While the Ukrainians are suffering from Russia’s Invasion on the other hand Russian people are also suffering as many companies and social sites including Reddit are banning Russia.
The political unrest between Russia and Ukraine has affected the gaming and football communities.
Electronic Arts, which publishes a number of sports-based video games, including FIFA, announced that it will remove the Russian clubs Zenit St. Petersburg and FC Rostov from those games. It is likely that EA will also remove other Russian teams from future titles.
A statement from EA SPORTS FIFA: pic.twitter.com/v3pZvpblgS
— EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) March 2, 2022
Earlier this week, UEFA, European football’s governing body, announced that it will not hold the upcoming Champions League Final in St. Petersburg because of the unrest between Russia and Ukraine. As a result of that decision, Paris will now be hosting this year’s final with the final match scheduled for the 26th of May.
In addition to the cancellation of this major sporting event, FIFA has banned all Russian teams from participating in international competitions and has barred Russia from participating in the 2022 World Cup, which is to be hosted by Qatar. A number of major organizations have joined in to ban either Russians or athletes from other countries in Eastern Europe from competing in international events such as the Olympics or Paralympics Games.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital transformation Mykhailo Fedorov has urged Sony, Microsoft, Xbox, Riot Games, EA, Ubisoft, and other gaming giants to cut off Russian gamers and e-sports players. Ubisoft and Wargaming made a statement on how they are protecting their developers who are based in Ukraine.
@Xbox @PlayStation
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 2, 2022
You are definitely aware of what is happening in Ukraine right now. Russia declare war not for Ukraine but for all civilized world. If you support human values, you should live the Russian market! pic.twitter.com/tnQr13BsSv
Over the past few days, many game development companies have been cutting ties with Russia by suspending business and blocking accounts. Ukrainian digital marketplace DMarket, which sells digital gear for Counter-Strike GO, told Axios it was blocking Russian and Belarusian accounts and freezing those users’ assets. Esports organizations Blast eSports and Elisa sports have banned Russian teams immediately. The Ukrainian government has urged companies and organizations to levy more sanctions on Russian entities.
No more @Apple product sales in Russia!
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 1, 2022
Now @tim_cook let’s finish the job and block @AppStore access in Russia. They kill our children, now kill their access!
Riot Games announced yesterday that the competition in the third week of VCT 2022 EMEA Stage 1 matches has been postponed until further notice. Many players and fans are affected by the current crisis, along with the staff of Riot Games.
After careful consideration, we have decided to postpone VCT EMEA Week 3 games. Our community’s welfare is integral to us and at this time, our number one priority is to support the players, casters, staff and fans affected by the escalating crisis in Ukraine.
— VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA (@valesports_emea) February 24, 2022
The Spring season of PUBG Mobile Pro League CIS 2022 has also been postponed since many players are struggling to play due to current events in Ukraine.
Many businesses have offered to help Ukraine and have expressed their dissatisfaction with Russia by imposing sanctions and putting bans on imports from Russia and condemning Russia for the war in Ukraine.
