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Gaijin Entertainment (War Thunder, Crossout) is reportedly funding pro-Russian rebels, terrorist groups in the Ukraine

crimsonheadGCN

crimsonheadGCN

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
3,024
Clifton, NJ
defence-blog.com

Big video game developer fund terror through online adverts

Cyprus-based video game developer Gaijin Entertainment reportedly is funding pro-Russian rebels, terrorist groups in Ukraine through embedded third-party sponsorships and ads in YouTube content. The story was first reported by MIL.IN.UA, which noticed Gaijin’s sponsored videos at the...
defence-blog.com defence-blog.com

Cyprus-based video game developer, Gaijin Entertainment reportedly is funding pro-Russian rebels, terrorist groups in Ukraine through embedded third-party sponsorships and ads in YouTube content.
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This is pretty insane.

Edit: Here is the original article:

 
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Cow Mengde

Cow Mengde

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,678
I feel like I've heard of this company, but I don't recognize any of the games. I feel like I might have played one of their games, and now I feel awful. I'm going to check out their entire catalog to see if this is true.

Edit - I just checked Wikipedia. They made X-Blades, a game I used to mock but never played. So I've never actually played anything by them. Good to know.
 

DoughBoi

Member
May 7, 2019
115
Damn, I liked jumping into War Thunder every now and then. This is certainly off putting to say the least
 
bluexy

bluexy

Comics Enabler & Freelance Games Journalist
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
14,507
If I get this right, the accusation is that this Youtube channel is recorded within Russian-occupied Ukraine, includes paramilitary personnel from the DPR, and uses military assets from the DPR. And Gaijin is believed to be sponsoring the channel, as you can see grafitti logos for War Thunder + Crossout within the videos. A lot of uncertain details, though. And clearly the perspective of the accusations isn't necessarily unbiased.

What an entirely crazy situation.
 
Bobby Peru

Bobby Peru

Banned
Jun 10, 2020
218
Cyprus-based but Russian-owned and operated. Cyprus has a huge Russian population - some full-time residents, others just snowbirds. The irony of not wanting to operate your business out of Russia while at the same time shilling for Kremlin, is huge.
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
49,941
Cow Mengde said:
I feel like I've heard of this company, but I don't recognize any of the games. I feel like I might have played one of their games, and now I feel awful. I'm going to check out their entire catalog to see if this is true.

Edit - I just checked Wikipedia. They made X-Blades, a game I used to mock but never played. So I've never actually played anything by them. Good to know.
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Yeah, when the most recognizable thing that I associate with the developer is X-Blades, I can't say my expectations of them were set all that high in any regard.
 
Potterson

Potterson

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,408
I mean, they are paying this youtuber which may have connection with pro-russian rebels but to say Gaijin is funding terrorist makes it sound like it's more... direct? I may be naive but this seems like stupidity and lack of research. "Oh, a gun YT influencer, let's make a deal with him" kinda thing.
 
Onix555

Onix555

Member
Apr 23, 2019
3,379
UK
Cow Mengde said:
I feel like I've heard of this company, but I don't recognize any of the games. I feel like I might have played one of their games, and now I feel awful. I'm going to check out their entire catalog to see if this is true.

Edit - I just checked Wikipedia. They made X-Blades, a game I used to mock but never played. So I've never actually played anything by them. Good to know.
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L Thammy said:
Yeah, when the most recognizable thing that I associate with the developer is X-Blades, I can't say my expectations of them were set all that high in any regard.
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You guys know the hentai game.. but not WarThunder?
It's literally one of the biggest multiplayer games on pc
 
Curler

Curler

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,584
Oh hey, War Thunder. I remember browsing DLC one day and thinking it was beyond bizzare that a single tank/plane/whatever had a $50 price tag... I thought it was weird and figured there would be more to it...
 
arcadepc

arcadepc

Banned
Dec 28, 2019
1,925
does not seem unbiased

Dylan Malyasov

He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Defence Blog online magazine. Dylan leads DB's coverage of global military news, focusing on identifying technologies of strategic importance to aviation, aerospace and defense. Born in Arequipa, Peru and educated in Kyiv, Ukraine, he graduated in business management and worked at leading European defense companies before becoming a military journalist.
 
Swiggins

Swiggins

was promised a tag
Member
Apr 10, 2018
11,442
These guys have sponsored so many fucking videos for so many creators on Youtube.

Gonna be interesting to see if people will scrub the videos or not...
 
Bish_Bosch

Bish_Bosch

Member
Apr 30, 2018
1,016
Financing organizations listed as terrorist groups in some Western countries is surely a new one. Seriously though I have a friend who does reporting out of Ukraine and the DNR/LNR are absolute nightmares in terms of LGBTQ+ and labor rights.
 
Peebs

Peebs

Alt-Account
Banned
Dec 16, 2020
119
Potterson said:
I mean, they are paying this youtuber which may have connection with pro-russian rebels but to say Gaijin is funding terrorist makes it sound like it's more... direct? I may be naive but this seems like stupidity and lack of research. "Oh, a gun YT influencer, let's make a deal with him" kinda thing.
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Donetsk is essentially Chechnya Mk 2. A puppet ultranationalist regime that occasionally carries out pogroms and purges of groups it finds undesirable with torture facilities in wide use.

