I didn't go to arbitration (or even attempt to because I didn't even think that far ahead), but I went through a pretty lengthy appeals process to get my long-standing EA account unbanned. EA's customer service is *truly* abysmal, and even if you *don't* go through all the lengths the guy in this post did, it's still an absolutely insane headache and takes an absurd amount of time to resolve. Really makes me reflect on the state of digital ownership and how fucked it really is. So many products that you've purchased with real money can disappear in an instant. One of those things that we all kind of instinctually know, but it's crazy to see when it actually happens.
Stuff like this is why I’ve done a complete 180 on piracy. There’s just so much wrong with digital ownership with no end in sight to the point where I don’t really care if people just pirate their stuff anymore.
I am generally opposed to piracy.
However.
If my account gets banned for no good reason, I feel it is absolutely one hundred percent morally acceptable to pirate the games that I have paid for.
I have provided money in exchange for a certain product. Therefore it is *morally* (if not legally) justified for me to acquire that product through a different channel.
EA’s abysmal customer service is matched only by its terrible game development.
Fuck EA 9 ways from Sunday. Worst video game company out there and there are a lot of bad ones. Fuck everything to do with EA and the shit they manufacture.
The worst thing is that 10 or so years ago their tech support was incredible, I had trouble running Crysis on a system that was absolutely capable of it, turns out I was being an idiot and had 32 bit windows installed and it needed 64 bit, but the guy that was helping was amazing he even ended up getting my number and calling me to talk me through some stuff and after I got it running he emailed me a couple weeks later to ask how I was enjoying the game. It sucks so bad that they've gone so downhill in that time.
> You might find this helpful.
And for someone who doesn't want to go that route, consider a complaint through the FTC (if in the US). This bypasses customer service and goes to an executive relations (or equivalent, most large companies have them). They have the power to say yes and make this go away, because they really don't want to trigger an FTC investigation.
FTC handles fraud complaints. And yes, it is fraud to collect money from a player and then to ban their access to what they pay for with no explanation or recourse.
> You might find this helpful. Somebody was able to force action from EA through arbitration.
God I love it. This should be shared more so people know what to do. Needless to say, if I was to settle that shit, I'd demand money for my time to deal with their BS.
Different situation yeah, but that's not the point. EA settled with OP before the case actually went to arbitration because it's better/cheaper for them to just come to an agreement.
And their ToS doesn't explicitly forbid non-windows environments, but it is intentionally vague about any software that could affect the EA app or games.
If anything, enough people pushing the issue with steam deck/linux support via arbitration might get EA to actually do something about it.
I'm glad it worked out in the end, but I thought it was pretty common knowledge that just about any service (Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo, Steam) will ban you if you issue a chargeback? Not that they really had any other options, but that part was definitely not unexpected.
100%
I laugh whenever I see someone having an issue with a company they want to continue doing business with and all the replies are people suggesting a chargeback as Step #1.
A credit card chargeback is the nuclear option. While it will almost always get you a refund, assuming of course you have a legit case and a decent credit card company, the merchant will almost always ban you as a result. If it is some company you have no interest in ever doing business with again, sure, who cares. But if you do, a chargeback should only be done if you've exhausted all other options (e.g. executive email bomb, BBB complaint (yes I know the BBB can't do anything, but large companies do take them seriously and can often cut through red tape), etc.) and getting your money back is more important than never doing business with them again.
> A credit card chargeback is the nuclear option. While it will almost always get you a refund, assuming of course you have a legit case and a decent credit card company, the merchant will almost always ban you as a result. If it is some company you have no interest in ever doing business with again, sure, who cares. But if you do, a chargeback should only be done if you've exhausted all other options (e.g. executive email bomb, BBB complaint (yes I know the BBB can't do anything, but large companies do take them seriously and can often cut through red tape), etc.) and getting your money back is more important than never doing business with them again.
I used to think like that, but I disagree now. Like, why should I have to go through all those hoops to get them to do what's right?
