Steam isn’t new to allowing the listing of rather peculiar and controversial games on its marketplace, but a line may have been crossed with “Squad 22: ZOV.”
The “game,” which has recently been listed on Valve’s digital marketplace for PC, claims to be a tactical strategy game “based on real wartime experience of living Russian veterans of war in Ukraine.”
It’s developed by “SPN Studio” and published by “Zarobana Entertainment,” neither of which has other games on Steam.
It prompts the player to “Exploit the unique personal skills and attributes of their squad members, deploy a diverse arsenal of weapons and equipment, and utilize drones and external support to dominate the battlefield.”
If the theme was not distasteful enough, the developers claim that the game is “officially recommended by the Russian Military for use as a basic infantry tactic manual for cadet and Yunarmy training.”
If you’re unfamiliar with “Yunarmy,” also known as Young Army Cadets National Movement, it’s a youth organization targeting children and funded by the Russian Government and sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Defence, dedicated to indoctrinating and training future soldiers for the army.
This propaganda organization was established by Vladimir Putin himself in 2015.
Indeed, the official YouTube channel of the game shows it being presented to members of Yunarmy during an event in Moscow.
It also features a trailer that can only be defined as unhinged, in which Ukraine and NATO are portrayed as the aggressors and even destroy ambulances carrying civilians with drones. We’ll spare you the sight, but it can be found rather easily if you feel the need to part with your recently consumed dinner.
The X account of the developer includes some definitely distasteful messaging, like the mention that Ukraine refusing to surrender and give up territory to Russia is an opportunity to “have a lot of content to make more missions in our game.”
Incidentally, the description on Steam also mentions (SIC) that “Some 2D images in game where pre-rendered with usage of AI as a base for work of our 2D artists and later drawn-over in order to make them geniue art.”
Quite obviously, whoever wrote that doesn’t have a very clear idea of how “genuine” (that’s likely the word they were looking for) art is made.
At the moment, the reasoning behind the inclusion of this propaganda tool on Steam remains unknown. We have reached out to Valve’s PR to request a statement and ask whether the developer intends to do anything about this.
At the moment of the publishing of this article, Valve has not replied, but we will keep you updated if we hear anything back.
This is certainly not the first time Russian armed forces have been depicted in video games and simulators. The MiG-29A has recently gone up for pre-orders in DCS World (albeit Eagle Dynamics has wisely opted to show it with a Polish livery during the vast majority of the trailer), and Russian developer 1C Games is currently working on a flight simulator set in the Korean War.
Yet, the case of an officially declared propaganda tool designed to indoctrinate children into joining the Russian military is a completely different pair of sleeves.
Update: as reported by GameInformer, the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine has already set its sights on the game, defining it in February 2025 as “not just entertainment, but an element of propaganda aimed at justifying the war and creating a heroic myth about the Russian military. This is another step in the militarization of Russian society and its preparation for a long-term war.”
