Riot Games has announced that it will donate $1 million to humanitarian relief funds in Eastern Europe to help victims of the ongoing Ukraine crisis. The $1 million will be spread across three humanitarian nonprofits: International Medical Corps, Doctors Without Borders and Polish Red Cross.
Along with this contribution, certain in-game purchases made in Riot Games titles will also go towards Eastern Europe humanitarian relief. From March 5-12, all battle pass sales in VALORANT, Legends of Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics and Wild Rift as well as the new Bee skin line in League of Legends will be donated to relief funds.
The Ukraine crisis, which began with Russia invaded the country in February and is currently still ongoing, has had global repercussions that, of course, also impact the gaming industry. Riot Games is the latest games company to make a contribution in support of victims of the conflict; the Pokémon Company recently donated $200,000 to community-led organizations helping people in Ukraine, and Unity donated $623,000 to support humanitarian efforts. Furthermore, publishers like Microsoft and EA have suspended sales of their products in Russia as a result of the ongoing invasion.
Esports players across multiple titles, including Riot titles, have also been impacted by the crisis. Ukrainian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev gave an impassioned speech urging peace and solidarity during the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice playoffs, while teams from the Commonwealth of Independent States in VALORANT are unable to compete in VALORANT Champions Tour.
