The EU may block the supply of PlayStation and Xbox consoles to Russia, as Russians use them for war
New EU sanctions banning exports to Russia may include game consoles. This was announced by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas.
Here's What We Know
According to Kallas, the EU is examining various goods that could help Russia in the war, including game consoles, as they are likely to be used to control drones. The Financial Times specifies that the new sanctions list may include PlayStation and Xbox, as well as chemicals for the military industry and restrictions on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas.
"We are really looking at all types of things that help Russia wage this war to put them on the sanctions list. Even video game consoles, because apparently that's what they're using to fly drones," the Financial Times wrote, citing Kaja Kallas.
Despite the claims that PlayStation and Xbox are used in drones, their direct role in this area is questionable. These consoles have quite powerful hardware, such as the AMD Zen 2 processor and a graphics card with up to 12 teraflops of processing power in the Xbox Series X. However, compared to the most advanced graphics cards, such as the RTX 5090 with 104.8 teraflops, the consoles do not offer outstanding computing performance.
However, portable gaming consoles, such as the Valve Steam Deck or Asus ROG Ally, are indeed used to control drones due to their compact size, good processing power, high-quality controllers, and operation on open operating systems such as Linux or Windows. Such solutions can be seen even in the development of Western drones, such as Tytan drones.
Thus, blocking the supply of portable consoles such as the Valve Steam Deck to Russia seems more reasonable.
Source: Defence Express
