I'm a leftist, i have very strong feelings of solidarity with the people of Ukraine who are suffering an unprovoked, illegitimate, criminal, violent war at the hands of a totalitarian dictator and his corrupt state apparatus. Not sure how being left- or rightwing would influence your views on civilians being murdered and a totalitarian autocrat invading a neighboring country to deny its very right of existence (on absurd, false, and fabricated grounds).
I am by no means a leftist, but I feel about the same.
And to end with perhaps the most cynical observation: the war is relevant IMO for both Larian and the BG3 game as Larian has a St. Petersburg based studio, on twitter it seemed that the partner of Larian's head writer was trapped in a shelled area in Ukraine. So this stuff - besides affecting all of us in Europe - is also affecting Larian employees (and thus development) directly.
Oh year, good point. That studio must be lost to Larian by now. They can't even pay these people - not because it's now illegal due to sanctions, but because it's technically very difficult to facilitate a money transfer. The only way I can think of that should still work is through Chinese banks, but I'm not sure about it.
Regarding the people in Ukraine... I only hope they'll make it to safety.
Or do you think it is a nice time to be a highly skilled Russian dev working for a EU game studio now in Russia?
Fixed it for ya. Here's the most recent example: an acquaintance of mine was working there, in web dev I believe, and he was unlucky enough to change jobs after the war has started. Three days into his new role, the company was closed. He's a good professional, I don't worry much about him, but still. Those who don't work in IT, however... poor sods.
For what it's worth I sincerely hope Larian manages to evacuate anyone who can/wants from their Russian studio to somewhere else
Very difficult. It's probably a bit easier for St. Petersburg in particular, because it's situated pretty close to Russian-Finnish border, and the said border isn't exactly a solid wall, it wasn't as such even during soviet times. However, the legal status of these evacuees, once they'll make it across, with be very controversial.