Company of Heroes 2 has been hitting some bumps recently. Though we really enjoyed the game, many of the themes and tropes of the game's depiction of World War II's Eastern Front have come under fire from Russian fans. Now, CoH 2's distributor for Russia and Eastern Europe is halting sales while they check out the situation.
1C-SoftClub stopped sales of CoH 2 on July 26 after a petition, alleging that the game's depiction of Soviet soldiers did not promote patriotism among adolescents, received more than 5,000 signatures. “In connection with appeals of people who consider unacceptable [a] number of episodes of the game,” 1C-SoftClub wrote on its website, “[We have] stopped selling PC game Company of Heroes...in the territory of the Russian Federation and [Commonwealth of Independent States].”
In Company of Heroes 2, some of the most notorious abuses of the World War II-era Soviet Army are depicted as part of the gameplay. Though episodes where soldiers are sent into battle without weapons are based on historical reality, Russian critics claim that focusing on these isolated incidents as if they were part of daily life for Soviet soldiers exaggerates the stereotype to a parody.
When you make a game that tangles with national mythology, things tend to get political very quickly.
Speaking to Polygon , a representative from Sega didn't offer much except that they were taking the situation “seriously” and couldn't comment further. We'll keep you up to date as the situation develops.
