Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.
Update 03/31/2022: Loop Hero publisher Devolver Digital has told PC Gamer that it supports Four Quarters' stance, and was aware of it ahead of the announcement.
"Devolver Digital fully supports Four Quarters as they navigate this incredibly difficult period," the statement reads. "We've been communicating consistently with the team to help them wherever possible and were alerted of the statement ahead of time, which we back 100%."
Russian Loop Hero developer Four Quarters has encouraged those who are unable to purchase the game due to sanctions placed on Russia after its military invasion of Ukraine to pirate it instead.
As reported by Kotaku, these sanctions have made it difficult for people in Russia to purchase the game on online storefronts like Steam. Some of these potential buyers took to a Russian social media site called VK to ask how they can purchase the game while still supporting the developers in the process.
Four Quarters responded to these questions by telling players to "raise the pirate flag" and torrent the game if they can't purchase it. The developer shared a link to a torrent version of Loop Hero on RuTracker and reminded players that they should use a VPN when doing so.
“First of all, [the war and sanctions] hit us morally very hard because we do not support the war,” Four Quarters told Kotaku. “On February 24, we could not believe that this whole nightmare had begun.”
The studio could not elaborate further on the cost of the war on developers in "fear of arrest for up to 15 years under new Russian laws punishing anyone for spreading 'false information' about the war being a war."
Despite the encouragement from Four Quarters, players still asked how they could send direct donations to the studio, especially due to the fact that Russian developers haven't been able to cash out payments through Steam because Valve has stopped all bank payments to Russia and Ukraine.
“We are very grateful for your support, but the truth is that everything is fine with us,” Four Quarters posted, according to a Google translation of the post. “Send this support to your family and friends at this difficult time.”
In our Loop Hero review, we said that its "cleverly stripped-down RPG concept demands attention for as long as it takes you to work out the clear 'best' way to guide each hero class, and its fantastically dark story setup stands out as one of the best in years."
For more, check out how you can help Ukraininan Civilians, our look as to why these game and entertainment companies are pulling support in Russia and Humble Bundle's charity bundle that has already raised over $5.6 million.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.