Riot Games has answered the call from its massive playerbase to aid in the humanitarian relief efforts in the ongoing Ukraine crisis, according to a post from the company today.
Riot is donating $1 million to three different humanitarian nonprofit organizations providing direct humanitarian relief to people in Ukraine: the International Medical Corps, Doctors Without Borders, and the Polish Red Cross.
Additionally, Riot is also launching “in-game fundraisers” across its entire catalog of games. All proceeds from battle pass sales purchased from March 5 to 12 in VALORANT, Legends of Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics, and Wild Rift, as will all the revenue from the new Bee skin line introduced in League of Legends, will go to the three nonprofits.
The invasion of Ukraine has affected a large part of the world, and that impact also extended to esports. Ukrainian esports organization Natus Vincere has posted solely about the conflict since it began Feb. 24, providing several updates and numerous donation links. It has also cut ties with Russian company ESforce Holding (owner of Virtus.pro and other organizations) for its public denial of what’s happening in Ukraine.
Tournament organizers have gotten involved as well. BLAST has outright banned Russian organizations from competing in its tournaments, and ESL will only allow the players to compete if they do so under a neutral name free from affiliation with Russian organizations and sponsors.
Riot itself postponed matches in the EMEA VALORANT Champions Tour due to the ongoing crisis, with teams from the CIS region—including Na’Vi, Gambit, and FunPlus Phoenix—yet to resume play.
