Russia Might Legalize Software Piracy As Game Makers Suspend Sales

thegamer.com:

As the list of companies exiting the Russian market continues to grow, the Russian government is considering exceptional policies that will allow Russian businesses to keep operating. One of those policies includes legalizing piracy for any company that's pulled out of Russia, and this could include games.

Bungie, Epic, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Digital Extremes, Nintendo, CD Projekt, and Sony have all announced their intent to stop selling their products in Russia and Belarus. That means nobody in Russia can purchase anything in Destiny 2 or Warframe, they can't buy games from GOG or the Switch eShop, and the already sparse PlayStation 5 shipments will cease entirely.

Related: Here Are Ukrainian Video Game Studios You Can Support Right Now

With international companies pulling out and sanctions hitting the Russian economy and sending the ruble into free fall, the Russian government has created a plan to fight back. As per a report from TorrentFreak (via PC Gamer), it's called the "Priority Action Plan for Ensuring the Development of the Russian Economy in the Conditions of External Sanctions Pressure." The Russian Ministry of Economic Development is proposing numerous policies to prop up the Russian economy, with one of them suggesting people just pirate software that they can't buy legally in Russia.

Under Information Technology item 6.7.3, the government proposes the "cancellation of liability for the use of software (SW) unlicensed in the Russian Federation, owned by a copyright holder from countries that have supported the sanctions." This would make it legal for any Russian citizen to pirate software from a company that's stopped selling its products in Russia due to sanctions.

As PC Gamer notes, this doesn't quite