Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Anyone want to talk about the coup in Niger? What about military rule over Sudan? We could go generic and just do Israel-Palestine! Which China is the real one again? Does anyone care that the Tigray war resulted in mass ethnic cleansings on both sides and Abiy Ahmed, Nobel Peace Prize Recipient, likely ordered it. Speaking of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates who go on to do horrific things, does anyone think Aung San Suu Kyi is still alive after being arrested before which she was idly watching a genocide in her own country? How about the Taliban in Afghanistan, the various Salafist and Baathist factions in Syria, or the fact that the borders in Africa aren't a real representation of actual armed political entities in the continent?

Could it be that Tencent is requiring this as China is low key supporting Russia? I think there was some controversy with Tencent and Atomic Heart devs. Atomic Heart actually ended up being banned in Ukraine (but really due to pro-USSR content not their stance or anything)

I'm not saying it's a conspiracy but..

Ukraine is a tiny country, 80% of which is fluent in Russian and English proficiency is relatively common. You do not localize an entire game for a small audience while excluding other similarly small countries unless your doing so is out of pity. It makes little to no business sense. So yes.

While I'm sure this will be locked once the mod wakes up I think it's a fair question to ask since there is a consumer boycott going on.

I think it was during the CohnCarnage stream that the Larian CEO said they closed the St. Petersburg office and had no business in Russia.

Bullshit. Poland and the United States have sent similar per GDP aid to Ukraine, and the United States aid alone to Ukraine in absolute terms accounts for more aid than all European countries combined. It's not even close. Here's some pledged aid data: https://www.statista.com/chart/27278/military-aid-to-ukraine-by-country/
Here's some by country data on other forms of aid: https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/
Here's a breakdown on US aid: https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-aid-has-us-sent-ukraine-here-are-six-charts

The US has sent BY FAR more aid to Ukraine than any other country. Poland does not even come close. After the US, the UK is Ukraine's biggest financial and military supporter.

To elaborate, the US sent a value of military and financial aid equal to 25% of the entire pre-war Ukraine economy.

They may have been on to something.

If anyone wanted to get a feel for what the Steam forums are like, you've got it

Yeah, we're over here at each others throats over how distance is measured in the game. I don't think we need this, too.

HEY. DISTANCE AND TIME SPACE MATTERS.

DONT TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME
I NEED THIS

Indeed. I still think it's a fair question but this topic has been asked 4 or 5 times and gets locked time and time again. Our resident Minthara-stan is Ukranian and hope he's doing okay

Unironically I think these would have been valid discussions in similar circumstance, like China invasion of Taiwan and I'd rather not give my money to Tencent then (or tbh even now). But I think by listing these you are a bit underestimating the scale of the horrific stuff Russia is doing, e.g. blowing up the dam and flooding entire towns and then shooting those trying to escape and filming it. It is just much harder to claim ignorance and "neutral as in I don't know enough about the conflict" stance for devs who are literally from Russia.

The topic getting locked and unanswered seems very disingenuous to me. I am really not sure what would prevent them from doing something like CDProject or Obsidian. I mean just take a look: https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/esg/social-responsibility/support-for-war-torn-refugees-from-ukraine/


It's not that hard and really the only reason not to do it is if they believe this would hurt their sales to pro-war Russians.

Is it now?
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has claimed, say, around 300,000-450,000 lives according to various military, diplomatic, and humanitarian sources.
The Tigray Conflict which started in Ethiopia in 2020 has killed 300,000-600,000 lives (by a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate).
The Yemeni Civil War which started in 2014 has killed at least 400,000 people.
The South Sudanese Civil War which started in 2013 killed at least 380,000 people.
The Syrian Civil War has killed at least 600,000 people since 2011 and is ongoing.
The Boko Haram Insurgency is still ongoing and has claimed at least 350,000 lives.
The Mexican Drug Wars have claimed at least 400,000 lives and are ongoing.

The Internet is everywhere; cameras are everywhere.

1. I assume this thread gets locked the moment a mod notices.

2. There are folks who use these forums who have loved ones in every possible different situation with this (and likely any) conflict. Not alienating folks who want to talk about a video game in a video game forum is preferred. There are *plenty* of places where partisan affiliation is welcome. Regardless as to how we each feel personally, this isn't one of those places.

Okay folks, the question about Larian’s stance on the invasion of Ukraine is a valid one, though I think it’s now been answered as far as anyone here is able. But let’s not get into any further discussion of the conflict (or indeed other ones) here. As multiple people have already noted, it’s not the place.

If people can refrain from discussion of the topic beyond the factual question of what Larian have said or done, I will leave this thread open, but otherwise I’ll need to lock it.

What you are missing is that the Russian invasion has just started a single year ago and has already caught up to these ongoing events some of which were happening for years. But you also misunderstood my intent, I was not trying to compare numbers, all of these are horrific, hence why I said that the same question would be valid in those other contexts as well. I would for sure not want to play a game made by those supporting Mexican cartels or those supporting them.

The point I was trying to make is that for Russians it is not "just another conflict far away" it is something their country is actively doing and is all over news so these devs not having anything to say feels like they are being complicit. There also is a lot of support for war on among those living in Russia who feel like they are "showing Ukraine who's boss" etc. So a logical question then is why random companies who are much less affected by the war (Obsidian and CDProject, etc.) do choose to say something without being asked, why Larian is deliberately remaining silent when asked multiple times?

There is very little downside to offering "thoughts and prayers" unless you have a good amount of employees who would not be comfortable with that statement (and coincidentally are Russian).

Sorry, I posted the previous response before I saw your post about locking down the thread. But since we have a mod here I guess this could be a good ending point to the thread anyway since you would probably know best. So as far as you know there have been no messages of stance or support regarding the invasion in Ukraine, right?

Look, I get where you're coming from. Slava Ukraini, but I don't think Larian is in any special or specific position to make sweeping statements about the state of the world. I don't think it would make a difference. I think the most they can do is downsize or eliminate their operations in Russia (to which they seem to be leaning), provide localization in the Ukrainian language to deny Putin's claims that the Ukrainian people do not exist historically (which Larian eventually did), and maybe put out a statement. But I think a statement is not going to change anything for Larian or for Ukraine.