This year’s Call of Duty won’t see a digital release on PlayStation 4 in Russia due to a decision from Sony Interactive Entertainment. The Call of Duty Twitter account for Russia tweeted a statement delivering the news this morning.
В основе Modern Warfare – полностью вымышленная история, тщательно созданная, чтобы доставить удовольствие всем игрокам. SIE решили не продавать игру в российском PS Store. Мы с нетерпением ждем выхода игры в цифровом варианте для ПК и Xbox 25 октября.
— Call of Duty Russia (@CallofDutyRU) October 22, 2019
The statement reads “At the heart of Modern Warfare is a completely fictional story, carefully crafted to please all players. SIE decided not to sell the game in the Russian PS Store. We look forward to the release of the game digitally for PC and Xbox on October 25.” The game will still be available digitally on Xbox One and PC via Battle.net, but PlayStation 4 owners will have to resort to a physical copy if they want to play Modern Warfare. Digital PS4 preorders in Russia have been canceled and refunded.
This isn’t the first time SIE has had some reservations about releasing Modern Warfare in Russia. The game’s beta, which released last month, was pulled from the Russian PlayStation Store without any warning. In regards to the abrupt cancellation of the beta, an Activision spokesperson told Call of Duty news site CharlieINTEL “Unfortunately, Sony Interactive Entertainment is unable to support the Modern Wafare Beta on PS4 in Russia this weekend.” Supposedly, nothing could be worked out, because now the full game won’t be released at all.
Russian Call of Duty fans can still get their hands on a physical copy of Modern Warfare, and Xbox and PC players are completely unaffected. If you’re itching for more Modern Warfare, you can check out our impressions of the beta, which we loved. The game’s survival mode, a component of the larger spec ops mode, will be exclusive to PlayStation 4 for an entire year. There is at least some good news, because the game won’t be monetized with loot boxes or supply drops, but instead seasonal battle passes that offer strictly cosmetic items.