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You'd think that losing an entire nation's worth of potential customers would be a bit of a downer, but EA's step is still packed with spring, swagger, and sudden stop-turns followed by that obnoxious finger gun thing people sometimes do. So, what gives? Simple: Iranian BF3 players weren't customers in the first place.
IndustryGamers reports that widespread protest has resulted in a BF3 crackdown from Iran's ruling Combatant Clergy Association. Apparently, depicting both Iran and large-scale shootouts at the same time is a big no-no.
"We understand that the story of a videogame is hypothetical... [but] we believe the game is purposely released at a time when the US is pushing the international community into fearing Iran," reads one 5,000-strong online petition.
EA, meanwhile, isn't losing any sleep over this unexpected turn of events, seeing as Battlefield 3, er, hasn't actually been released in Iran.
"In that Battlefield 3 is not available for purchase in Iran, we can only hope the ban will help prevent pirated copies reaching consumers there," said a company representative.
So everybody wins! Kind of.
Comments are closed on this article
reza
November 30, 2011 at 2:41am
Each video game in iran cost between 1 or 2.5$ for PC and Xobx platform and all of them are cracked and ready to use. If you have a better internet connection most of up to date games are avilable on iranian upload centers and you can download them for free because there is no copyright rules!
BF3 banned by goverment for reasons you mentioned in the article but in the black market you can buy it for 8 or 10$ very easily and play it, also still you can downlaod it. and don't forget when some video game or movies and stuff like that getting forbidden by the goverment iranian people getting more curious about them and even guys who aren't fan of video games will try that title. but it is understandable that iranian video gamers for the reasones before mentioned doesn't worth to much for EA they don't pay real fee for video games and they don't use online video game services.
Bad Kharma
November 29, 2011 at 2:37pm
To me, this would be a selling point. Anything that pisses these barbarians off can't be all that bad.
Danthrax66
November 29, 2011 at 10:42pm
Quit being an ignorant twat. Maybe we should judge the entireity of America on the fucked up government here? The government is not always representative fo the people and a 5,000 signature petition is like nothing relative to the population over there.
Nimrod
November 29, 2011 at 2:03pm
Now if only we could get EA banned from the USA. First of all, BF3 sucks ass in a bad way. A month after release and its still in beta and should be called BC3. Second, the fact that there isnt a major outcry over the dtat theft from Origin shows what a bunch of pigly wasetoid moron slaves live in this country.
std error
November 29, 2011 at 9:50am
Can EA even sell legal copies in Iran? I thought they were under pretty severe sanctions.
Just read that Iranian police let a bunch of students storm the British embassy... The blatant disregard of the safety of diplomants under international law is worrying.
Engelsstaub
November 29, 2011 at 4:06pm
Maybe they were making up for all of their own citizens they shot for observing the "election" protests.
Like Neda Agha-Soltan; shot in the face in front of her father for the entire world to witness. Just for standing there watching. I feel bad for the good Iranian people. Not having a video game is the very least of their problems.
Hope they liked that virus that set their nuke program back a decade or so.
haboh
November 29, 2011 at 8:41am
Considering the large number of people, and quite a few in government actively discussing whether the US should nuke or invade Iran, or both, I can kinda see their point.
Engelsstaub
November 29, 2011 at 7:50am
Yeah. The US is promoting fear of Iran. They don't bring that shit on themselves at all. Mahmoud Ahmadouchebag, the holocaust denier, talking about how Israel should be wiped away without a trace.
I usually don't have any cause to praise EA. Today I do.
(Nobody hates the good people of Iran. Most loathe the shitty leadership who "reelect" themselves.)
Danthrax66
November 29, 2011 at 10:47pm
To be fair the formation of the country of Israel was a bad idea from the beginning. Not the idea of giving Jewish people their own nation but the placement. And the country has pretty much fueled tension in the Middle East since it was created. Not to mention the fact that the British told the Palestinians to fuck themselves when they stole their land and gave it away.
Engelsstaub
November 30, 2011 at 8:23am
I understand what you're saying and wouldn't entirely disagree. It was bad in many ways...but unavoidable.
They had nowhere to go. (That's why pieces of shit like Ahmadinjad deny the holocaust happened.) They weren't wanted anywhere in Europe or Russia. England and Denmark were about the only places where they were welcome. It's unfortunate that the British had to tell some Palestinians to move over but it had to be.
Perhaps if die Endlösung was perpetrated against Arabs they'd have less to cry about than having to share their land once again with historic neighbors. It's all religion. They'd be most welcome if they were Muslim.
Morete
November 29, 2011 at 4:11am
If DICE/Electronic Arts threw in a Iran vs Israel campaign in the mix then possibly BF3 would sell like stuffed grape leaves in the old Persian land. But then that would be "anti-semitic" and Israel would cry.
quickone
November 29, 2011 at 6:25am
Israel doesn't cry, they get spooked even a little and kick the crap out of everyone, they're eventually going to drag us into something wicked nasty...
Danthrax66
November 29, 2011 at 10:48pm
Israel the worst last second kneejerk decision ever made. Lets throw the Jewish people into the middle of the Muslims who have been enemies since the beginning of time. Great idea...
