Valve says sanctions blocking payments to Steam devs in Ukraine, Russia

Game developers in Ukraine and Russia are currently blocked from accessing their income from digital marketplace Steam, and storefront owner Valve says it’s working on a solution. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spurred economic sanctions and unrest in the wake of the war, and Valve says the bank it uses for business in the region have instituted new regulations.

Twitter was used by affected game developers to spread awareness about the problem, but it has not been resolved. Stas Shostak, a Ukranian developer, shared an email he received from ValveExplain the situation. In part, the message said:

Our bank informed us this week that wire payments to Russia or Ukraine will be subject to intermediary banking information. Additionally, payments to Belarus will be stopped.

Our team is currently working on understanding all new requirements and creating a pathway to gather this information from your bank. We will need to take this time but it won’t be ready for payment to the affected accounts by the end March.

Developers who are dealing with the issue may either wait for Valve, or make changes to their payment instructions and transfer funds to banks that do not reside in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus. These changes are most detrimental to solo or small developers. Some have even taken to Twitter in protest.

“I’m not sure about April,” Shostak told PC Gamer. “Will they really sort it out between the banks, or will Ukraine still be cut out just in case? My Ukrainian friends who are gamedevs all report similar situations. Some (me included) are just waiting for the next month, some decided to open accounts in foreign banks to be completely sure they get the next payment.”

Some of the game developers from Ukraine have offered to assist in the evacuation, and some others are staying put and trying to escape the continuing siege. Mega-bundle sales of massive games are one way game developers can raise money for Ukraine. Epic Games, Microsoft and others also donated proceeds. FortniteUp to April 3rd, sales to Ukraine relief agencies

For more information on the situation in Ukraine, check out Vox’s in-depth look at the invasion.