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Developer behind Loop Hero asks Russian players who cannot buy the game to "raise the pirate flag"

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Conditional-Pancakes

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From Ars Technica.
arstechnica.com

Russian game dev tells players to “raise the pirate flag” to get around sanctions

"We didn't do anything special, there's nothing wrong with torrents."
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com

The Russian game developer behind Loop Hero – Four Quarters – is encouraging Russian players who are unable to buy the game due to sanctions to just pirate it.

In a Sunday post on Russian social network VK (Google translated version), Loop Hero developer Four Quarters said, "In such difficult times, we can only help everyone to raise the pirate flag (together with vpn)" to get the game. The developer then included a link to a copy of Loop Hero on a popular Russian torrent tracker to aid in that process directly.
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In a follow-up post the next day (Google translated version), Four Quarters insisted that "we didn't do anything special, there's nothing wrong with torrents." The company also notes that players wanting to offer the developer donations in lieu of buying the game should refrain. "The truth is that everything is fine with us, send this support to your family and friends at this difficult time," they wrote.
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It's important to note that Four Quarters previously stated being against the war in a very clear way. A statement that isn't without serious risks given how the Russian government is classifying all kinds of anti-war protesters as 'traitors'. Anti-war protesters in Russia can be arrested and potentially given a 15-year prison sentence.




Important to also note that due to the ongoing sanctions, Valve is currently unable to send payments to game developers in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.

While players outside of Russia should still be able to purchase Loop Hero on Steam, Valve said earlier this month that banking issues prevented it from sending payments to developers in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine (ironically enough). Valve recently told PC Gamer that developers in these countries will have to provide "intermediary banking information" in a foreign country to receive the payments they're due.

"It's a very frustrating situation, and we hope to find the resolution soon," Valve wrote in a note to affected developers.
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Conditional-Pancakes

Conditional-Pancakes

The GIFs of Us
Member
Jun 25, 2020
10,841
the wilderness
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