FIFA and NHL games to remove Russia claims EA insider
EA is believed to be about to excise all mention of Russia from FIFA, NHL, and other of its sports games, according to a new rumour.
Just as the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine asked PlayStation and Xbox to block all accounts in Russia and Belarus, news has emerged that EA plans to remove the former from at least two of its top sports titles.
The information comes from regular EA informant Tom Henderson, who has proven a reliable source of rumours for the company’s various games, including recent leaks concerning FIFA 23.
Today’s update is brief but claims that EA will be ‘removing Russia from the likes of FIFA and NHL games due to the invasion of Ukraine’.
For the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine war, visit our live blog: Russia-Ukraine live
The information supposedly comes from an internal email but Henderson (or the original message) does not specify whether individual players will be removed or just the country as a whole.
Although the leak implies the ban could apply to other sports titles, FIFA and NHL are the two most likely to be of interest to a Russian audience. The ban would also be similar to sanctions taken by FIFA in real life, where it has banned any future competitions from taking place in Russia.
NHL player Alexander Ovechkin is known to be a personal favourite of Vladimir Putin, but like many Russian nationals overseas he has been reluctant to speak out directly against Putin’s actions, for fear of what might happen to his family.
‘It’s a hard situation. I have family back in Russia and it is scary moments, but we can’t do anything’, he told The Athletic.
‘We just hope it going to be end soon and everything is going to be all right. Please, no more war. It doesn’t matter who is in the war – Russia, Ukraine,
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