Blizzard Blocks Iranian Gamers Due To U.S. Trade Sanctions
In a new twist, Blizzard has blocked access to World of Warcraft and other games to those living in Iran. The reason behind it is quite simple: U.S. trade sanctions. Blizzard has simply “tightened up its procedures to ensure compliance” of these laws. This post by Blizzard explaining the reason only came after hundreds of users had been voicing their concerns over being unable to access World of Warcraft on the eu.battle.net forums. At first it appeared that it was the Iranian government as connecting via proxy would allow users to log in, however with Blizzard finally speaking up that assumption was proven false. While Blizzard has complied with U.S. laws, it seems the Iranian players continue to get the short straw as there are no “refunds, credits, transfers, or other service options to accounts in these countries.” That said, Blizzard will lift the restriction as soon as U.S. law allows, but we all know that won’t happen any time soon.
What we can tell you is that United States trade restrictions and economic sanction laws prohibit Blizzard from doing business with residents of certain nations, including Iran. Several of you have seen and cited the text in the Terms of Use which relates to these government-imposed sanctions. This week, Blizzard tightened up its procedures to ensure compliance with these laws, and players connecting from the affected nations are restricted from access to Blizzard games and services.
Comments are closed.