EA Sports has responded to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine by removing a number of teams from two of its tentpole games. According to a pair of releases, EA has decided to pull Russian teams — both at the club and national level — from its FIFA franchise, and will remove teams from Russia and Belarus from its NHL game.
“Following the IIHF’s suspension of all Russian and Belarusian national and club teams from IIHF competitions, we will be removing these teams from NHL 22 within the coming weeks,” EA Sports NHL said in a statement released on its Twitter account.
“In line with our partners at FIFA and UEFA, EA Sports has initiated processes to remove the Russian national team and all Russian clubs from EA Sports FIFA products including: FIFA 22, FIFA Mobile and FIFA Online,” the statement from EA Sports FIFA read. “We’re also actively evaluating related changes to other areas of our games.”
Both statements expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian people and called for peace amid in the aftermath of the invasion, and come on the heels of major governing bodies in both sports bringing the hammer down. The International Ice Hockey Federation banned both Belarus and Russia from competing in competitions across all age groups “until further notice,” while UEFA and FIFA took the same steps with Russian clubs and national teams.