Ukraine-Russia conflict: Users of online puzzle game take to Twitter after spate of 'pro-Russian' answers

A popular mobile puzzle game has removed Russian-themed content after users raised questions over its use on social media.

Nonagram, which requires players to reveal a picture by solving number-based puzzles, has recently produced a string of Russia-themed answers including "Coat of arms of Russia", as well as "Kremlin" – referencing the Russian government – and “The Motherland Calls".

The game programmers, Easy Brain Team, are based in Minsk, Belarus, an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. However, Swedish parent company Embracer Group has pledged $1 million [£760,000] to help the humanitarian effort in Ukraine, while its chief executive Lars Wingefors has matched that funding to specifically help employees affected by the crisis.

Now the company has revealed it has removed the “sensitive” content in its latest update, but insisted the answers had been part of the game “for years” and the timing of the answers coming up during the Ukraine-Russia conflict was “coincidence”.

A Scottish Twitter user showed her answers in the puzzle game, which had a Russian theme.

One Scottish Twitter user has written: "So here’s a weird thing. I play a phone game called Nonagram, designed by @EasyBrainTeam who are part of @embracergroup. In the past couple of weeks, Every. Single. Answer. has been something Russian."

The user said she had investigated the firm and found the developers were based in Belarus, but that it was owned by a company with its headquarters in Sweden.

She said: “So now I can’t decide – rogue pro-Russian programmer doing their bit for the Russian war effort via the medium of super-pixelated game answers, or total coincidence, these were programmed well in advance and I just happen to have hit this point in the game as Russia goes to war?”

Another answer showed an image of the Kremlin.

She added she had thought one answer, entitled “Cruiser Aurora”, bucked the Russia-themed trend, until she had looked it up.

The user said: “I thought 'Cruiser Aurora' sounded nice and was bucking the trend, but turns out it's a Russian warship, now a museum, in St Petersburg.”

"The Motherland Calls” is also believed to be a reference to a statue of that name commemorating those who fell in the Battle of Stalingrad, situated in the Russian city of Volgograd.

On February 28, EmbracerGroup wrote: “Millions of people are experiencing unthinkable hardships in Ukraine. The Embracer Group has decided to donate one-million US dollars for humanitarian aid to help support those impacted through esteemed organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, SOS Children’s Villages and ACT Alliance, among others.

One of the Nonagram answers was entitled "The Motherland Calls".

"In addition, our Group CEO, Lars Wingefors, will match this donation with another one-million US dollar pledge to support our employees and contractors who are directly affected by this crisis.”

Embracer Group has not responded to a request for comment. However, in a response to the user on Twitter, Easy Brain Team said: "The content related to various countries was present in the game for years, so it’s just a coincidence that you progressed to certain game levels with mentioned pics. To avoid any possible misunderstanding, we’ve replaced potentially sensitive content in the recent update.”

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