EA blacklists Burma - people who live there can no longer log into Origin - Polidicks

Over on reddit, this story just broke: [QUOTE]I live in Myanmar, and I own about 20 games on Origin, and have spent hundreds of dollars on the platform. I've bought the full editions of all of the Battlefield games up to this point, with their season passes. I was trying to log into Origin a few days ago, and got a bizarre "Access Denied" message. I googled it, and found that "Origin is no longer available in Myanmar." ..... Supposedly EA is blaming this on complying with US sanctions against Myanmar (which is total crap, considering Steam, GOG, and every single other content distribution network is just fine). Additionally, sanctions were lifted on October 7th. Still no access to our games that we bought.[/QUOTE] SOURCE - [URL="https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/5a51e2/ea_games_and_origin_quietly_bans_an_entire/?st=iuwnw9pr&sh=ba7381d9"]https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/5a51e2/ea_games_and_origin_quietly_bans_an_entire/?st=iuwnw9pr&sh=ba7381d9[/URL] [B]Edit:[/B] [URL="http://kotaku.com/ea-blocks-entire-country-on-origin-says-they-plan-to-f-1788382999"]Kotaku just asked EA about this, and got this response:[/URL] [QUOTE]We are working to restore access to Origin for our players in Myanmar. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, and we’ll share updates on timing as soon as possible.[/QUOTE] So, maybe it was just a glitch?

[QUOTE]Supposedly EA is blaming this on complying with US sanctions against Myanmar (which is total crap, considering Steam, GOG, and every single other content distribution network is just fine)[/QUOTE] None of those are operated by US companies though. Then again the sanctions seem to have been lifted for some time now, so I have no idea why EA hasnt responded yet.

[QUOTE=Kecske;51282445]None of those are operated by US companies though. Then again the sanctions seem to have been lifted for some time now, so I have no idea why EA hasnt responded yet.[/QUOTE] Valve is a US company.

This has happened before with steam in other countries. Not sure why that reddit thread is acting like its some insidious EA scheme. I imagine their lawyers were recommended to do it to cover their ass considering the country had massive sanctions on US goods until very recently. There's literally zero reason why EA would risk massive negative exposure like this unless it's a complete accident or there's some new development that restricts video games within the sanctions.

[QUOTE=ColossalSoft;51282451]Valve is a US company.[/QUOTE] Steam is operated by Valve S.a.r.l., a Luxembourg based company. Probably for tax optimization.

VPN? Problem solved

Are we time traveling now?

That's still kinda shitty for Burmese Origin users who've already paid for games on their accounts.

[QUOTE=HAKKAR!!!;51282454]This has happened before with steam in other countries. Not sure why that reddit thread is acting like its some insidious EA scheme. I imagine their lawyers were recommended to do it to cover their ass considering the country had massive sanctions on US goods until very recently. There's literally zero reason why EA would risk massive negative exposure like this unless it's a complete accident or there's some new development that restricts video games within the sanctions.[/QUOTE] You know reddit, they will jump on the band wagon immediately declaring how "Evil" EA was all along and knowing for "months" they knew it was happening. I use reddit quite often.

[QUOTE=Kecske;51282457]Steam is operated by Valve S.a.r.l., a Luxembourg based company. Probably for tax optimization.[/QUOTE] Only in some cases [quote=Steam Subscriber Agreement]A. Contracting Party For any interaction with Steam other than the purchase of physical merchandise, your contractual relationship is with Valve. Except as otherwise indicated at the time of the transaction (such as in the case of purchases from another Subscriber in a Subscription Marketplace), any transactions for Subscriptions (as defined below) you make on Steam are being made from Valve. Sales of physical merchandise (“Hardware”) via Steam shall be governed by the following terms: Unless you are a Subscriber whose primary residence is in one of the member countries of the European Union (an “EU Subscriber”), any sales of Hardware on Steam are made from, and your contractual relationship is with, Valve. If you are an EU subscriber, any sales of Hardware on Steam are made from, and your contractual relationship is with, Valve EU, 26 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg.[/quote]

I understand that it's not really EA's fault, but couldn't they at least give those customers a refund?

It does rather severely highlight the nature of online "purchases" these days though, a company can just take an account filled with often thousands of dollars of purchases away from you. And in this case, not give it back long after whatever reason they had is gone. Gotta get the burmese to rebuy their games for extra dosh right.

[QUOTE=ZakkShock;51282567]VPN? Problem solved[/QUOTE] Take a situation where you tell your mom what a VPN is. Multiply that by a country.

Supposedly Iran got banned too

[QUOTE=Kljunas;51282747]I understand that it's not really EA's fault, but couldn't they at least give those customers a refund?[/QUOTE] You'll have a bigger chance of discovering Nazi gold in your backyard than getting a refund, I'd start digging now.

[QUOTE=HAKKAR!!!;51282454]This has happened before with steam in other countries. Not sure why that reddit thread is acting like its some insidious EA scheme. I imagine their lawyers were recommended to do it to cover their ass considering the country had massive sanctions on US goods until very recently. There's literally zero reason why EA would risk massive negative exposure like this unless it's a complete accident or there's some new development that restricts video games within the sanctions.[/QUOTE] No, Steam has never retroactively taken someone's access away because of their region.

[QUOTE=TheJoker;51282780]Supposedly Iran got banned too[/QUOTE] I don't think Iranians could ever buy games off of Origin anyway because I don't think it accepted Iranian credit cards.

[QUOTE=AtomiCal;51282773]Take a situation where you tell your mom what a VPN is. Multiply that by a country.[/QUOTE] If they're technologically competent enough to buy games off Origin and build computers capable of running the games on Origin, I fail to see how this is an accurate analogy.

[QUOTE=gk99;51283094]If they're technologically competent enough to buy games off Origin and build computers capable of running the games on Origin, I fail to see how this is an accurate analogy.[/QUOTE] i fail to see how these things have any relation to each other

Doesn't a decent VPN cost $? I'd hate to have to buy VPN services just because I lived in a certain country that was blacklisted.

Looks like it might have been a mistake, as per EA themselves. I've updated the OP with their response.

[QUOTE=Kecske;51282457]Steam is operated by Valve S.a.r.l., a Luxembourg based company. Probably for tax optimization.[/QUOTE] Haha, Steam is in Luxemburg, GOG in Cyprus.

[QUOTE=DMGaina;51282792]No, Steam has never retroactively taken someone's access away because of their region.[/QUOTE] They've blocked you from logging in if you're from a certain country at times. It can be avoided by going in to offline mode which is what EA should have done or using a VPN (which the OP mentions you can do, but doesn't want to)

[QUOTE=HAKKAR!!!;51285527]They've blocked you from logging in if you're from a certain country at times. It can be avoided by going in to offline mode which is what EA should have done or using a VPN (which the OP mentions you can do, but doesn't want to)[/QUOTE] But this was not the same thing. I know that Steam was unavailabe for some days (not even one day AFAIK) in Russia after the US sanctions. Steam prevented access from Russia but only to set up a new system for costumers from the russian federation. That's why you can't gift games from russia anymore. However this was by no means permanent, they did wanted to keep their russian customers. Reading the updates, I think Origin is doing the same thing right now.