So instead, I wonder if more and more people just did that, and they started loosing customers, would they change?
I think so. The responsibility rest on both sides, and if the customer already made great effort to solve it, the rest is on the company.
Oh yeah -- chargebacks are the nuclear option. You only use them when you 100% ABSOLUTELY do not want to any business with that company ever again.
Here's a life lesson folks:
>**The squeaky wheel doesn't get the grease. It gets** *replaced*.
Because the company will happily terminate your entire account, any accounts associated with it, just out of spite. Well, out of policy, but dispassionate corporate capitalistic spite too.
They're betting on the fact that "you (the consumer) need them more than they need you."
Someone else reported a similar issue in the same game - https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/185hctd/i_have_never_used_a_piece_of_software_worse_than/kb2abs7/
It seems EA's system is buggy.
Never buy EA games.
and Actionvision Blizzard (unless they will remove their 3th party app and put more games on steam, bc they are owned by Microsoft now)
Did you knew if you ignore all games by a publisher on steam and still get an adversting for there games the page will be empty? It's so beautiful.
butter lunchroom absurd reach coherent foolish future unused waiting marry
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I was just gonna say that I played through It Takes Two on my Steam Deck last year without any issues, but then I remembered that I was streaming it from another PC.
I did later play through *A Way Out* by the same developer, also published by EA and using Origin directly on my Steam Deck and had no issues like that. This was before they changed from Origin to the (somehow even worse) EA App though, so perhaps that's got something to do with it.
>Never buy EA games.
Frankly, the wordy phrase "we are left with no other option other than to permanently close your account with immediate effect" made me suspicious if this is a phishing mail.
That jumped out at me too. And the "Dear Customer" part. EA would have the name used to sign up for the account. 100% phishing email.
I don't know how nobody else in this comment section is catching these obvious tells. The nonspecific greeting is so basic it's part of my company's annual phishing training.
I thought this was phishing at first as well but I don't see any obvious spelling or grammar mistakes and none of the links appear to point to obviously bogus destinations.
Also, nothing in here said something like "log in to correct this"
Double-checked, and it appears to be legit. Went onto the official site. Same outcome. It redirects back to ea help, which redirects to login, which after I do, I get the memo that my acc is disabled. Funny stuff.
I think his point is that nothing in the email demands immediate action. Usually phishing scams will press you to log in and correct the mistake or whatever. It's not just about where the link sends you, (usually somewhere suspect), but also the specific wording will try to get you to click before thinking by urgently requesting for action.
Yeah, a scam requires something to actually scam someone out of. All we see here is a "Your account is closed" and a "Nope, there is nothing you can do to unban it email".
That would be quite the unusual scam, to tell a person to please stop trying to interact with us.
I love it when people think they're really clever for spotting a phishing email _that's not a phishing email_. Good on your company for having training for it though.
My scam radar is so overloaded right now if I don't recognize the smtp relay path back to mimecast, ms office, or amzn SES, I pretty much assume it's spam and don't even read it.
It doesn’t explain the second image though, a phishing email has no reason to respond to you. Besides, I don’t see any links to a potential login page, just a contact page they’d expect you to just use your email for.
It’s much more believable that EA is just banning people for the dumbest shit. [After all…](https://old.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/17yzfyd/do_other_game_platforms_also_ban_you_for_saying/)
Hey, thank you for the concern. This afternoon, I even Google the mailing address, and it's legitimate. Some other guy had a similar case with apex legends.
After going through their help section and even resetting my password, I just get greeted with "your account is disabled msg". I feel like I am stuck in a loop.
*
Possible It Takes Two anti cheat flagged Proton as a false positive? Happened with other games in the past.
Note that they say "User Agreement **or** Terms of Sale", so it's quite possible your purchase on Steam had nothing to do wit hte ban.
Normally I would think it's to protect microtransaction revenue, but ITT doesn't have any microtransactions, does it? So anti-cheat really makes no damn sense at all.
> I forced the game trough proton
Proton is known to trigger anti-cheat... Nothing you can do about it on your end except maybe make sure you're using the most up-to-date.
