War in Ukraine sees game industry raise relief aid, denounce Russia

While Vladimir Putin, Russian president of Russia continues to wage a devastating and unprovoked assault on Ukraine’s soil, the video games industry has rallied support for humanitarian assistance efforts within the country.

Russian troops entered Ukraine in February from both the east and the north through Belarus. CNN says that the fighting is now more intense with hundreds of deaths. This large-scale attack adds to more than 14,000 deaths in the eastern Ukraine region since 2014’s conflict with Russia. According to Kyiv Indepedent hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have fled the country in search of refugee status as they approach the end of a week of fierce fighting.

Ukrainian game studios appealed to the gaming industry for help on February 24, 2004, the date of the invasion. They directed people towards funding the Ukrainian army and humanitarian aid. Since then, the industry has taken a variety of actions to assist game developers and humanitarian aid in Ukraine. Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt RedPolska Akcja Humanitarna is a Polish charity that assists refugees in Ukraine. It has received more than $235,000 from Polska Akcja Humanitarna. Techland also in Poland is doing the same. There are many game designers all over the world who donate proceeds from sales to humanitarian aid. Polish company 11 Bit Studios started an initiative that raised over $715,000In aid Similarly, Destiny 2 developer Bungie is donating proceeds from its Game2Give driveTo support the people affected by war.

Others, independentlyDiscord is being organized by a group of people who want to assist Ukrainian developers fleeing their country. This group assists in financial support and border pickups.

Alex, an indie developer from Ukraine who asked for his first name only, stated to Polygon that peace can be achieved by the entire industry.

“We could all use some help in at least trying to stop the war verbally,” Alex said. “The information is twisted, but developers use the internet daily in their lives. The truth is revealed when you have access to many sources. Let us help you spread the truth that there is no way out of war.

Foto by Fabio Teixeira/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

“Let’s create a real world as balanced and pleasant as we tend to craft our experiences in virtual ones,” he added. “Help us. This is something that you will be proud of after we get through this.”

Tymur Solod of Pingle Studios, an outsourcing studio with 250 employees based around Ukraine, wants supporters to know that the war in Ukraine is “a crime against humanity, against the whole world.” He’s also hoping that western supporters in the industry will urge their governments to sanction Russia: “Yes, it might be harmful for the economies, but I guess people’s lives [are] worth it.”

Solod continued: “We want to keep testing Unreal Engine 5 and porting shooter games to consoles, not hiding in bomb shelters and not knowing what happens [in the]The next hour. They target civilians and peaceful cities. The total number of civilian casualties is currently being counted. [the] hundreds right now, including children.”

Solod claimed that underground teams have been seen in Kyiv as well as Kharkiv where Pingle’s offices are located. “Kyiv team hears the explosions, sees fire, hears sirens, some guys saw Russian troops, both dead and alive,” Solod said. “We really live through some Call of Duty stuff right now, but it’s real.”

Brandon Sheffield from Necrosoft Games and others are organizing an itch.io bundle which will help raise money for International Medical Corps. Voices of Children in Ukraine. The Itch.io bundles were previously used with great success to raise funds: in 2020 the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equity raised more than $8 million, while in 2021 the Indie bundle of Palenstinian Aid raised almost $900,000. The Bundle for Ukrainian is looking for developers to submit their games.

It is anticipated that the fundraising campaign will go live next week.

Yaroslav Singaevskiy, lead developer at Ukrainian studio Red Beat, told Polygon that these efforts by the industry are “greatly appreciated” in helping Ukrainian people get through this.

“Situation is very fluid at the moment,” he said. “Our team is partly in Kyiv, some team members are evacuated from the capital. The safety of the team is the top priority so work has been put on pause. Kyiv residents must hide at least twice a day in shelters and stay there for the night.

“Everyone is under an extreme stress,” he added.