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[Update] Company Of Heroes 2 No Longer Sold In Russia
Update: Sega has provided us with a statement on the concerns regarding Company of Heroes' 2 historical representation of the Soviet military. "SEGA and Relic are aware of the press stories circulating concerning Company of Heroes 2 and the historical context of the game from a Russian perspective," a Sega representative told Game Informer. "At this time we cannot offer any further comment, however we are taking this issue very seriously and are investigating these concerns thoroughly with all relevant partners."
We asked Sega to identify who Relic used to insure historical accuracy, but the publisher has declined to comment.
Original Story:
The problem with historical representations, is that they represent history. But what happens if events aren't depicted accurately? Over 17,000 people in Russia are claiming that Sega and Relic haven't fairly represented the USSR's World War II army in Company of Heroes 2, leading to the game being removed from retail.
A petition to remove the game from Steam has garnered significant support for Company of Heroes 2's depiction of the Soviet Army as under-equipped. Additionally, retailer 1C-SoftKlab has stopped selling the title. In a comment to Videogamer.com, Sega has acknowledged the concerns and indicates it is taking the matter "very seriously."
Company of Heroes 2 was, in part, responsible for Sega's strong performance in its most recently completed fiscal quarter. The title sold 380,000 copies in the few days it was on the market during that period.
[Source: Videogamer, 1csc.ru via Joystiq]
Our Take
I reached out to Sega to find out who Relic used to ensure that their representation of Soviet/Russian history was accurate. Obviously, different experts are going to have different interpretations of the events, but knowing that the developer did confer with an academic authority on the era would go a long way to understanding if this is nationalist pride or a misrepresentation of historical events.
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