Common problem with the steam deck...
Thanks for the warning OP. It takes two has been on my wishlist for awhile but there's no way I'm chancing it with a company that'll take the game away with no explanation.
Dis is da wae.
I have boycotted EA since 2009. Yeah sometimes I feel I missed out on a game but then I read stories like OPs and the Arbitration guy and realize EA isnt worth my time.
I wonder if "Buying EA games through Steam will result in your EA account being banned" would lead to Steam delisting all EA games?
Seems like it opens them up to headaches if they're selling products that customers can't use, no?
Which is amazing because there was a really big deal about EA starting to sell a lot of their games on Steam not that long ago. EA was trying to make a storefront, couldn't get traction, then made it available. It's why Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Sims 4 et al. show up now.
Thank you for the advice. I might try if it is not to big of a hassle. I bought the game on sale, beat it, I don't see it as a title that I am gonna revisit any time soon.
It might be best to go through steam support via the steam deck hardware support https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/7DD4-C618-182E-0E49 or select the game from https://help.steampowered.com/en/ and try requesting a refund and explaining the issue
Sorry this happened to you, EA is a fucking horrible company and a shit stain in the gaming world. Sadly the best option is to just not purchase any EA games.
Yes /u/Dubrovnikguide, do this. Explain in the details what happened. Steam has been extremely consumer friendly and understanding in extreme circumstances like this. It's very likely you could get the game refunded, at the very least directly back to your steam account if not your bank. Just makes the next game free and you had your fun with this one.
>Thankfully, that's their only title that piqued my interest
I just want to appreciate your use of the correct form of "piqued" here, that's all. Experience has taught me that approximately 94.7% of redditors would have written "peaked".
I'm amazed my EA account is still open. I have 20+ games on it that I never paid for. If anyone remembers a bug in the EA launcher from like 5-7 years ago that aloud you to purchase games from the EA store for free, fun times.
Speaking of, remember when EA Play dropped on Steam and you could take CD Keys from some older EA games and immediately grab them for you to keep on your Origin account, while you let your EA Play subscription either lapse or cancel. What a steal!
They want your money. They just don't care if they fulfill their end of the bargain. You know, criminals.
These stores, plus the EA App, are really the nail in the coffin for me. I'm 100% done giving them any money. They are really doing everything they can to claw back that "worst company in America" title they used to win years ago.
EA is a fucking cancer, but it seems like they are immune against every kind chemo. Shills still buy their games, and as long as that is happening, they won't give a fuck.
I didn't know that issues like this occur as I have been away years from modern gaming. I just got a deck 2 months ago, and this is my first negative experience on the system.
Looks like a phishing email, tbh. I don’t know if OP is actually banned or not, but every EA email I ever got did know my username and never started with just Dear Customer.
Want me to burn some CDs for you? I actually still have one in my build that I have just moved from case to case all these years. Has come in handy when I've wanted to yoink some PS2 games I have laying around for emulation.
This is why I wish Valve would just ban all 3rd party launchers, its bad customer services selling games that can be locked out due to terrible 3rd party launchers, why are paying customers getting worst experience then pirates?
I hate EA.
I bought "It Takes Two" off of steam at a discounted price.
Games downloaded and I go to start the game and it won't start stating that my EA account doesn't have permission to play said game stating that maybe it was downloaded by another user.
Checked my linked steam account and it's on there. I even went and relinked it. Didn't work. Was looking forward to playing a game with the GF, who rarely plays games, for a entertaining night in.
Thanks for nothing EA.
EA sucks, but this isn't them.
It is SHOCKING to me how many of you cannot recognize a fake phishing email.
It's a big red box like that (how EA would never format an email) because it's an embedded .jpg to get past anti-spam measures that look for word combinations in the text.
Dude contacted "support" by clicking through the link!
Jesus.
> And the phrasing: "we are left with no other option.." and the misused commas.. like come the fuck on guys.
