Origin-Based Games Blocked by Electronic Arts (EA) in Myanmar — Five other Countries are already blocked including Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Ukraine.
If you are in Myanmar and can’t access Origin-based games then it’s not some DDoS attack on Electonic Arts servers, it’s just that the company has blocked origin games in your country.
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Since the time US president Barack Obama decided to lift the trade sanctions against South Asian country Myanmar early on in October, Myanmar residents were overjoyed. But their happiness was somewhat short-lived because EA has blocked Origin and all the games that are purchased through Origin in Myanmar. Myanmar isn’t the only country where Origin has been blocked Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Ukraine. But Myanmar is the latest to join the list and apparently the most unlikely candidate of all.
The issue was highlighted by a Reddit user who uses the nickname Trivial_sublime in a post that read:
“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.'”
According to the user, he has spent a considerable sum of money in purchasing the game and obviously he is feeling most annoyed at the moment. Later on, it was reported by an Iranian player on Reddit that the same issue was being faced by him.
A support thread dated September was discovered on EA’s website that dealt with the same issue and one of the EA’s Origin Champions DarkAmaranth1966 made it clear that “Origin is no longer available in Myanmar.” It must be noted that Origin Champion is a title given to EA’s volunteers.
The thread further threw light on this issue:
“ith the Origin 10 update, US laws (which is where EA is based) forced them to block certain countries. Unfortunately, you live in one of those countries. I’m sorry, but there is nothing we do here to allow you access again.”
“We Heroes are not told why EA makes decisions like this nor what they might be planning to do about it.”
A post from the EA community manager, which was more like a response to the September’s support thread, explained the reason behind blocking of access to Origin games.
“In compliance with US embargoes and sanctions laws, Origin is not available in Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine (Crimea region).”
This statement was later revised by the community manager and now it reads:
“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.”
When contacted, an EA representative stated that the company was “internally reviewing the situation” and looking for ways to restore the service in Myanmar.
Also Read: Several Electronic Arts Origin accounts may have been hacked
The entire comment on the situation from EA_Alex is as follows:
Hey all,
The short answer here is that this occurred due to the US government trade embargo on Myanmar. In accordance with US law, EA is legally required to restrict online services to residents of countries that are embargoed. This isn’t an EA-specific issue — it’s an issue that impacts all companies offering services that are covered by trade embargoes. As the OP has noted, the embargo on Myanmar appears to have been lifted earlier this month. Accordingly, EA is internally reviewing the situation and looking into whether and when service can be restored to Myanmar residents. It’s unclear to me whether we can do anything for residents of other countries that are still similarly embargoed, but I’ll bring the topic up for discussion internally.
PC Gamer
