A Ukrainian gamer said he was permanently banned from his entire Electronic Arts (EA) account for saying «I don’t like Russians» in the chat of the online shooter Apex Legends. He was likely blocked by a moderator from Russia.
A Ukrainian gamer said he was permanently banned from his entire Electronic Arts (EA) account for saying «I don’t like Russians» in the chat of the online shooter Apex Legends. He was likely blocked by a moderator from Russia.
As the player with the nickname Kid Da One said, the blocking happened almost a year ago, in March 2024.
«I need to remind you why EA and Respawn [developers of Apex Legends] are such-and-such companies, because I got banned forever for it,» the gamer wrote. He attached a screenshot of an email from Electronic Arts support to his X (Twitter) post, informing him that his account had been blocked.
It states that Kid Da One violated EA’s positive player behavior rules. The reason was the words «i dont like russians» in the Apex Legends chat. Although the entire letter is written in English, the reason for the blocking is stated in Russian: «Incitement to hatred».
Ukrainian players in the comments to Kid Da One’s post suggested that this may indicate that the complaint against the Ukrainian was being considered by a moderator from EA’s Russian technical support department.
«'Inciting hatred' is the official ban reason because my primary language is English, but the ban reason is a dog», — Kid Da One confirmed.
The letter also states that he will no longer be able to play not only Apex Legends, but all other EA games on that account. Kid Da One said that he has filed 8 appeals in a year, but his account is still blocked.
Players were also surprised that this was the reason for blocking the entire account. «A ban forever for I DON’T like some shit. It doesn’t even work on Chat Mute, but here it’s a ban on ALL your games. What a dickhead», — noted a user with the nickname Mel_Nero.
Another user, Aaaaaaalexkay, said he received a similar ban of his entire EA account a year ago for saying «r2ssian shit can talk.»
Before the full-scale Russian invasion (and for some time after), EA assigned Ukrainian players to a Russian region with game prices in rubles and a technical support department in Moscow.
After the outbreak of the Great War, the company suspended all sales of games in Russia and Belarus and removed their national teams from its sports games, just like FIFA and the NHL.
«We continue to be shocked by the conflict unfolding in Ukraine and join the many voices around the world calling for peace and an end to the invasion. We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine», — EA said in 2022.
The company clarified that it has decided to stop selling its games and content, including virtual currency packs, in Russia and Belarus while «this conflict» continues. As a result, games and content are no longer available for purchase in the Russian region on Origin storefronts or in the EA app, including through in-game stores.
«We are also working with our platform partners to remove our games from their stores and stop selling new game content in the region,» Electronic Arts added.
The Leave Russia project from the KSE Institute, which tracks the exit of Western companies from the Russian market, reported that EA has liquidated its legal entity in Russia. The founders of Electronic Arts LLC are the Dutch Electronic Arts Nederland BV and the German Electronic Arts GmbH. According to the company’s statement, information about the termination of the legal entity’s activities through its liquidation was entered into the register on March 31.
