It appears that Sony is taking the “no Russian” stance a bit literally with the latest Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare.
The company has confirmed that the game will not be available for purchase through the PlayStation Store digital front in Russia. The Russian Call of Duty Twitter account confirmed this today, noting, “At the heart of Modern Warfare is a fully fictional story, carefully crafted to please all players. SIE decided not to sell the game in the Russian PS Store. We look forward to the release of the game in digital form for PC and Xbox on October 25th.”
That’s not to say the game won’t be available physically in Russia. Some retailers will likely carry it in that format unless some ban takes place before the game’s release.
Neither Sony nor Activision has provided a comment on the matter, so an official reason isn’t available at present. However, there is an interesting note regarding Farah, one of the characters in the game.
Here’s a description from Activision’s blog revolving around the character. “Labeled a terrorist organization by the Russian government for their long-standing resistance, Russian soldiers are ordered to make no distinction between the terror group Al-Qatala and the liberation fighters under Farah’s command.” Again, it’s unknown if this is the specific reason for the game getting delisted on Russia’s PlayStation Store.
Hopefully, we’ll hear a response soon. However, considering that the PlayStation 4 is region free, and other versions of the store are available, crafty gamers should have no problem downloading the game anyway. We’ll see what happens.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare releases on Oct. 25 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
(Hat tip to Eurogamer for the details!)
