Video game creates a storm with new 'Russian invasion' patch

Europa Universalis 4, a strategy video game by Paradox Development Studio, added a Russian imperialist conquest of eastern Europe feature – and gamers are not pleased with the timing, given the country's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The update, which was shared on Tuesday (7 February), is part of a series of updates adding to the game's various empires. The changes to Russia were described in great detail in Paradox's developer diary.

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The Swedish game company also took to Twitter to share the update writing: "As promised, this week's Dev Diary will cover our upcoming content for Russia. Balance is of course always subject to change so Let us know what you think. We hope you enjoy!"

But people took issue with this as this development comes just two weeks before the anniversary of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and during reports that suggest the country is gearing up for a new offensive.

One person wrote: "Very bad timing, don't you think ?"

"Read a room, Jesus Christ," another added.

A third wrote: "You literally have a mission for Russia to 'Liberate Ruthenia.' That's just awful; you seriously need to rethink rolling this out."

In conversation with Eurogamer, Paradox noted that it wasn't "mindful" of the timing of the game's update.

"Europa Universalis 4 is a game about historical empires, and major updates will sometimes include changes to how those empires are played," a spokesperson told the outlet.

The spokesperson also said that the "imperial expansion of Russia" into eastern Europe, Siberia, and Central Asia feature is a "major" time period event that can't be ignored due to "historical fidelity."

Still, the spokesperson noted that they weren't trying to comment on ongoing and current conflicts in the process."

They added: "We were eager to get feedback from players and were not mindful of the timing of publishing this developer diary."

Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 and has claimed the lives of numerous civilians and military personnel.

Indy100 reached out to Paradox for comment.

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