EA has already issued a statement in support of Ukraine when they excluded Russia from FIFA 22 earlier. Now the publisher has taken the sanctions a step further.
On Twitter EA shared a statement suspending the sale of their games in Russia and Belarus for the duration of the conflict. That also includes in-game purchases in their popular FIFA or Apex Legends games.
— Electronic Arts (@EA) March 5, 2022
In a further note EA will also try to remove their games from other gaming platforms (besides their own Origin) in Russia and Belarus.
Activision Blizzard to also suspend sales
The Californian developer and publisher is also joining the sanctions on Russia and will suspend all sales of their franchises too. Russians will be unable to purchase games like Call of Duty, Overwatch or World of Warcraft in addition to stopping microtransactions in-game.
We are committed to helping those impacted by the terrifying violence taking place in Ukraine.
Today, we are announcing the suspension of new sales of and in our games in Russia while this conflict continues, as well as other efforts to assist Ukraine. https://t.co/wG9tQMNzjK
— Activision Blizzard (@ATVI_AB) March 5, 2022
The company also voiced their support for the relief and donation efforts of their employees and announced that they are matching employee donations by a 2:1 ratio. More than 300,000 US-Dollar have been raised that way already and Activision Blizzard is going to increase the matching limit from $1,000 to $10,000.
Read more:
- Activision Blizzard faces new lawsuit – This time for wrongful death of an employee
- Hellraisers decide to suspend operations during war in Ukraine
- ESL decides to ban organizations with Russian ties (but players could still be able to compete)
What do you think of the publishers’ actions? Join the discussion on social media or Discord!