author: Michael Kulakowski
PS4 Version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is Banned in Russia
In unclear circumstances, the Russian branch of Sony decided to completely ban the sale of digital copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in the local PlayStation Store. The title will also not be available in a physical version.
The release of the latest installment of Call of Duty series will probably be one of the biggest launches of the year. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a highly anticipated title, unfortunately appears in the company of many controversies, resulting from the supposedly extremely brutal content of the story campaign, planned microtransactions, and above all the Survival mode, which will be available for one year only on PlayStation 4. Infinity Ward's work also aroused considerable excitement among Russian players, who without specific explanations from Activision and Sony, from mid-September, could not submit pre-orders and download its beta version. After a few weeks of silence, the official Twitter account of Call of Duty has just stated that the Russian branch of Sony did not allow the game to be sold in the local version of PlayStation Store or distributed in a boxed version on the territory of the country.
The situation is unclear and full of contradictions, as Sony and Activision blame each other and do not want to explain the reasons behind the sales ban. Fans of the series speculate that the aforementioned story campaign is to present Russian soldiers in a bad light. Of course, this is not the first time that the Putin government has banned the sale of a game or demanded that its content be modified to conform to its ideological line. The case described here is even more strange because Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will appear in Russia without any problems on Xbox One and PC.
On the other hand, we must remember that the global structure of Sony Interactive Entertainment is based on a network of partially independent domestic branches of the company, conducting their own marketing and publishing activities. No wonder that the local SIE can be more sensitive to Russian pressure than the US-registered Microsoft and Activision (CoD: Modern Warfare will be available on the PC via Battle.net).
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will launch on October 25, this year on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The story campaign itself is supposed to provide entertainment for an average of 6-7 hours, but the additional online modes will provide even more. The official hardware requirements can be found here.
