Steam lost more of my respect today

https://www.eurogamer.net/official-russian-military-game-depicting-invasion-of-ukraine-released-on-steam-as-yunarmy-propaganda

A new game was released yesterday on Steam depicting Russia's invasion of Ukraine, claiming to be "officially recommended by the Russian Military".

The free-to-play Squad 22: ZOV is a tactical shooter from developer SPN Studio and publisher Zarobana Entertainment and is the only release from either company. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3573040/Squad_22_ZOV/

The game has been widely reported as Russian propaganda, raising questions on how it's been allowed on Valve's Steam platform.

While the game purports to be historically accurate through its basis on "people's experience and opinions during specific historical conflicts", it has also been "officially recommended by the Russian Military for use as a basic infantry tactic manual for cadet and Yunarmy training".

The modern Yunarmy, or the Young Army Cadets National Movement, was set up in 2015 by Putin to encourage young people to join the military. Now it appears officially recommending video games is part of this process. As shared on the game's website, Squad 22: ZOV was exhibited at the Army 2024 event.

Sure CoD is propaganda as well, rewriting history of American invasions, and America's Army is a straight up recruiting tool, but at least those are not released about active conflict...

And then Eurogamer has the gal to compare it to resistance shooter https://store.steampowered.com/app/1714420/Fursan_alAqsa_The_Knights_of_the_AlAqsa_Mosque/

Valve has recently removed some controversial games from its Steam platform, including a game which described itself as "address[ing] the Israel x Palestine conflict from a Palestinian perspective" that was removed from sale in the UK following demands by the UK's counter-terrorism unit.

Just from the UK store anyway, it's available here. That also came out before the current genocide (2022) and is against the occupying power rather than excusing genocide. (And sits at overwhelmingly positive and won 2 awards)



Reviews from Squad 22 ZOV are mixed with plenty "game promoting Russian terrorism and war crimes. how tf steam allowed such abomination to be published?" yet also Russian bots promoting this crap.

Steam only gives an AI generated content disclosure, nothing about the genocide going on in Ukraine.

Compared to the game UK removed:

THIS GAME DOES NOT PROMOTE "TERRORISM", ANTISEMITISM, HATE AGAINST JEWS OR ANY OTHER GROUP, THIS IS A MESSAGE OF PROTEST AGAINST THE ISRAELI MILITARY OCCUPATION OF THE PALESTINIAN LANDS. FURSAN AL-AQSA IS A VIDEO GAME ABOUT WAR LIKE MANY OTHER GAMES HERE ON STEAM (SIX DAYS IN FALLUJAH, CALL OF DUTY AND OTHERS).

Mature Content Description:

The developers describe the content like this: This game contains scenes of violence not suitable for under 18s and touches on sensitive themes of political and ideological content.

While Squad 22 ZOV claims:

History as it is:

Delve into the complexities of the 2014 and 2022-2024 events through compelling campaigns. Gain insight into the perspectives of those who lived through these periods, understanding how these events shaped their lives and opinions. Explore a narrative based on people's experience and opinions during specific historical conflicts.

Steam can't claim being neutral here. Actively promoting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, excusing the actions of a wanted war criminal.

Not shocked at all, Steam allows any old shit to be released on their platform, they have zero quality control.

And yeah, Call of Duty is American propaganda, it is a bit of a recruitment tool for America's military but I don't think CoD has even depicted an active invasion, almost all CoDs have been focused on made up shit, a few based on real events like World Wars which, it isn't propaganda to point out that the Nazis were the bad guys, Lol. Black Ops 6 main antagonist even is an America-led paramilitary group which branched off from the CIA. Call of Duty has problems but it's a far cry from straight Nazi propaganda.

The UK will allocate funds from the ERA initiative to arm and repair equipment for Ukraine. The Ministries of Defence of Ukraine, Strategic Industry, and the UK have signed an agreement to use surplus frozen Russian assets. Ukraine is set to receive $3 billion between 2025–2026.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 27 May 2025 at 08:11

The European Commission aims to lower the Russian oil price cap from $60/barrel as part of its 18th sanctions package but needs US support to proceed. The proposal will be discussed at the G7 finance meeting in Canada amid uncertainty after Trump’s call with Putin.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 27 May 2025 at 08:15

🤔😵‍💫 Zakharova: The US "Golden Dome" project directly undermines strategic stability; Washington must abandon the deployment of weapons in space.

— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) 27 May 2025 at 11:05

🇳🇱🇷🇺 A previously unknown Russian cyber group, “Laundry Bear,” is behind a 2023 hack of the Dutch police, say Dutch intel services AIVD & MIVD, NOS reports. Backed "very likely" by Moscow, the group targets NATO & EU entities tied to Ukraine and defense tech.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 27 May 2025 at 10:46

Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, revealed they’ve received Kyiv’s list of conditions for peace and are waiting on Moscow’s response. They hoped to hold talks at the Vatican, but Russia declined. Kellogg stressed the importance of keeping up pressure on Russia to force negotiations.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 27 May 2025 at 13:39

[image or embed]

— SAINT JAVELIN (@saintjavelin.bsky.social) 28 May 2025 at 11:31

🇩🇪🇺🇦 Germany has signed a €2.2B contract with Diehl Defence to supply Ukraine with IRIS-T air defense systems and missiles. The deal, announced during President Zelenskyy’s Berlin visit, is part of a wider €5B German military aid package.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 28 May 2025 at 18:16

The Drone Coalition grows stronger: Turkey and Belgium are joining the international initiative co-led by Latvia and the UK. In 2025, coalition members will allocate €2.75B to support Ukraine, bringing total aid to €4.5B since 2024.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 28 May 2025 at 18:29

It seems that Trump’s remark about “playing with fire” didn’t sit well with the Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council.

Well, Medvedev — like many in Russia — has long needed to sober up.

[image or embed]

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) 28 May 2025 at 11:45

Ukraine is ready for the next Istanbul talks with Russia but demands Russia share its ceasefire “memorandum” beforehand.

"We call on them to fulfill that promise without delay and stop trying to turn the meeting into a destructive one," he added.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 29 May 2025 at 09:47

Russian forces are already prepared for an attack on Sumy region, with sufficient troops concentrated near the border — State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andriy Demchenko. For weeks, Ukrainian commanders have reported on Russian troop movement near the Sumy region.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 29 May 2025 at 08:51

Germany’s new €5B military aid to Ukraine includes €400M for Ukrainian-made long-range weapons. Funded systems include AN-196 “Liutyi” drones (operational range between 1000-2000km), the new BARS missile-drone (800 km), Flamingo interceptors (50 km), and frontline FPVs.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 29 May 2025 at 10:08

The next Ukraine Defense Contact Group (“Ramstein” format) meeting will take place on June 4, 2025, at NATO HQ in Brussels. Initiated by the UK and Germany. U.S. participation remains unclear. The previous meeting was on April 11, with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth joining online.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 29 May 2025 at 11:13

🇺🇦 Russian assault groups made at least 4 attempts to breach Myropillia (Sumy region), less than 1 km from the Kursk border. All were destroyed—up to 20 troops, FPV crews, and shelters.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 29 May 2025 at 11:52

The X account of the developer includes some definitely distasteful messaging, like the mention that Ukraine refusing to surrender and give up territory to Russia is an opportunity to "have a lot of content to make more missions in our game."

Yeah, the developers are blatant Nazi cunts.

This reminds me of the post WW2 era when you'd have random nutty people publicly state how beneficial the nazis were yadda yadda.

CoD is fiction though. It might have basis in time period like WW2 and the Cold War but its creative license at best.

Also recall there was recently an Argentine developed game about the Falklands War (I forgot its name) that the developer refused to be allowed to be translated in English. Whilst I oppose the sentiment of that game, I get why it wasn’t banned. The Russian Invasion game though is another thing entirely.

At least the majority of reviews of it I cam see focus on the propaganda aspects.

I honestly don't care because developers that choose to act like d!cks and be this way (in reference to that russian propaganda game), usually don't sell as much as the normal types that try not to offend people.  So, i'll let them have their 15 minutes just for doing this.