The Epic Games Store, also known as The Fortnite People’s Free Game of The Week Store, has kept itself relevant and inclusive in the industry by releasing a smorgasbord of free AAA and indie games every week.
Free. Literally.
Akin to sloth foreplay, Epic likes to build the feverish anticipation with their “Mystery Game” freebies – if you’re reading this, you already know what I’m referring to. Recently, much to the delight of the cloud gaming community and others, Epic dropped a sexy bomb of a masterpiece – Dragon Age: Inquisition (Game of The Year Edition).
Though released in 2014, the game is viewed by critics as one of the greatest games ever made – Bioware, ‘nuff said – and has won over 300 gaming awards since its release. Published by Electronic Arts, a company with a rather shaky track record due to their profit-centric approach to the gaming community, Dragon Age: Inquisition was labeled as a “Sunset” game – a poetic euphemism for dead games.
Or dead teddy bears named Oliver.
I still don’t understand why my mom said he died inside the garbage can… How did Oliver get there in the first place? He couldn’t climb walls! Only windowsills! Could it have been – No. Murder? Gasp.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a rather curious albeit strange discussion in the EA Games community thread – call me Alice and throw me down that rabbit hole, because I love Wonderland. Especially at 3am.
Oh, Buddha… No! I don’t live in Amsterdam! Damn you people with your minds in the red-lit gutters!
A new thread appeared, posted by user Tardelius, explaining that Dragon Age had been banned by the Epic Games Store in Belarus, Cyprus, Israel, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UAE. His post went on to read, “This issue doesn’t affect me as I already have a copy of the game via EA App. But this is genuinely ridiculous to see this game blacklisted on EGS for absolutely no reason, considering the fact that the game is available on ALL platforms (except Epic) since its release.”
Awkward, but okay.
And then this happened:
“Based on Reddit discussions, it seems that an Israeli person has contacted Epic Games, but they have told that person, only EA can change this.”
Do not go gentle into that good night
My mind, which usually reaches Peak Crazy at 3am (you should see me at noon…), jumped into investigation mode. I questioned whether Epic Games, the rebellious hot guy of the gaming industry, would use their platform to create even more division in the world. Was this a rumor tossed around by a couple of quasi-activists? Why would Epic Games ban a game in Israel if an Israeli citizen allegedly created this planet-shattering bang?
Was this a mass effect of humanity’s entropically innate action vs. inaction trait? Would this shepherd in the finale to the current gaming epoch? Reapers? Collectors? Specters?
(I can’t stop playing the Mass Effect trilogy, so calm down please)
The thread, though succinct, still failed to answer my elusive existential and investigative questions. The latest response, posted on Friday by Xx-Gimmle-xX, reads:
“I spoke to an EA customer support person. Long story short, they can’t change the blacklisted countries, so anyone in those countries will not be able to purchase the game, through Epic or through the store. Also, they said the game is titled as a ‘Sunset’ game, which means EA will not be selling this game anymore or put it on EA Play.”
Insert Law & Order sound here.
Although this is “to be continued,” I need to dig some more; similar to Oliver’s murder all those years ago. A cold case is usually cold. Or is it the dead people fridge place thingy?
Either or, to be continued…
This piece contains verbatim quotes – refer to source material.
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