Update from Plarium

Plarium has made an announcement regarding the situation on the ground in Ukraine, where the vast majority of the team behind the game we all know and love are based.

Dear Players

Five days ago, Russia started waging a war in Ukraine under the pretense of liberating the self-proclaimed regions in the East of Ukraine. We woke up at 5 AM to bomb explosions that shook almost every big city in Ukraine. Our reality now is hiding in shelters, listening closely to hear air alarms, trying to get food, water, and basic necessities, constantly monitoring news trying to find out how many more cities and towns have suffered from bombing and shootings. We don’t sleep, we don’t eat. We pray every waking minute.

We at the studio are citizens of a proud independent sovereign country. We have been growing as a nation with our own culture, art, and traditions. The current Russian leadership has broken all existing laws against humanity.

For those of you who don’t know, Raid: Shadow Legends, Mech Arena and several other Plarium games are made and supported in Ukraine with about two-thirds of Plarium employees living and working here.

Here’s the current situation and what we’re doing about it.

PLARIUM TEAM STATUS & ACTION PLAN

Today, we have 700+ employees sheltering in place throughout Ukraine, including the core development teams for several of our games, creative support, community, and many others. We are supporting them and their local communities at multiple locations across Kyiv, Lviv, and Kharkiv, providing shelter, supplies, food, and direct aid.

We have some employees travelling between cities making their way west and are coordinating contact channels to get people to safety. Some are already in Poland. A special task force of volunteers are in Poland is assisting with evacuations, border crossings, and relocation to safer places for Plarium employees and their families.

We have also established a telephone hotline operated by shifts of employee volunteers, working around the clock to provide physical, logistic, and emotional support for our employees and their families. We are very thankful for their efforts.
We’re also donating $500,000 to the Ukrainian Red Cross Society.

GAME IMPACT

Obviously, the current situation is going to impact the game, but all of our servers are in safe locations, all game and personal data are safe and secure, and our team in Lviv can maintain scheduled events and do bug fixes.

That said, we’ve paused work on all major updates and feature development until we get our teams and their families to safety. We have a secondary team that’s running at one-third capacity, and we will be adding more as people get to that location. Expect updates from us in the coming days and weeks.

From everything you’ve been writing to us, we know this is also what you want, and we can’t find the words to express how much that means to us.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

We know firsthand how compassionate this community can be. If you want to help those who need it most right now, here is a list of actions you can take:

• Please share this message about what’s happening in Ukraine
• Provide any help to refugees that fled or are on their way to other countries trying to save themselves.
• Collect and send humanitarian aid with basic essentials
• Attend peaceful assemblies, following Covid-19 restrictions and local regulations
• Donate funds to help people in Ukraine. Here are some organizations doing good work here:
  International Society of the Red Cross in Ukraine
  Direct Relief
  Voices of Children
  Special NBU Account to Raise Funds for Ukraine’s Armed ForcesYou could also express your support in any other way, as your creativity knows no bounds.

Finally, to our fellow Ukrainians

We will get through all this together because our unity is our strength. Take care of your loved ones and yourselves; we will need to rebuild our beautiful country once this nightmare ends.

The truth and the whole world are on our side.
Cлава Україні!