He films exclusively in occupied territory. The regime supplies him with the weapons.

https://translate.google.com/transl...nder-kupuye-reklamu-v-video-z-bojovykamy-dnr/

This is like paying sponsorship money to a North Korean presenter because their latest artillery piece appears in your game.
 
Cow Mengde

Cow Mengde

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,678
Onix555 said:
You guys know the hentai game..
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What? I mean, I've seen videos of the gameplay on youtube and I agree the heroine is sexualized, it wasn't hentai. Unless I missed something.

As for War Thunder, the name is so generic, I'm sure I've heard of it, but beyond the name, I have no idea what it is. I'm gonna guess FPS or something based on the name.
 
Onix555

Onix555

Member
Apr 23, 2019
3,379
UK
Cow Mengde said:
What? I mean, I've seen videos of the gameplay on youtube and I agree the heroine is sexualized, it wasn't hentai. Unless I missed something.

As for War Thunder, the name is so generic, I'm sure I've heard of it, but beyond the name, I have no idea what it is. I'm gonna guess FPS or something based on the name.
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It's a plane (as well as tanks and ships) fighting game, sort of like Battlefield but just vehicles. Similar to World of Tanks.
 

Deleted member 16908

Oct 27, 2017
9,377
Wasn't there some company with Gaijin in the name that had some awful people in it?
 
SatelliteOfLove

SatelliteOfLove

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,954
South Carolina
Cyprus is deeply, deeply subjugated by corruption for the Kremlin/Bratvas.

www.wsj.com

U.S. Takes on Russia’s Favorite Money Haven: Cyprus

Washington regulators are cracking down on money laundering and penalizing wealthy Russians on a tiny Mediterranean island as they try to check Moscow’s power in Europe.
www.wsj.com www.wsj.com

www.icij.org

Global banks defy U.S. crackdowns by serving oligarchs, criminals and terrorists - ICIJ

The FinCEN Files show trillions in tainted dollars flow freely through major banks, swamping a broken enforcement system.
www.icij.org www.icij.org

Sadly, our old fuck soon-to-be-former Commerce Secretary (and more like Manafort) are also all up in this crime cancer:

www.dallasnews.com

Cyprus is at the center of a circle of corruption surrounding Trump

The country of Cyprus has a long history as a laundromat for dirty money, particularly from Russia. Cyprus is referenced 530,937 times in the...
www.dallasnews.com

Thankfully, now that the NDAA anti-shell company rider has became law and Magnitsky Sanctions are gaining more and more steam every month, we're flushing out this kind of incredibly damaging high financed organized crime/terrorism/proxy wars.
 
justiceiro

justiceiro

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
6,664
bluexy said:
If I get this right, the accusation is that this Youtube channel is recorded within Russian-occupied Ukraine, includes paramilitary personnel from the DPR, and uses military assets from the DPR. And Gaijin is believed to be sponsoring the channel, as you can see grafitti logos for War Thunder + Crossout within the videos. A lot of uncertain details, though. And clearly the perspective of the accusations isn't necessarily unbiased.

What an entirely crazy situation.
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Thanks, this was clarifying.
 

MJPIA

Member
Oct 25, 2017
508
Their content creator manager released a short statement on this
Zf1cQxu.png

Seeing by how in the past how they've placed ads on a ton of channels in numerous languages including a Russian porn star some 6 months ago I can believe they simply rubber stamped a proposal given to them by one of the agencies they are contracted with to place ads on a youtube channel about military vehicles and aren't intentionally funneling cash into Russian groups occupying Ukraine.
 

i like big butts

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,970
Bobby Peru said:
Cyprus-based but Russian-owned and operated. Cyprus has a huge Russian population - some full-time residents, others just snowbirds. The irony of not wanting to operate your business out of Russia while at the same time shilling for Kremlin, is huge.
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Not really.

A lot of wealthy Russians don't even really live in Russia or care a whole lot about it. If you watch clips of hyperbeast Russian kids hanging around Red Square's GUM or whatever, a lot of them apparently have pretty poor Russian skills due to the fact that they spend so much time in Western Europe according to a Russian friend of mine.

Its all intentional. The Russian Federation is basically one huge wealth transfer experiment.
 
nerdv2

nerdv2

Member
Apr 23, 2019
174
MJPIA said:
Their content creator manager released a short statement on this
Zf1cQxu.png

Seeing by how in the past how they've placed ads on a ton of channels in numerous languages including a Russian porn star some 6 months ago I can believe they simply rubber stamped a proposal given to them by one of the agencies they are contracted with to place ads on a youtube channel about military vehicles and aren't intentionally funneling cash into Russian groups occupying Ukraine.
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They advertise EVERYWHERE on youtube, I remember getting a few of their ads on small and big channels that I subscribed to.
 
Harmony Friends

Harmony Friends

Member
Oct 28, 2017
605
I feel like it's worth pointing out that Gaijin Entertainment is NOT to be confused with Choice Provisions, formerly known as Gaijin Games, creators of the BIT.TRIP series.
 
gnexus

gnexus

Member
Mar 30, 2018
2,284
MonadL said:
Man I thought this was Vic Ireland's company for a second.
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Yeah, me too. I remember the thread a little bit ago asking what happened to Vic Ireland and I was like "wtf, this is where he's been?" But nah. Apparently "Gaijin" is a popular word to use for game company names. Go figure.
 
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