Riot Games will donate a week of Battle Pass sales to support Ukraine

Riot Games has today (March 5th) announced it will be donating a week's worth of proceeds from its Battle Pass sales in VALORANT, Legends of Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics to support humanitarian aid in Ukraine. In the release, Riot Games also stated that funds from the new Bee skin line in League of Legends would contribute to the donation.

From March 5th to March 12th, all proceeds from the Battle Passes in Valorant, Legends of Runeterra, TFT, and mobile game Wild Rift will be donated to support humanitarian relief efforts in the region. Additionally the same will apply to proceeds from the new releases to the "Bee" line of skins. The Bee skin line recently revealed four new additions including BZZZigs, Orbeeanna, Nunu & Beelump, and Heimerstinger.

In addition, Riot will be donating $1m across three humanitarian nonprofits. These include the US-based International Medical Corps, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), and the Polish Red Cross. 

It is unclear which organization will receive the Battle Pass and Bee-skin proceeds contribution. However, Riot states that "All proceeds from both Riot's donation and the player fundraiser will directly support humanitarian relief in Ukraine and other affected areas."

Riot's announcement of a donation comes as dozens of companies within the esports and gaming industry react to the war in Ukraine. On Thursday, ESL banned two Russian teams from competing in ESL Pro League, while BLAST banned all Russian teams from competing in their Premier series of events. In addition, Dota 2 Tournament GAMERS GALAXY quietly removed Russian org Virtus.pro from their event on March 1st. 

However, Riot's Battle Pass proceeds donation is one of the first major announcements of financial support for Ukraine. Although it has not been announced through English channels, Riot Games also suspended the LCL 2022 Spring on February 25th. The LCL is Riot's premier CIS region League of Legends league.