The Russian invasion of Ukraine has now spilled over into an uncommon new entrance: an ongoing pissing match between precise Russian navy and troll factories and a Ukrainian video-game studio that’s yielded not only a potential ban on a well-liked online game, however a bounty on a Russian warship as properly.
The newest installment of the acclaimed “S.T.A.L.Ok.E.R.” first-person shooter sequence at the moment faces a ban in Russia on account of developer GSC Game World’s monetary help of the Ukrainian navy amid the continued invasion, Meduza reviews. In response to this risk and the associated disinformation marketing campaign in opposition to GSC, the sport studio has supplied a literal bounty for the destruction of the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich.
This yr has actually screwed with my wartime Bingo card: I didn’t have “North Korea joins the battle,” not to mention GSC becoming a member of it.
So how’d we get right here? Let me attempt to clarify.
First, tensions have been already brewing because the first recreation within the sequence, “Shadow of Chernobyl,” was launched in 2007. Set in an alternate model of contemporary Ukraine, the nation suffers a second Chernobyl catastrophe that triggers anomalies too quite a few and peculiar to get into right here. Imagine a complete season of “The Twilight Zone” or “Black Mirror” set in an irradiated hellscape. The protagonist of the sport is an amnesiac Ukrainian stalker within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone — and a serious antagonist is a Russian stalker.
Now, popular culture that is vital of former Soviet or trendy Russian management is commonly poorly acquired by the Kremlin, nevertheless it’s not like they lose it over each recreation or film that critiques Russia, which is why the preliminary installment — which bought greater than 2 million copies — didn’t immediate a serious response from Moscow.
But when the long-delayed sequel lastly acquired a 2022 launch date a decade after its preliminary promised launch, issues went to shit: Russia invaded Ukraine in February of that yr and virtually took over GSC throughout its march on Kyiv. GSC fled the nation, with the studio’s CEOs, brothers Serhiy and Evgeniy Hryhorovych, taking the corporate to Prague and resumed operations.
In November, the brothers struck again, with Serhiy providing his private Rolls-Royce, valued at round $500,000, to anybody who may sink the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich. (Funnily sufficient, the automobile’s self-importance license plate is “Bayraktar,” a reference to the Turkish-made drones which have performed a whole bunch of operations over Ukraine.)
It’s price noting that this may increasingly sound a bit odd as a result of the brothers use the Ukrainian spelling of their identify, and Russia clearly makes use of Russian spellings for his or her ships, however Hryhorovych and Grigorovich are the identical identify (consider Smith, Smyth and Smithe in English). Indeed, Serhiy claimed in a latest interview with a Ukrainian YouTuber that he focused that particular frigate as a result of it “places my final identify to disgrace.”
Whether Serhiy was critical or not, it obtained the CEO, the corporate and the following installment of “S.T.A.L.Ok.E.R.” a ton of free press protection forward of its late November launch date. And this time round, Russia appears fairly sad concerning the freelancing Ukrainian entrepreneurs making an attempt to bounty their means via the Russian navy: after threatening to ban the sport, Moscow is now waging an data battle in opposition to it on a minimum of two fronts.
First, a fairly low-effort assessment bombing marketing campaign. Russian gamers allegedly can provide the sport a horrible assessment and gather 5 rubles for each 200 views the dangerous assessment will get. Since that is virtually a nickel on the present change charge, shade me interested in how efficient that marketing campaign can be. (Also, test again to Hip-Pocket Gaming for my upcoming assessment: “S.T.A.L.Ok.E.R. 2: A Terrible Game with Terrible Spelling that’s Barely Worth ₽6,445.”)
But the bigger, extra important disinformation marketing campaign is the rumor, seemingly Russian in origin, that “S.T.A.L.Ok.E.R. 2” collects consumer data to assist Ukrainian authorities conscript male gamers who’re “appropriate for mobilization.” Maybe that might be efficient? Plenty of individuals do not wish to serve on the entrance strains of the Russo-Ukraine War, however I count on a rumor {that a} video game-assisted conscription effort can be seen as extra alarming.
It’s unclear how this new entrance between Russia and Ukraine would possibly broaden. For now, although, count on that the Admiral Grigorovich will preserve crusing, and “S.T.A.L.Ok.E.R. 2” will preserve promoting.
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