Electronic Arts has announced that it will stop sales–games, DLCs, and virtual currency–in Russia and Belarus. The Russian region storefront on Origin and the EA app are effectively paused, and the company will also work with other platforms to remove EA games and stop new in-game sales in Russia and Belarus.
“Our primary concern is the ongoing safety of those in the region, particularly colleagues and partners, and we are seeking to understand how we might best help them further beyond our programs that are already in place,” EA said.
EA’s new announcement follows its prior decision to remove all Russian teams from the current FIFA and NHL games.
The war between Russia and Ukraine began on February 22, with Russia launching an attack on Ukraine after Russia had begun amassing troops at the border between the two. Amid the conflict, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov called on the gaming industry to stop sales of their products in Russia.
In addition to EA, CD Projekt and Bloober Team have stopped sales in Russia and Belarus. Belarus is allied with Russia and thus is a target of the sanctions as well. Microsoft also recently announced that it will “suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia.”
The conflict has affected devs and companies in Ukraine. Development of Stalker 2 has been impacted as GSC Game World prioritizes the safety of its employees.
EA ended its announcement with a promise to keep an eye on the situation. “As this deeply troubling situation evolves, we’re continually reviewing the steps we can take… We are actively evaluating other areas of our games and operations, and will update with any further actions,” EA said.
If you’re looking how to help out, we’ve assembled a list of humanitarian organizations like the Ukrainian Red Cross and Unicef that you can donate to.
