EA removes Russian teams from its FIFA and NHL games

For nearly a week, the situation has intensified on Ukrainian soil, while the Russian army, under the orders of President Vladimir Putin, is at the gates of Kiev at the time of writing these lines. If in Western Europe our lives are not threatened for the moment, the countries of the European Union agree to apply both economic and commercial sanctions to Russia.

Video games also unite against Russia

But this is surprisingly not the only area where the country is blacklisted. Indeed, Russian athletes have for the moment been excluded from competitions, whether in real life or in video games. For this last part, it’s EA, the studio behind Fifa and of NHL, which took the lead and thus suspended the appearance of Russian teams in these two specific games. The studio explains that this follows decisions made by the real federations that govern these sports:

” In agreement with our partners at FIFA and UEFA, EA Sports has initiated procedures to remove the Russian national team and all Russian clubs from FIFA 22, FIFA Mobile and FIFA Online. We are also actively evaluating changes to other areas of our games. »

A statement from EA SPORTS FIFA: pic.twitter.com/v3pZvpblgS

— EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) March 2, 2022

For the moment, this decision therefore does not seem to concern the FUT mode, in which players can still buy, exchange or use the cards of players of Russian nationality. It is not known, however, if these players will be completely removed from the online mode or if only the teams are subject to disappearance.

NHL 22 and F1 22 also concerned?

As it concerns NHL 22, EA states that the removal of the Russian teams will be done in the coming weeks, following the decision of the International Ice Hockey Federation of the suspension of the real Russian and Belarusian players. An approach that does not yet seem to affect the game F1 22, also published by EA Sports. At this time, the FIA ​​has yet to make a choice regarding the 2022 season, but once that is done, it stands to reason that EA Sports will follow.

In the days to come, much information of this kind should still reach us, while companies that are not of Russian origin are invited to close their doors, or cease their activity in the country, while Vladimir Putin stop the military invasion of Ukraine.