Officially the reason is not called. The management of the gaming business in these countries has already been taken over by the Russian company Lesta Studio.

A private Wargaming company headquartered in Cyprus, which created such computer games as World of Tanks, World of Warships and Massive Assault, after a “strategic review of business operations around the world” announced its withdrawal from Russia and Belarus, as well as the closure of the studio in Minsk.

As specified on the developer’s website, since March 31, the local management of the gaming business has been transferred to the Russian Lesta Studio: since 2011, it has been working on World of Warships together with Wargaming, but now it will not be connected with it in any way.

The [Wargaming] company will not profit from this process either today or in the future.

On the contrary, we expect significant losses as a result of such a decision. We will complete the transition with the necessary speed, while following all the laws and ensuring the constant safety and support of employees,” the message adds. During the “transition period”, access to games for users from Belarus and Ukraine will remain.

In early March, the Ukrainian studio GSC Game — the developer of the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R — announced its withdrawal from the Russian market due to a special operation in Ukraine. In addition, until further notice (apparently, until the end of the conflict), sales in Russia were suspended by American companies Activision Blizzard (Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo), Rockstar Games (GTA, Max Payne and Red Dead Redemption) and Electronic Arts (Battlefield, Need for Speed, The Sims, Medal of Honor, Command & Conquer, Dead Space, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Titanfall, Star Wars and FIFA), as well as French Ubisoft (Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry) and Polish CD Projekt (The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077).