Elain Brown Tech 03.29.2022 22:Mar PM EDT

Loop Hero Developers: Russian Players, You Can Pirate Our Game

Loop Hero developers have recently encouraged their players to "raise the pirate flag."

Four Quarters, the indie Russian game developer responsible for the surprise hit Loop Hero, is encouraging players to pirate the game if they are unable to purchase it legally. This was the result of the broad range of sanctions imposed on Russia since its specialized military operations in Ukraine in late February.

How to Download Loop Hero

Loop Hero players in Russia and fans all over the world have been wondering how to download Loop Hero due to the imposed sanctions of the U.S. on Russia. They are currently unable to purchase Loop Hero through Steam or the Nintendo Switch's eShop.

Loop Hero's Russian developers encouraged their players that if they are unable to purchase the mystical role-playing game, they can simply pirate it.

As reported by Engadget, Four Quarters wrote, "It is not known when all this will end, therefore, in such difficult times, we can only help everyone to raise the pirate flag (together with vpn) and share the most popular distribution on the rutracker".

Four Quarters encouraged its players to "raise the pirate flag" and even included a downloadable link of the game via BitTorrent and the Russian torrent site RuTracker.

Steam and Nintendo have temporarily stopped accepting payments from Russian customers, effectively excluding the entire country from their respective inventories and marketplaces.

According to Kotaku, it was later revealed that the Loop Hero developers are not able to cash in any payments from their players' purchases. The financial halt comes from Visa and Mastercard pulling out of Russia in participation in the U.S. sanctions against Russia.

Loop Hero's loyal fan base initiated another means to support the Russian developers directly. However, Four Quarters stated, "We are very grateful for your support, but the truth is that everything is fine with us, send this support to your family and friends at this difficult time."

Loop Hero Update

The Loop Hero update has been slowed, but not completely halted by the ongoing onslaught between Russia and Ukraine. According to Four Quarters, the update is nearly 80% complete, and the company plans to finish it as soon as possible.

Aside from releasing an update, the developers are also currently working on a new patch for Loop Hero. Four Quarters also added that Nintendo Switch players will get a new version of the game. After the Switch update, PC users will receive another version of the updated release.

Lastly, Loop Hero players can look forward to a smartphone version of the exciting game. However, how quickly the update will be released will be dependent on the outcome of Russia's geopolitical aggression toward Ukraine.

As reported by Engadget, it also depends on when the United States and the European Union intend to lift sanctions. Between Russian government bans and Western sanctions, Russians have been effectively barred from accessing Western technology companies and all of their products and services for some time.