The studio responsible for the Russian version of World of Tanks and World of Warships has had its assets seized by the Russian government. According to Russian news agency RBC, a trio of companies – Lesta, Lesta Games Moscow, and Lesta Games Agency – had their assets seized last week on April 17th by the prosecutor general’s office.
Readers will recall that Wargaming, which develops and publishes the western versions of the vehicle combat arcades, split from Lesta at the onset of the invasion of Ukraine. In subsequent years, the Wargaming and Lesta versions of the games themselves have slowly diverged into very different titles.
No public reason for the seizure has been offered; RBC, however, implies that it may have something to do with Wargaming’s 2023 fundraiser for Ukraine, which Lesta publicly distanced itself from. There’s no evidence that’s the cause, and we note here that RBC refers to the invasion of Ukraine as “the military operation in Ukraine,” so it’s worth remembering that some publications operate under regimes with limited press freedom.
Lesta apparently wrote on Telegram that it “operates in full compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus” and therefore has “no reason to have any concerns or conceal information”; the company rep further posted, “We have not violated anything and we have nothing to fear.”
