Epic Games became the last company to officially announce how it will deal with the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In making that announcement, Epic Games made it clear that its approach is a little different from many others as it will stop commerce with Russia but will still allow access to its products for the Russian people.
Since Russian forces entered Ukraine, there have been dozens of companies that have announced various sanctions against Vladimir Putin's country. Other people and companies, such as Doom co-creator John Romero, have taken a different approach and have gone out of their way to raise funds for Ukraine. While most of the video game world has aligned against the Russian invasion, the approaches have been varied.
Epic announced through its official Twitter account that it's moving in the direction of companies like Ubisoft but is taking one particular step that some believe could actually be quite useful. The Fortnite developer said it was "stopping commerce with Russia" in its games in response to the Ukraine invasion.
However, the company also said that it wouldn't go the extra step of cutting off the use of its products entirely. Epic went on to explain that it's not cutting off access entirely for the same reasons that other communication tools are still online in Russia, in that the "free world" should keep all lines of communication and dialog open.
This particular approach seems to be in direct conflict with what Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked for when he addressed Xbox and PlayStation actions last week. Fedorov asked Microsoft and Sony to completely cut off access to users in Russia as a way to isolate them. The intention appeared to be that if the Russian people lost all access to the outside world, that might start a wave of reprisals against the Russian leadership.
However, it appears that Epic is taking the approach that was pointed out in several comments in its tweet thread. There is one prevailing opinion that allowing Russian gamers who are using the company's product to communicate with others will actually expose them to viewpoints they aren't getting inside their own country. It's clear that Epic Games has joined other companies in condemning the attacks on Ukraine, but the firm apparently doesn't believe that cutting off everyone inside of Russia from the rest of the world is as effective as letting them hear what others around the globe are saying about the invasion.