Sad news for FIFA mobile fans in Vietnam as EA Sports officially announced that the game and its services will no longer be available to players in the region. The move came as a shock to the thousands of players in the community.
Like most Asian countries, FIFA mobile had a thriving scene in Vietnam. Due to its easily accessible and handheld nature, the game acquired immense popularity. EA’s decision to pull the game from shelves in the country, however, comes due to certain government regulations and policies. According to their blog post, EA addressed,
Due to local regulatory issues, Electronic Arts is unable to continue offering FIFA Mobile in Vietnam. This means that FIFA Mobile will be removed from the Vietnamese Google Play and Apple App Store. FIFA Mobile can still be played in all our supported areas, and players outside Vietnam will not be affected.
The FIFA Mobile Team
Why FIFA Mobile is shutting down in Vietnam
As per law in Vietnam, any game that is circulated in the country must be published by a local publisher. This can be seen in other popular mobile titles such as Call of Duty: Mobile which is published by local publishing company VNG or even League of Legends which is published by Garena in Vietnam.
The law is meant to encourage local business and in turn, boost the national economy. It seems that EA has refused to comply with the national regulations and has decided to instead pull the game from shelves in the country, despite a large number of players in the country. EA themselves have partnered with Nexon and launched region-specific FIFA Mobiles in the Asian countries of FIFA Mobile Japan, FIFA Mobile Korea, and FIFA Mobile China.
After the announcement, certain players did try to access the game by using a VPN. However, as their account was already set to the Vietnam region, the game refused to let them access thus making this workaround meaningless. EA has promised to “pursue its engagement with Vietnamese sports fans” but did not give any clarification on whether the game would return to the country.
This isn’t the first time a game has been forced out due to the country’s strict regulatory policy. Genshin Impact too suffered the same fate but was able to make a comeback. Numerous other games are still not available in Vietnam although most can be played with a VPN.
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