Updated 03/06/2023: The original version of this article stated that Gaijin Entertainment's current studio is located in Moscow. The developer was founded in Moscow, but does not currently have a studio in Moscow.

Regarding the alleged sponsorship of video advertising in the Donetsk People's Republic, Konstantin Govorun of Gaijin Entertainment writes: "We have been working with the Donetsk People's Republic for several years. We do not buy anything directly from YouTube channels. We either pay YouTube itself or pay an ad agency to obtain a large number of ads from around the world. The agency that ordered the ads for the video in question removed the ads when they realized that they could get us involved in a political debate. In other words, we did not order the ads, neither the agency nor we paid for the ads, the ads were canceled, and no sponsorship occurred."

Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing conflict in the region has repercussions throughout the world. Ukraine's Foreign Minister has called on various major publishers and platform holders to boycott Russia (most of which have done so (opens in new tab)), and the recent controversy over the Russian-originated game Atomic Heart (opens in new tab)

Over the weekend, a new and confusing front opened up. Fans are best known for their habit of leaking (open in new tab) (open in new tab) classified military documents (open in new tab) over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again to win arguments. game, War Thunder, has appeared in the background of a Russian propaganda video. The video, widely circulated on social media by the Eastern European media outlet Nexta.tv, features various shots of Russian troops doing Russian military-like things, being inspected, and being awarded medals. To spectators back home, the content is quite normal and patriotic.

However, around 15 seconds into the clip, there is a shot of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (the man on the left) and Colonel Rustam Muradov (the man on the right) sitting in front of at least two propaganda-style posters with large official War Thunder art on them There are. [War Thunder developer Gaijin Entertainment is headquartered in Hungary, with offices in Germany, Latvia, Cyprus, Armenia, and the United Arab Emirates. However, there are claims that the company is participating in or supporting Russian propaganda, as it was founded in Russia in 2002. Two years ago, Gaijin Entertainment sponsored a YouTube video (opens in new tab) produced at a military training camp in the Donetsk People's Republic (a region that became a separate Ukrainian state in 2014 and was annexed by Russia in 2022). Gaijin states that this was an uncontrolled error.

There are still those who say it may be a mistake that the Russian link is one: two seems inadvertent. However, Gaijin Entertainment told PC Gamer that it was unaware that its images were being used in this way until the above clip began circulating.

Anton Yudintsev, founder of Gaijin Entertainment, said, "We weren't aware they were being used in this way until we saw it on social media. So one can only speculate as to who did it and why." Some lazy "designers" tend to download random pictures from the Internet without respecting copyright, instead of actually creating something. This has happened with photos and videos of many games, including 'War Thunder,' and was probably the case here as well."

Call me less than credible, but there is at least a plausible vibe to this explanation (of course, the gringo could have chosen not to say anything). The incident reminds us that a photo of the murdered Russian diplomat appeared in a Telltale game (opens in new tab) and was subsequently used by Russia as propaganda.

Whatever the explanation, this is yet another disturbing way in which the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has become one of the first full-scale social media wars, with repercussions in all areas. Some of the games are bizarre, such as a copy of "The Sims" appearing in a propaganda video (open in new tab), while others are downright tragic, such as the shooting death of a man by Russian security forces, but who was likely not a terrorist but a Stalker Larp participant (open in new tab). Inside Russia, the country's government is panicking over the collapse of outside investment in high-tech industries, including gaming, and has embarked on a number of nationalistic plans to build up its own country from the ground up: so far, it is going as expected (opens in new tab).