Players living in Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine have discovered that EA started blocking access to Origin in the country sometime in September. According to Engadget, Even if you started your account elsewhere, you aren’t allowed to either visit the Origin store or use any of your purchased games. You can use a virtual private network to get around the restriction, but that could easily bog down your connection while playing online.
“In compliance with US embargoes and sanctions laws, Origin is not available in Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine (Crimea region),” a community manager from EA posted.
Engadget calls it “a reminder of the risks you take when buying copy-protected game downloads… Even if you started your account elsewhere, you aren’t allowed to either visit the Origin store or use any of your purchased games.”
Sunday an employee at EA’s Origin game store commented “This isn’t an EA-specific issue — it’s an issue that impacts all companies offering services that are covered by trade embargoes.” But since the U.S. lifted sanctions on Myanmar in September, EA “is internally reviewing the situation… 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.”
