Wargaming announces cessing business in Russia and Belarus

The terrible current context of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is obviously known, and the resulting economic consequences: Russia is the subject of economic sanctions in order to limit the means that the country can devote to its war and the economic actors having Activities in Russian territory are forced to choose them to preserve their turnover but the risks of suffering the effects of sanctions or put an end to preserve an image (or their integrity?) With the economic consequences that implies.

The Belarusse Wargaming group has just decided: the developer at the origin of the simulation of tanks World of Tanks announces his departure from Russia and Belarus. In a note published on LinkedIn, Wargaming indicates that last March 31st of its Russian activities to its ex-subsidiary Lesa Studio based in Saint Petersburg, which becomes independent - Lesta Studio is therefore "more affiliated with wargaming". In its note, the group specifies "no profit" from the operation in the short or long term and even indicates "on the contrary, fear substantial losses accordingly of this decision". The studio specifies to operate this "transitional transition with speed, while remaining in full respect for all the laws and ensuring the security and continued support of (SE) employees". The same operation must follow with its Belarusian activities and the closure of its Minsk office. In the meantime, the Wargaming games will remain playable in Russia, but will be exploited by Lesa Studio.

For the record, for a few years, the Wargaming headquarters is based in Cyprus (attractive for its very beneficial tax regime) and the group already has several offices and subsidiaries anywhere in the worlds, in Europe, the United States and Asia. In other words, the operation should not have a significant impact on the development or exploitation of the Group's securities, but it is easily understood that abandoning one of its historic markets could indeed have significant financial consequences., in addition to the symbol of leaving his country of origin.