EA's Origin service not available in Myanmar. Yeah, the entire country.

[DoPo]

Do you live live in Myanmar? Well, no Origin for you. Apparently, even if you had games there.

http://www.pcgamer.com/ea-blocks-entire-country-from-using-origin-access%20ing-purchased-games/

Seems that happened back in September, according to this support ticker linked from the article [http://answers.ea.com/t5/Origin/New-Origin-Access-Denied-from-Myanmar/m-p/5572204/highlight/true#M220895].

At least the somebody from EA did add the following:

"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."

And that was...today. About five weeks after the ticket was raised.

 

[Mangod]

... that is quite a long time, yes.

I mean, what even happened to cut off an entire country from Origins? Did EA misplace their world map?

 

[DoPo]

I mean, what even happened to cut off an entire country from Origins?

Dunno, the article and the ticket suggest something about US laws being involved but I'm not sure if that's the full reason or part of the reason or not really related.

Did EA misplace their world map?

Maybe they use

Spoiler: a globe

I think the thumb might have covered the country.

 

[baddude1337]

5 Weeks response time is piss poor for absolutely any company, regardless of the business.

 

[InsanityRequiem]

From what I?ve read, Myanmar were dealt with US sanctions on the country, meaning that business with said country is illegal until the sanctions are removed. Now, since digitally bought games are a license and you don?t own the product, US Sanctions laws suspends your use of said license, meaning you can?t play the games you ?bought?.

Now, the main question is that are the sanctions still in effect or were they lifted? I keep seeing a mix between sanctions were lifted in the beginning of October and that sanctions are still in effect.

 

[sXeth]

From what I?ve read, Myanmar were dealt with US sanctions on the country, meaning that business with said country is illegal until the sanctions are removed. Now, since digitally bought games are a license and you don?t own the product, US Sanctions laws suspends your use of said license, meaning you can?t play the games you ?bought?.

Now, the main question is that are the sanctions still in effect or were they lifted? I keep seeing a mix between sanctions were lifted in the beginning of October and that sanctions are still in effect.

Myanmar's sanctions were lifted in early October.

The oddity is that those sanctions had been in effect since 1989 (for Myanmar, I didn't look into the other countries affected), so why did EA only start following them in September? Did the law only just catch up to digital distributors or something? Kind of curious if Steam works there, since its also America-based and would be bound by the same laws.