Black Desert Online in Russia is no longer published by GameNet, the company that has held the reins for the past three years. Publication will be assumed by Pearl Abyss in CiS nations. However, after negotiations fell through regarding the migration of account databases, it appears that players will have to start from scratch on the newly created Pearl Abyss servers.
GameNet had announced in September that they were working with Pearl Abyss to continue the publication of BDO in CiS countries, but that negotiations were going poorly. After reportedly offering PA a "solution" that included GameNet continuing its publishing duties and service infrastructure within CiS countries, the October 12th deadline passed without response from Pearl Abyss. "We have done everything possible, and even the impossible too," GameNet wrote in a letter to its community. "This has been very difficult for us. It is important to us, however, to have the solution benefit the players."
Pearl Abyss has also written to its new community. "The message posted by GameNet on their official site could have completely confused our players. Over the past few months, we have been negotiating about the transfer of BDO services. We have been denied access to servers since August. We could not come to a compromise by the end of the contract."
In addition to the database issues, it appears that Pearl Abyss was unwilling to purchase GameNet's localized version of Black Desert Online at an "excessively high price". The company has started its own game localization as a result.
The tussle seems to be between Pearl Abyss believing its legal right to the database that includes account information and game data and GameNet holding that data as part of a package that includes its localized version that would need to be purchased (separate from account data).
Thanks, anonymous tipster!