AntiMalwareJuly 16, 2026🇷🇺Translated from Russian

Russian Players Report Mass Launch Failures in Diablo IV, Marvel Rivals and Other Online Games Amid Suspected Regional Restrictions

Russian players continue to encounter mass-scale launch problems with popular online games. Titles such as Diablo IV, Marvel Rivals, Neverness to Everness and several other projects either refuse to open or fail during the server connection phase.

According to monitoring by «Кода Дурова», new Russian-language threads have appeared on Steam discussing the Server Connection Failed error in Marvel Rivals. Users report that conventional troubleshooting methods—including client restarts, integrity checks of game files, and repeated account logins—fail to resolve the issue for a significant portion of affected players.

Many gamers suspect the problems stem from regional restrictions or deliberate blocks implemented through content web filtering systems. Others believe the disruptions are caused by routine technical faults on the developers’ side. No official comments have been provided by game studios or relevant Russian government agencies.

The situation appears especially unusual following the partial Steam outage recorded on 14 July. During that incident, certain platform sections failed to load and some pages required multiple refresh attempts. Now the difficulties have extended directly to the games themselves.

Steam’s storefront, library, and Play button remain functional, yet the actual connection process has become a digital lottery. Until developers or authorities clarify the root cause, players are left with little choice but to repeatedly test their connections and hope each new launch attempt succeeds.

Related articles

AntiMalwarePolicy & Regulation

Yandex Cloud Partners with Sogaz and Ingosstrakh to Automate Cyber Risk Assessment for Business Insurance

Yandex Cloud, through its Yandex B2B Tech division, has launched joint cyber insurance programs with Russian insurers Sogaz and Ingosstrakh. The initiative replaces traditional manual questionnaires with automated infrastructure scanning via the Yandex Security Deck service. The tool examines cloud resources, applications, and data to identify open internal information, excessive user privileges, leak risks, and potential compromise vectors. Detected issues are consolidated in a single prioritized interface and shared with insurers to refine policy terms. If critical gaps are found, Yandex Cloud also provides remediation recommendations. The move comes as demand for cyber insurance grows rapidly, with Sogaz reporting that requested coverage volume doubled year-over-year to exceed 12 billion rubles in the first half of 2026.

AntiMalwarePolicy & Regulation

Over 20 VPN Services Hit by Outages After Russian Regulators Block Hosting Provider Subnets

Users of multiple VPN services reported widespread connection problems throughout the day as IP addresses belonging to several large hosting providers were placed under restrictions. The blocks targeted infrastructure used by VPNs to reroute traffic around content filters, causing entire ranges of servers to become inaccessible when whole subnets were affected. The Telegram channel Exploit reported that more than 20 VPN services of varying sizes experienced disruptions, though Roskomnadzor has not issued an official statement on the scope or origin of the measures. The affected providers indicated they are shifting customers to backup servers, noting that the restrictions appear selective yet still force frequent address changes during the day. The incidents coincide with ongoing discussions of new rules that would require hosting providers to independently detect and report masked VPN IP addresses to regulators. Similar large-scale subnet blocks occurred in late May, impacting numerous MTProto-based proxies and VPNs simultaneously.

安全客Policy & Regulation

HackerOne Ends Anonymous Era for Bug Bounty Hunters with Mandatory ID Verification

HackerOne has introduced compulsory identity verification for all researchers submitting reports to paid bug bounty programs, effective August 1. The policy requires users to complete KYC checks through Estonian firm Veriff by uploading government-issued ID and performing a live selfie, with annual renewals. Vulnerability Disclosure Programs remain open to anonymous participants, but any researcher seeking monetary rewards must now reveal their identity. The move follows similar steps by Bugcrowd and Intigriti and is driven by anti-money laundering and cross-border payment regulations. Researchers in high-surveillance regions and newcomers face new barriers, while the platform argues the change improves report quality and enterprise trust. H1 Clear adds an extra criminal background check layer for elite participants.

AntiMalwarePolicy & Regulation

Telegram Briefly Removed from App Store After Apple Detects Child Sexual Abuse Material

Telegram was temporarily pulled from the App Store in multiple countries after Apple moderators identified content linked to child sexual abuse. The removal lasted roughly 20 minutes before the app was reinstated following Telegram's quick removal of the prohibited material and blocking of the responsible user. Apple cited strict App Store rules as the reason for the action. During the outage, already-installed copies continued to function normally while the app remained available via the Mac App Store and Google Play. Telegram responded on X with the quote “Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated” before Apple issued its official explanation. This marks at least the third documented instance of Telegram facing App Store removal, including a 2018 incident over unacceptable content and a 2024 removal from the Chinese store at the request of local regulators.