This Country Has Been Banned From Playing EA's Games

FIFA players living in the South East Asian country of Myanmar, formerly Burma, have been left gutted after they were blocked from using EA Games' distribution portal Origin.

The platform allows people to buy and access EA's games such as FIFA 17, Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 for Mac and PC.

A response to a question on EA's 'answers' site appears to confirm that, since a recent update to Origin, US sanctions against Myanmar mean the service is no longer available in the country.

Battlefield 1 is one of the titles users are reporting problems playing. Credit: EA Games

It is worth noting that said restrictions on Myanmar were lifted on October 7 and services such as Steam - which is also US-based, work fine.

Users attempting to access the distribution portal from Myanmar see an 'Access Denied' message when they attempt to login or connect and, as of yet, have not been offered a refund by the gaming company.

No more of this fun in Myanmar using Origin. Credit: EA

Writing on Reddit, one user who lives in the country, said: "I 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.

"Remember, if they do it to me, they can do it to you too. Don't use or buy games from Origin or DRM services. They can take your content away without offering a refund."

Users have said that access to Origin from the country had been blocked some time at the beginning of September, which was around the same time as President Obama had announced that sanctions against the country had been dropped.

EA has yet to officially respond to gamers living in the country.

Furthermore, there have also been reports that the games have also been banned in Iran.

What would I do if I couldn't play EA games? Probably read a book or something. What would Paddy in the office do? Probably have a meltdown.

Featured image credit: EA & Columbia Pictures

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Topics: Ban

James Dawson

James Dawson is a Journalist at LADbible. He has contributed articles to LADbible’s ‘Knowing Me, Knowing EU’ series on the EU referendum, the 'Electoral Dysfunction' series on the 2017 general election, the ‘U OK M8?’ series tackling mental health amongst young men, and for its ‘Climate Change’ initiative in partnership with National Geographic.

@thejaytoday