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EA Sports announced that it is following the decision of worldwide football and ice hockey organizations in line with the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The video game publisher announced on Wednesday that Russian teams will be removed from “FIFA 22” and “NHL 22.”
“EA SPORTS stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and like so many voices across the world of football, calls for peace and an end to the invasion of Ukraine,” the company said in an official statement. EA confirmed it is removing all Russian clubs and the Russian National Team from a suite of its football sports games, including “FIFA 22,” “FIFA Mobile,” and “FIFA Online.”
The sports games publisher noted that the move follows the decisions of FIFA and UEFA that all teams and clubs competing under the Russian flag are suspended from competitions indefinitely. The Russian National Team has also been removed from the 2022 World Cup happening in Qatar in November.
@riotgames @EA @Ubisoft Gameloft @wargaming_net
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 2, 2022
Right now russian troops are bombing Ukrainian cities and killing Ukrainians. Please help us stop this. Close your offices in russia! There’s no place for aggressor on the global technological map!
A few hours before EA Sports’ announcement, Ukrainian vice prime minister and minister digital transformation Mykhailo Fedorov called on several video game companies, including EA, to close their offices in Russia. However, the “FIFA 22” publisher has yet to directly respond to Fedorov’s public appeal.
“We’re also actively evaluating related changes to other areas of our games,” EA Sports added. It is unclear what other aspects of “FIFA 22” will be updated, but it is worth noting that one of the new stadiums featured when the game launched last year was the Gazprom Arena located in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
EA confirmed that a similar move would be applied to “NHL 22” in a separate announcement. Similarly, the company cited the previous decision of the International Ice Hockey Federation. That means developers will remove Russian and Belarusian national teams and clubs from the game. The IIHF suspended teams representing both countries and stripped Russia of its hosting rights for the upcoming 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Photo by Guglielmo Basile on Unsplash
