14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher SEGA has terminated access to its popular Phantasy Star Online 2 for all players who are living outside of Japan, which means that all those who imported copies might have spent their money for nothing.
The new terms of service for the game state, “Connecting to the game server through the installed software is restricted to domestically located computer terminals. It’s prohibited to directly connect to the server from outside Japan as well as to route a connection from outside the country through domestic computer terminals.”
Last month, Phantasy Star Online 2 was hacked and many Japanese players believe that the perpetrators were foreign players looking to gain an advantage.
Phantasy Star Online 2 has more than 700,000 registered users, although it’s not clear how many of them are from outside Japan.
SEGA has plans to launch the game in both North America and in Europe at some point during 2013, with shared servers for the two markets.