The Counter-Strike first-person shooter games are some of the world’s most popular, particularly in Russia. Now, some Russian gamers who access a downloadable map released today, called de_voyna, will be confronted with the reality of what their country’s army, at the behest of President Vladimir Putin, is doing in Ukraine.
An initiative of Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, the map contains verified information about war atrocities and the real reasons for the invasion of Ukraine. The newspaper’s journalists have collected pictures and voice recordings of the reality on the ground, and the harm being done by Russian troops, which players will be able to interact with.
Russian propaganda suggests—without evidence—that the invasion of Ukraine was launched with the goal of stopping the spread of Nazi ideology within the country; the goal here, then, is to offer an unsanitized version of the war, which has been going on since February 2022.
Helsingin Sanomat launched its initiative to mark World Press Freedom Day, and aims to reach the 4 million Russians who play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. More Russians play the video game than citizens of any other country, according to data from Leetify, a third-party video game stats tracker.
“We figured out online games didn’t yet get banned or blocked in Russia,” says Antero Mukka, editor-in-chief of Helsingin Sanomat.
Designing the maps was the product of a monthslong collaboration between the newspaper and the creative agency Miltton. The two organizations met in early 2023 to determine how they could spread word of Russian atrocities to its people, given the newspaper—alongside more than 100 others—has been banned within Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“After the planning session I went home, and on my way from the bus stop to my house I got the idea of creating a Counter-Strike map and hiding independent journalism in it,” says Roope Sandberg, a creative and art director at Miltton.
