New World is apparently blocking players in Russia and Belarus

Overnight, gamers on Amazon’s official New World forums posted the news that players from Russia and Belarus are being blocked from playing on the game’s servers in what is widely presumed to be motivated by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and ongoing mass-murder of civilians.

Amazon has since confirmed that the countries’ IPs are blocked, but weirdly, the studio doesn’t confirm why, in spite of its being pretty obvious, given other games and services doing the same thing in light of heavy sanctions against Russia.

“Due to technical and other restrictions, the game is available only in certain locations,” Amazon Community Manager Luxendra wrote on the official forums in response to player questioning. “Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with access from your current location. Thank you for your understanding.”

The thread has been heavily moderated and locked for “derail[ing] off discussion on New World and towards global politics,” though of course here the game account licenses being revoked because of global politics. Not to worry; the game’s Reddit has no such compunctions, setting the record straight on so-called “racism,” suggesting VPN services, and offering jokes about Amazon maybe doing other countries the same kindness.