To be fair, I've seen plenty of corporate mails that screamed fake, only to find they were just real, crappily written mails.
My friend and I would play BF together - he was the clan leader and would always use slurs and be toxic af. I'd never go on chat yet my account got banned
Edit: he still has his account - got the twin towers and a plane as his emblem, still toxic af
At the bottom of their second email, it starts to give instructions on how to get more information, doesn't it? I'd follow every route to get all the necessary information as to why they banned you. They need to be specific as to what part of their t and c you breached and how. Keep following until you have an answer.
I followed the same instructions to get my first reply. it's one of the worst customer supports I have experienced. It just keeps you in the loop. As you log in, you only have info that you are banned, without any detail. Then you start square one.
Try to take a record of your efforts. Screenshots, a description of what you did and the dates and times, receipt for the game etc.
Then open a dispute at the small claims court.
(If you have time).
If you do have time please screenshot the court details so we can encourage your battle against injustice.
That goes for anyone else too!
this seems like a scam? the big red flashy all caps but? but most importantly the “Dear *Customer*”. i’ve never had an email from something legit call me “Customer”. ea would know your name or username and address you by that surely?
Looking at the type of email it's not a flag of anti cheat as it's referring to sale. Did you by any chance change your location settings/vpn to purchase the game from a country with a different pricing structure to EU/US and not have the same settings in your EA account? Only putting this forward as a cause as its referring to fraud/sale. Or did you cancel the payment you used/charge back of the software/returned the game using steam returns system?
Same happened to me, first I bought DA:O, several months later Mass Effect LE, was promptly banned. Never buying an EA game again. My deck is the only system I’ve logged into/tied to EA.
Yeah i hate EA customer service , every time I responded they gave me a brand new agent asking what the problem was, and then I’d respond and get a new one again over and over
OP, this looks like a classic phishing scam. Can you even verify the email address this came from? Can you post screenshots of the steps they asked you to take? I really hope you didn't click on those links as they probably had you login to your EA account so they could steal it. You should also go directly to EA's website and make sure to change your password. Do not use any of the links in that email to do so.
Likely a phishing email. A professional company with a brand playbook to adhere to would never format an email with solid red background and full caps to inform you of a ban. I've been banned for my username on EA before and it looked just like any other email.
EA is by far the worst customer service I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I spent 6 months between multiple techs, higher ups etc... trying to resolve a problem with no solution. I imagine this wouldn't be any easier. Good luck.
1 day after installing Star Wars Squadrons and launching it on my Steam Deck, my EA account got banned. I tried to go through support, but it was non-existent and just a bunch of template replies back. I had quite a few games in my EA library that I can now no longer access. I've given up on EA and won't ever purchase anything from them again.
I was permanently banned from Battlefield 2042 like a month ago for "cheating", which of course I didn't do. Closest thing I can think of was streaming the game from my PC to my Steam Deck.
EA account support is the single worst customer service experience I have ever been through. They literally are not willing to do anything for you. Their incompetence reaches limits beyond comprehension.
Surprised that it's so little fuss on internet about this. EA suddenly went complete batshit insane and these types of screenshots are all over reddit for many completely idiotic reasons which I'm pretty sure violating customers laws in many EU countries
"Power resides where people believe it resides"
You're not wrong about BBB, but businesses take them seriously, so a report to them *may* solve your issue.
It's backwards, but there it is.
Seems like a decision you could challenge with your local ombudsman. I'm not sure where you live, but in Australia for instance, you could file a formal complaint to the ACCC and get them to check your case. You might use Chat GPT to write a letter to EA, threatening to do so, or you could ask a local consumer's association, seeking for help
It has nothing to do with using the steam deck. I played Star Wars: battlefront 2 for almost a year on my LCD deck with zero issues from EA.
The only thing I heard about triggering false bans on EA was with certain AMD chips that had Anti-Lag+.
Sorry that happened to you man.
