FIFA 23 won’t feature Russia in the game due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. FIFA has always been a huge international sports franchise. It’s one of the only major sports games that includes the entire world, allowing every player to feel represented by their home country or club. Due to the war in Ukraine, a lot of companies, games, and products have been cutting ties with Russia as to not give them any visibility or support as the country has been causing an immense amount of damage to Ukraine. At the start of the war, film companies like Warner Bros. cut Russia off from new releases like The Batman and now, EA is chipping in as well.
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With the upcoming release of FIFA 23, EA has confirmed that it won’t include the Russian national team or Russian clubs in the new game. At the start of the invasion of Ukraine, EA pulled these teams from FIFA 22, but allowed players who owned Russian items such as Ultimate Team players to keep them and do as they please, such as trade them in the auction market. You can read EA’s official statement to Eurogamer below.
“EA Sports stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and like so many voices across the world of football, calls for peace and an end to the invasion of Ukraine,” a statement given to Eurogamer reads. “In line with our partners at FIFA and UEFA, EA Sports will not include the Russian national team or Russian clubs in FIFA 23.”
As of right now, it remains to be seen whether or not EA will include these teams should there be a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine. Of course, we’ll continue to keep you updated on the situation as it develops and let you know if there are any significant changes to any games, FIFA 23 or otherwise, due to the war in Ukraine. A number of games such as Stalker 2 have already experienced delays due to studios being based in the country and workers choosing to take up arms.
