A growing number of multinationals, from McDonald's to Adidas and Samsung, have fully or partially halted business in Russia after its invasion of its neighbouring country two weeks ago.

Some have cited supply chain disruption while others have directly linked the move to outrage over President Vladimir Putin's decision to send troops to Ukraine.

A Nintendo spokesman told AFP that the Kyoto-based company behind the popular Switch console is suspending shipments of all goods to Russia "for the time being", without giving details on the start date or likely end of the move.

"There are two reasons. One is that our e-shop (in Russia) has been under maintenance since March 4, because the payment provider stopped ruble transactions. Another is logistics disruption," the spokesman said.