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Ubisoft Has No Plans To Remove Russia From Steep Expansion After Olympic Ban
Two days ago, the International Olympic Committee barred Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics for a widespread doping scandal, preventing all competitors and officials who wear a Russian flag from participating in the Pyeongchang, South Korea games. This puts Ubisoft in an awkward position, having just released a 2018 Winter Olympics expansion to their winter sports game, Steep.
Steep: Road to the Olympics released the day the IOC handed down the punishment, making it way too late to make any changes to the game. As far as the real 2018 Winter Olympics is confirmed, Russia will go down in the history books as not participating and not winning any medals. The competitors from Russia that do compete do so unaffiliated with any country. This is not true in the world of Steep, however.
"There are no existing plans to patch Russia out of Steep Road to the Olympics," Ubisoft told us when asked about the news.
Steep: Road to the Olympics released on December 5 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. While Ubisoft has announced a port of Steep for the Switch, the producer has confirmed there are plans to release the DLC expansion on the console.
Our Take
It would be a lot of work on a product that has already shipped to reflect this current reality, but it does put Ubisoft in an awkward position. They spent a long time talking up the Road to Olympics expansion as an accurate reflection of the 2018 Olympics, replete with actual Olympians giving players advice along the way. This puts any removal in the uncomfortable position of not mattering enough to actually do, while being kind of awkward to keep in.
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