Access to the largest computer gaming websites has declined in Russia. Among the...

Access to the largest computer gaming websites has declined in Russia. Among them are Steam, Epic Games, Xbox, and Origin

The blocking-monitoring service OONI has recorded the biggest drop in accessibility in Russia over the past year for the largest gaming websites and specialized stores, Verstka noted.

In particular, this concerns the game stores Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, Epic Games (the developer of Fortnite and Gears of War), and Origin, as well as Pogo, a browser games website owned by Electronic Arts.

The number of anomalous and incorrect checks has also increased for the website of Electronic Arts itself (Need for Speed, Battlefield) and for another major game producer, Blizzard (Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft). In addition, OONI recorded a decline in accessibility in Russia for the popular online games RuneScape, Rift, and Guild Wars.

Judging by OONI’s data, the drop in Steam’s availability in Russia was about 5%, Xbox’s 9%, Epic Games’ more than 10%, and Origin’s around 11%, while the availability of the game Guild Wars fell by approximately 30%.

In a conversation with Verstka, experts at RKS Global suggested that gaming websites may contain betting advertisements, and that Russia’s Federal Tax Service actively blocks websites for the presence of gambling.

“But there is no surge in decisions to block gaming websites in the [Roskomnadzor] registry. So it is hard to say whether this really correlates with the increased number of checks or, for example, with blocking outside the registry via TSPU,” the project added.

🟦Earlier, Verstka reported that since the end of 2025, courts have received at least eight administrative cases against major foreign computer game producers over violations in the collection of personal data. Some companies have already been fined, including Electronic Arts and Epic Games.

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