EA says it's removing the Russian national team and clubs from FIFA 22, FIFA Mobile and FIFA Online. The move follows FIFA kicking Russia out of World Cup 2022 qualifying and UEFA suspending club teams from international competitions.

"EA Sports stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and, like so many voices across the world of football, calls for peace and an end to the invasion of Ukraine," a statement shared on Twitter reads. The publisher said it was "actively evaluating related changes to other areas of our games" and that it would keep players informed about actions it takes.

In addition, EA will drop Russian and Belarusian national and club teams from NHL 22 in the coming weeks. The International Ice Hockey Federation banned teams from both countries from its competitions until further notice.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine's vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov urged Sony, Microsoft and other gaming companies to suspend Russian and Belarusian player accounts. He called on esports organizations to ban Russian and Belarusian teams and players from international events too. "We are sure that such actions will motivate the citizens of Russia to proactively stop the disgraceful military aggression," Fedorov wrote in an open letter.

As part of a new eight-year deal between the United States Soccer Federation and Turner Sports parent company Warner Media, HBO Max will stream at least 20 US national team matches every year moving forward from 2023. The agreement will make the streaming platform and Turner Sports channels TBS and TNT the exclusive English-language home of World Cup qualifier games played by both the men’s and women’s national soccer teams, as well as friendlies, send-off matches and special events leading up to the Olympics and World Cup.

Not included in the deal are the broadcast and streaming rights to World Cup tournament games. Fox Sports will continue to hold the men’s rights through to 2026 and 2023 for the women’s team. The deal builds on a similar one Turner Sports signed last year with the NHL. That agreement saw the company secure streaming rights to 72 regular season games, including the league’s annual Winter Classic match.

Behind the curtain with soccer’s prophet of the deal

Rory Smith, The New York Times

NBA fans have Adrian Wojnarowski. Soccer fans have Fabrizio Romano. When transfer season kicks into high gear, Romano dominates the internet with his deluge of insider information. In fact, he's probably tweeting right now. But at times, he has gone from being a reporter on the hot player swaps to being a participant in the proceedings. 

'Shang-Chi' VFX team on animating dragons and why movies aren't as colorful anymore

Jeremy Mathai, Slashfilm

Members of the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings visual effects team discuss how every Marvel movie is unique (but also similar), how VFX companies are cast like actors and how color in movies has changed.

Searching for Susy Thunder

Claire L. Evans, The Verge

Susan Thunder worked in the dial-a-whatever scene of the late 1970s, developing an intimate knowledge of the Bell network for phone scams. "Her specialty was social engineering," Evans writes as she went searching for "the great lost female hacker of the 1980s" who didn't want to be found. 

Soccer's Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is seemingly here to stay, at least in some parts of the world. CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) has revealed it will use VAR to help refs in numerous 2022 competitions. You can expect the technology in all remaining CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the men's and women's U20 Championships and the W Championship.

The organization's decision was prompted in part by success with VAR in 2021 competitions like the CONCACAF Champions League, Gold Cup and Nations League Finals. The Confederation said progress on VAR had been "considerably" delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now has enough VAR-qualified referees and venues to expand the technology's use.

VAR still has its critics despite receiving FIFA's approval for World Cup use in 2018. Enthusiasts are concerned the requests for video reviews can slow down matches, and that the use of centralized review hubs could be used to skew decisions. Soccer already has plenty of drama over tackles and handballs, they argue — VAR just draws out those disputes and takes away from the thrill of the game.

However, the arguments against the system appear to have lost some momentum. VAR helped reverse 17 out of 20 bad calls during the 2018 World Cup, and some backers have contended that video reviews would have overturned other mistakes if they had been used more consistently. Like it or not, tech is more likely to loom in the background of soccer matches than it has before.

When the clock strikes midnight to ring in 2022 on the east coast, NBC Sports Network will shut down. NBCUniversal will shift much of its sports coverage, including Premier League matches, over to the USA Network.

Assuming more games aren't suspended due to teams having too many COVID-19 cases, Premier League coverage will get off to a flying start on USA Network with three matches on New Year's Day. Arsenal will square off against league leaders Manchester City at 7:30AM ET before Watford host Tottenham and Crystal Palace take on West Ham. Sunday brings a match between Everton and Brighton, before Chelsea host Liverpool in a clash between title contenders.

The shift to USA Network shouldn't change much for Peacock users, though. Overflow games and streaming-only matches will remain on that platform, including three matches that are scheduled to stream on Peacock Premium on Sunday. Some of the bigger games will still air on the main NBC network, and NBCU will continue to broadcast every Premier League match across its multitude of platforms.

It's not clear as yet whether there are plans to broadcast overflow games on other NBCU networks. On the last day of the 2020-21 season, when all 10 matches kicked off at the same time, USA Network, CNBC and the Golf Channel each aired one game.

Never mind trying to attract Twitch legends to rival services— Facebook Gaming just landed one of the world's biggest sports personalities. Soccer star Neymar Jr. has signed a deal to livestream exclusively on Facebook, with his first official broadcast starting December 17th at 2PM Eastern on his page. He'll stream games "multiple times" per month and pair with another creator once each month.

Don't expect the Paris Saint-Germain forward to play FIFA despite his real-world skills. Varietynoted Neymar previously streamed the likes of Call of Duty and Counter-Strike on Twitch, and we wouldn't rule out some Fortnite when he appeared in the game earlier this year.

