Russian Players from Magicians, Empire, and Gambit Banned from Apex Legends

If you've been following the news you know that Russia has been under multiple restrictions and sanctions over the last couple of months, some heavier than others, due to the ongoing situation with Ukraine. One restriction that was made the prior month by Electronic Arts hit very close to home for all the esport and game fanatics in Russia, as Russia became ineligible to participate in the Apex Legends Global Series. Needless to say, people felt some kind of way over this decision.

Before this news, more than 10 teams from Russia were supposed to take part in the upcoming tournaments, which would make up 30% of all participants in the tournament, including:

1. Magicians

2. Team Empire

3. Gambit Esports

Left without the opportunity to support their favourite teams at the best bookmakers Australia offers, the fans were quite disappointed after hearing the latest news. Besides, Electronic Arts is not the first one to ban Russia from its services. Evers since the beginning of the invasion, many applications have been pulled out from Russia and many more are planning to do so as well. In general, the majority of nations stand in solidarity with Ukraine and are trying to do their best to end this war. 

Other Esport Restrictions on Russia 

It is no secret that Russia has been facing some harsh sanctions and restrictions from all other nations in the last couple of months. It can be noted that Putins' actions have made the world corner Russia. 

Before EA decided to ban Russia from upcoming tournaments, ESL also decided to suspend the Russian team from Virtus.pro. Luckily. Later on, ESL made a compromise and decided that it won't prevent its players from competing under a neutral name. 

Additionally, at the beginning of March, the company that goes by the name of BLAST said that no Russian-based team would be invited to play in their upcoming events for "the foreseeable future". This news came very unfortunate for many of the members of teams like Virtus.pro and Gambit, who have not individually nor together expressed any support for the war.

Russian Players’ Response to Restrictions 

Unsurprisingly, there has been a huge backlash over this decision that was made both by players and regular people. Some people support these restrictions while others judge them and do not understand why the esport community has to suffer in this situation. 

Artyom “Hisofu” Frizov, who plays Redragon in the ALGS came out with the statement that banning players that reside in these countries is a terrible decision, since gamers have nothing to do with government or politics. He also added that the purpose of games has always been to help people distract from reality and that every pro player from Russia is feeling anxious about the whole situation in the world.