In response to the recent invasion of Ukraine, creator Garry Newman is raising the price of Garry’s Mod and Rust in Russia. He has pledged to make a $500,000 donation to Ukrainian charities to aid victims of the violence.Taking to Twitter last night, Newman informed fans of his decision to raise the price of his games in Russia. Announcing the move, he wrote, “We’re going to donate any payments from Russia to humanitarian charities helping the Ukrainian people”. He followed up that initial tweet with a pledge to donate another $500,000 to help the Ukrainian people because “war sucks for everyone”.True to his word, both Garry’s Mod and Rust have increased in price for Russian customers. Garry’s Mod has almost doubled in price from $3.80 to $6.40 while Rust has more than doubled from $15.25 to $25.65.
Newman explained his reasoning behind this increase to PC Gamer. He noted that the increase was done primarily to stop people from using VPNs to purchase his games cheaply. With such heavy sanctions imposed on Russia, the value of the country’s ruble is steadily decreasing. Without a price hike, players could use VPNs to appear like they are in Russia and get games for cheap through Steam.
While Newman would hope that his donation of funds to Ukrainian charities would inspire support from those who oppose the invasion, he expects sales to decrease in Russia. He tells PCGamer, “I wouldn’t expect that buying our games would be an appropriate way to protest against it. Especially considering Valve is still going to be taking their cut. And especially since they probably are unable to get a working payment method right now anyway."
Newman is not alone in his attempts to provide support during the ongoing crisis. Recently, Euro Truck Simulator Studio announced DLC to show support for Ukraine, with all proceeds going to Ukrainian charities. Similarly, John Romero is developing a new Doom level to raise funds to help Ukraine. Meanwhile, media giants like The Pokemon Company and CD Projekt Red are donating directly to humanitarian causes.