Konami Fully Exiting Russia and Belarus Digital Markets on June 15 2026 Suspending Major Games Like Metal Gear and eFootball Amid Sanctions
Konami announced it will fully exit the digital market of Russia and Belarus. This is precisely 4 years after a significant part of the international gaming industry left this market, back in 2022. The formal statement issued by the Japanese publisher on the 15 of May clearly stated the suspension of all services from the market will happen on the 15th of June 2026.
This suspension includes major franchises such as eFootball (the latest game in the Pro Evolution Soccer series) while Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Survive already notified its players through in game announcements about the shutdown of services. Konami did not present a detailed reason to justify this sudden removal from these markets, but widely accepted reasons are changing laws and international sanctions affecting the two countries.
The future of active players is rather dark, especially considering games that entirely depend on server connection. For example Metal Gear Survive will eventually be completely unusable since the game has no offline functionality for its main systems. As for other titles, any multiplayer functions, like playing matches against other players online or purchasing digital content, will be cancelled. The official corporate pages confirmed that within 30 days the citizens of these two countries will not be able to use Konami services any longer.
This also follows similar measures that were previously imposed by several digital marketplaces such as Steam, who stopped any new purchases from the publisher a few years back. The deadline of June 15 represents the closing act of the full exit from the market. The remaining player base is worried due to the lack of any specific statement about account money or personal data saving.
