Activision Blizzard Suspends Sales in Russia and Raises Funds to Support Ukraine

Activision Blizzard Suspends Sales in Russia and Raises Funds to Support Ukraine
President and COO Daniel Alegre has shared a message to Activision Blizzard employees, in which he announces the suspension of sales in Russia. The company has raised over $300,000 to support the Ukrainian people, and will continue to raise funds and support new charities that provide help in the region.
Originally Posted by Activision Blizzard
Team -

Throughout the past week, we have watched the news from Ukraine and the worsening humanitarian crisis that is unfolding. Our company’s commitment is to help those impacted by this terrifying violence and to provide assistance in every way possible.

Today, we are announcing that Activision Blizzard will be suspending new sales of and in our games in Russia while this conflict continues. We will continue to look at ways to support the Ukrainian people. I want to reassure you that the safety of our employees is our leadership team’s top priority. We are doing everything possible to assist employees, and their families, who are being directly affected by this tragedy. If you or a colleague needs support, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your manager or local HR leaders. I’d also like to remind you that our Employee Assistance Program is available to those who need emotional support during this difficult time.

I also want to take a moment to recognize the incredible work of our teams to support the Ukrainian people. The company is matching employee donations 2:1 to organizations providing immediate relief in the region. Together we have raised over $300,000 in this effort. Next week we plan to add additional charities to choose from for consideration and also will raise the company matching limit from $1,000 to $10,000.

I’d also like to applaud the tremendous contributions from our colleagues in Poland, where people have volunteered their time to assist Ukrainian refugees and others in need. We continue to work with them to find ways we can further assist this effort. We stand with the Ukrainian people and will provide updates on any new actions we take as this crisis continues to unfold.

Daniel
This article was originally published in forum thread: Activision Blizzard Suspends Sales in Russia and Raises Funds to Support Ukraine started by Lumy View original post
Published on 2022-03-05 03:18 AM
688 Comments
Comments 665 Comments
  1. Lurker1's Avatar
    Im proud of blizzard for helping well done blizzard!
  1. FossilFree's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Lurker1 View Post
    Im proud of blizzard for helping well done blizzard!
    It's nice to see them standing up for what's right. Props to them!
  1. MrKnubbles's Avatar
    I don't see how suspending sales does anything but inconvenience Russian gamers.
  1. Hotmail's Avatar
    If only they'd suspended their cubicle crawls before getting caught
  1. Very Tired's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by MrKnubbles View Post
    I don't see how suspending sales does anything but inconvenience Russian gamers.
    That's usually how it is with most sanctions or anything of the such. There is no "just hurt the Russian Government". Governments are composed of and put into power by the people, so they should likewise feel the effects to of the war. Especially when those people tend to under some heavy state sanctioned propaganda and could use a little eye opening.
  1. Puupi's Avatar
    How about close down Russian servers and prohibit access from Russia to your games?
  1. Biomega's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by MrKnubbles View Post
    I don't see how suspending sales does anything but inconvenience Russian gamers.
    That's sort of the point of many sanctions: to incite the population into demanding change from their own government.
  1. kevincuomo's Avatar
    Blizzard has a TON of wrongs to make up for.. this is just one way they are trying to get their name back... long way to go.
  1. deenman's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by MrKnubbles View Post
    I don't see how suspending sales does anything but inconvenience Russian gamers.
    the averege person is the one voting,i mean sure,putin has been rigging the system for decades and murdering his oposition,but even he wont be able to rigg a landslide against him

    but at the end of the day i dont even know if voting makes a difference if everyone runing is a putin puppet anyways...i guess an ''accident'' is the best solution afterall
  1. Zergin8r's Avatar
    So are they also going to temp suspend players from Russia as well, since they won't be able to buy subs or anything now anyways?
  1. Nerph-'s Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Very Tired View Post
    That's usually how it is with most sanctions or anything of the such. There is no "just hurt the Russian Government". Governments are composed of and put into power by the people, so they should likewise feel the effects to of the war. Especially when those people tend to under some heavy state sanctioned propaganda and could use a little eye opening.
    Quote Originally Posted by Biomega View Post
    That's sort of the point of many sanctions: to incite the population into demanding change from their own government.
    Correct me if I'm wrong but from what I understand, Putin isn't exactly playing by the rules when it comes to how he stays in power. Didn't he lock up opposition?

    My point is, it wouldn't surprise me if many Russian people are against their government but are afraid to stand up against it, for multiple reasons. The sanctions are possibly effecting people who don't even agree with what is going on at the moment.

    Please do correct me if I'm wrong though as I'll admit I do not keep up to date with lots of this stuff.
  1. deenman's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by kevincuomo View Post
    Blizzard has a TON of wrongs to make up for.. this is just one way they are trying to get their name back... long way to go.
    my guess is the russian playerbase isnt all that big,i mean china has done way more war crimes and genosides this decade,and nothing was done by blizz
  1. Musty's Avatar
    I guess they don't sell that much in Russia compared to China. They wouldn't even let a guy stand up for his country because it would upset China.
    This on it's own is good though.
  1. Darkeon's Avatar
    Establishment backs China = crickets from Blizzard.
    Establishment opposes Russia = Ukranian flag on profile.

    lol, good on them, but hypocrites to the limit.

    Also, I do feel sorry for the average Russian. I'm sure Putin will be devastated he won't be able to purchase a Token on WoW.
  1. Very Tired's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nerph- View Post
    Correct me if I'm wrong but from what I understand, Putin isn't exactly playing by the rules when it comes to how he stays in power. Didn't he lock up opposition?

    My point is, it wouldn't surprise me if many Russian people are against their government but are afraid to stand up against it, for multiple reasons. The sanctions are possibly effecting people who don't even agree with what is going on at the moment.

    Please do correct me if I'm wrong though as I'll admit I do not keep up to date with lots of this stuff.
    Russia has state run propaganda disguised a news, no different than how China or North Korea functions. A good number of them still believe they are in Ukraine because of "nazis" or whatever BS reason they cooked up.

    But imagine you get locked out of all of your games because of some crap the President pulled in another country. You'd probably be pretty pissed and would want to go after him. And that's just one small part of the total sanctions Russia has to deal with now. Plus the more the general population wakes up, the more you see things like Russian troops outright surrendering because they don't want to fight this stupid war.
  1. Vakna's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by MrKnubbles View Post
    I don't see how suspending sales does anything but inconvenience Russian gamers.
    That's the entire point, you wont get any change until you make the lives of citizens so inconvenient and shit that they rise up against their tyrannical leadership. Putin doesn't have 100 million places in prison, and he can't kill 100 million citizens (or he wouldn't have a country to run). The sooner the Russian people start to realise they are the ones who have the power not their leaders, the better.
  1. Palapop's Avatar
    Well fuck you blizzturds. This is wrong on so many levels.
  1. LilSaihah's Avatar
    Lmao are we going to have entirely crowdfunded wars soon? We're on track for DX:HR's "corporations have more power than the government", even in wars against nuclear world powers.
  1. Xionin's Avatar
    Over the entire period of Ukrainian aggression in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), 5,150 people died, including 91 children. Where was Blizzard all these 8 years?
  1. aceperson's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by MrKnubbles View Post
    I don't see how suspending sales does anything but inconvenience Russian gamers.
    believe it or not, that is the point. sanctions rarely just hurt the government or people in power. sanctions usually make life for the average person even crappier and thus leads to discontent with the government. that leads to either a movement for change in how the government operates or an overthrow of the reigning government in more extreme cases.

    in short, this is suppose to inconvenience russian gamers who will then move that hatred toward putin for causing this situation.
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