Steam payments suspended for Ukrainian developers, but Valve says it's for technical reasons

eurogamer.net:

Steam payments to Ukrainian developers have been suspended, though Valve has confirmed this is for technical reasons.

«Due to the current environment, we are unable to send bank payments to Belarus, Russia and Ukraine,» reads an email sent by Valve to developers affected two weeks ago.

Following criticism, this was followed up by a further email apologising for the lack of information and offering more detail on the issue.

«This past week, our bank notified us that they will begin requiring that we provide intermediary bank information for all wire payments to accounts in Russia and Ukraine,» it reads. «In addition, they will no longer be allowing payments to Belarus.»

As Valve works to resolve the issue, it confirmed that payments to affected accounts will not be available by the end of March.

Developers must either wait for Valve to complete their work, or change payment instructions to a bank outside of Ukraine, Russia, or Belarus. «Rest assured, if there are any outstanding balances on your account they will be paid as soon as they can be sent,» Valve confirmed.

«It's a very frustrating situation and we hope to find the resolution soon.»

The email was shared multiple times on Twitter by Ukrainian developers and Valve has confirmed to PC Gamer its content is accurate.

So Valve clarified, it really is a technical problem and it's gonna be okay till April payment. Sorry if I was being rude, but I wish they'd say this from the beginning. pic.twitter.com/s1B2p4MnXP

Stas Shostak was one such Ukrainian game developer who shared the statement on Twitter. Though he was relieved to see this is a technical problem, he is still unsure whether the issue will be resolved in time for payments in April.

«I'm not sure about April,»