What you need to know
- Multiple reports indicate that Minecraft is no longer on the App Store in Russia.
- The news follows Microsoft's Friday announcement that it was suspending sales in the country.
- It is unclear if the two moves are linked or if the removal of Minecraft was intentional.
Less than a day after Microsoft announced it was suspending sales of new products in the country, Minecraft has been removed from the App Store and Google Play store in Russia.
According to multiple reports including iPhones.ru, and Gazeta.ru, Minecraft was removed from both the Google Play Store and the App Store on Saturday:
Minecraft удалили из российских Google Play и Apple App StoreMinecraft удалили из российских Google Play и Apple App Store— Газета.Ru (@GazetaRu) March 5, 2022March 5, 2022
iMore has reached out to Microsoft for confirmation, however a quick comparison of Apple's websites for the U.S. and Russia indicates Minecraft is no longer discoverable on the latter when searching for it. iPhones.ru reports that only a trial version of the game on Google Play remains.
On Friday Microsoft announced it was suspending sales of new products in the country. From Windows Central:
Microsoft will suspend the sale of all of its products and services in Russia. The company's president Brad Smith announced the move today, March 4, 2022."Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia," said Smith.
It is not clear at this stage whether Minecraft's absence on the aforementioned app stores is intentional, or if it is related to these measures. Russia has responded to sanctions by banning or removing access to many popular western services including Facebook and Twitter in recent days, as the invasion of Ukraine continues to dominate global headlines.
