Pokémon Go will suspend gameplay in Russia, Belarus
Plus other Niantic games Ingress and Pikmin Bloom.
Pokémon Go will suspend its gameplay in Russia and Belarus for the foreseeable future, developer Niantic has now said.
The game has already been pulled from app stores in those countries, while in-game functionality will go dark "shortly".
Niantic will also do similar for its other games, including its original title Ingress and Nintendo collaboration Pikmin Bloom.
We stand with the global community in hoping for peace and a rapid resolution to the violence and suffering in Ukraine. Niantic’s games are no longer available for download in Russia and Belarus, and gameplay will also be suspended there shortly.
— Niantic (@NianticLabs) March 11, 2022
"We stand with the global community in hoping for peace and a rapid resolution to the violence and suffering in Ukraine," developer Niantic wrote in a statement published via Twitter last night.
"Niantic's games are no longer available for download in Russia and Belarus, and gameplay will also be suspended there shortly."
Niantic is the latest company to withdraw support for Russia and its ally, following similar steps by Microsoft, PlayStation, Nintendo, EA, CD Projekt, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Take-Two.
But Niantic's move arguably goes further than most - by not only stopping game sales and in-game purchasing, but scrubbing the ability to play the game at all for the foreseeable future.