The deal won't necessarily shift the balance of livestreaming away from Twitch and YouTube, and we wouldn't expect many more deals like this. There are only so many top-tier athletes who are interested enough in video games to livestream them, after all. When Neymar has over 88 million Facebook followers, though, this could easily lead to large audiences and raise Facebook Gaming's profile.

You probably won't see Rocket League's flying cars in the real world any time soon, but BMW and esports brand LVL might offer the next best thing. They're teaming on Das Race Goal, a Rocket League-style esports platform that has remote-controlled cars play soccer for charity. Players worldwide will steer the vehicles in a real arena while grabbing virtual powerups and activating "special effects."

The initial event takes place December 12th at 1PM Eastern and will be streamed live on LVL's Twitch channel. This inaugural competition will have six three-player teams compete in Munich's BMW Welt stadium to raise awareness and funds for the United Nations Population Fund's Skills for Life programs, which aim to improve education and healthcare for youth in the Caribbean and Latin America. Each team will have an esports player (including members from Cloud9, Fnatic, G2 Esports and OG), a social media influencer and a young gamer involved in the UN's efforts.

Thomas Fellger, chief of Das Race Goal partner Icon Group, stressed this wasn't just a one-off tourney — it was part of a "long-term partnership" that could help the UN's long-term rights initiatives. At the least, this could add the thrill of real-world elements to a video game format that already has a loyal following.

FIFA is building on the video assistant referee (VAR) technology that's playing an increasingly important role in soccer. At this year's edition of the Arab Cup, which starts on Tuesday, the organisation will test tech designed to help officials assess whether players are offside, marking the most important trial of the system to date.

The offside rule is supposed to prevent players from lingering too close to the opponent's goal. In a nutshell, if an attacking team plays the ball forward when a teammate is ahead of both the ball and the second-to-last defender (including the goalkeeper), that's a foul. In the 2020-21 English Premier League season, 32 goals were ruled out for offside after VAR review.

The semi-automated offside system collects up to 29 data points 50 times per second for each player, according to the BBC. Between 10 and 12 cameras will be installed under the roof of each stadium. The system will use limb-tracking data to calculate the offside line at the moment the ball is played (i.e. the "kick point"). If it detects an offside offence, it will alert a replay operator, who can review the incident almost in real-time.

“The replay operator then has the opportunity to show it immediately to the VAR,” Johannes Holzmüller, FIFA's football technology and innovation director, said. “At the FIFA Arab Cup, the Assistant VAR, at a dedicated offside station, can immediately validate and confirm the information.” The VAR can then tell the match referee about the decision.

The system could catch offside fouls faster than the current VAR setup, helping games to flow more smoothly. All going well, the tech could be used at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The system has been trialed in England, Spain and Germany. There were plans to test it more broadly last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted those.

“Technology is very important and useful in both the pre-match preparation and the decision-making process during matches,” FIFA's chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina said. “In an offside incident, the decision is made after having analysed not only the players’ position but also, their involvement in the move. Technology – today or tomorrow – can draw a line but the assessment of an interference with play or with an opponent remains in the referee’s hands.”

You'll likely have to keep using Peacock if you want to stream Premier League games. As Bloombergnotes, NBCUniversal has signed a six-year deal keeping it as the Premier League's official US broadcast partner. The arrangement gives NBC Sports access to all 380 matches each season until 2028. The pact also gives NBC sole rights for Spanish language coverage.

The two didn't say how this would affect Peacock's coverage. However, the Premier League highlighted Peacock as a platform that could reach "every home" with internet access. NBC Sports became the Premier League's American partner in 2013 and will have its existing agreement until May 2022.

There's a real chance Peacock will continue streaming many (though not all) of those games. Bloomberg pointed out that Premier League matches have been one of the few reliable sources of viewers for the fledgling service — the renewed deal could keep them watching and out of the hands of rivals like ESPN, which made a bid for Premier League rights. This could also drive free Peacock users to the Premium tiers currently needed to watch the league's games online.

The extension won't thrill you if you were looking for more ways to stream the exploits of Chelsea, Liverpool and other top-flight teams. However, it at least provides some consistency if you were already a Peacock user or happy to watch on Comcast's various other platforms.

Paramount+ is bolstering its soccer bonafides with the addition of another notable league. CBS Sports will be the exclusive US rights holder for the Barclays FA Women’s Super League (WSL) in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, with 57 matches airing across Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network each season. Most matches will stream on Paramount+, but some will air exclusively on CBS Sports Network. 

The WSL, which currently airs on NBC platforms in the US, features 12 teams and it's the highest level of women's soccer in England. American soccer fans will surely recognize some players, including current USWNT member Tobin Heath, who plays for Arsenal. Recently retired USWNT legend Carli Lloyd spent some time on loan at Manchester City a few years back.

The WSL complements the existing plethora of soccer coverage on Paramount+, which includes the National Women's Soccer League, The Women's Cup and UEFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers. Paramount+ also streams games from the UEFA Champions League, CONCACAF national team competitions, Italy’s Serie A, Scotland's Premiership and much more.

Paramount+ now streams more than 2,000 live games a year. Meanwhile, T-Mobile subscribers can currently snag a year of access to the platform at no extra cost.