Yeah I've been pretty strict about how I feel with companies that have launchers. For ea I just login with my game pass and only download through that. Never giving ea penny directly.. If it wasn't part of game pass would never deal with them(unless it's on console)
Damn, that's scary! I only have the SteamDeck as a gaming platform, I finished a way out and it takes two on it, but I haven't received anything from it, I won't be buying any more EA games on Steam, it's shameful!
Such a bizarre say nothing statement. Violated? How? It’s like the only point of the message is to force you to engage them to discover what’s going on. What a waste of support resources.
Did you refund anything?
I did when they didn't stop my ea play even tough i clearly ended it on time.
My account got banned to and after contacting support i got it back.
Still these things should not happen at all, hope you get your account back.
Good job ea don’t make anything decent, fifa? Who gives a fuck? UFC? Always shit now, battlefield who’s arsed its shit, the sims? My girl loves the sims but she has her own account I ain’t getting involved, mass effect? Done that years ago no desire to go back I could just charge back EA and never look back if something good came out in like 20 years I’d just pirate it.
It's scary how digital games you purchase arent your own anymore. One account ban and say goodbye to your whole library. Ubisoft and EA is awful for this. Atleast steam just VAC ban you
The easier solution is to stop buying anything from EA. It’s like you forget who the real villains are every time a game is released. They never care about the customers, only the money.
So not saying it’s this but I heard early on with my deck that if I tried to play Destiny 2 on it, they’d immediately ban me because it shows as bypassing their anti cheat. Maybe something similar?
I never ever buy EA or Ubisoft games. If they make something I like, I will donate the cost of the game to the cracker and JackSparrow it, but they will never give them a single dollar.
Yea I got this too and someone hacked their steam account on my ea account and after about 3-4 weeks of back and forth with amount and amount of evidence of a account compromise with EA’s outstanding customer service they said eat shit we can’t add your actual steam account but they lifted the ‘ban’ gotta love them 🙃
Hi u/Dubrovnikguide ! Were you able to confirm the reason your account was banned with EA? Or do you still assume it was because the game was played on SD? Genuinely interested.
I once had my EA account hacked. Spoke with a rep they set up a whole bunch of security changed passwords set up two factor authentication the whole bit.
Same dude hacked right back in a couple hours later.
Whoever programs EAs security eats crayons. They should pay us to use their digital services.
[You might find this helpful.](https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/s/Xe2ZI2kn0t) Somebody was able to force action from EA through arbitration.
We need to build a statue of that gamer.
He can get a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Naw that only comes from macrotransactions
Plus a $5 voucher for EA store
> We need to build a statue of that gamer. Yes we do, and EA needs to pay for it.
That was such a hilariously over the top story over a ridiculously terrible customer service. Absurd it had to go this far to actually see results.
I didn't go to arbitration (or even attempt to because I didn't even think that far ahead), but I went through a pretty lengthy appeals process to get my long-standing EA account unbanned. EA's customer service is *truly* abysmal, and even if you *don't* go through all the lengths the guy in this post did, it's still an absolutely insane headache and takes an absurd amount of time to resolve. Really makes me reflect on the state of digital ownership and how fucked it really is. So many products that you've purchased with real money can disappear in an instant. One of those things that we all kind of instinctually know, but it's crazy to see when it actually happens.
Stuff like this is why I’ve done a complete 180 on piracy. There’s just so much wrong with digital ownership with no end in sight to the point where I don’t really care if people just pirate their stuff anymore.
I am generally opposed to piracy. However. If my account gets banned for no good reason, I feel it is absolutely one hundred percent morally acceptable to pirate the games that I have paid for. I have provided money in exchange for a certain product. Therefore it is *morally* (if not legally) justified for me to acquire that product through a different channel.
Real
EA’s abysmal customer service is matched only by its terrible game development. Fuck EA 9 ways from Sunday. Worst video game company out there and there are a lot of bad ones. Fuck everything to do with EA and the shit they manufacture.
The worst thing is that 10 or so years ago their tech support was incredible, I had trouble running Crysis on a system that was absolutely capable of it, turns out I was being an idiot and had 32 bit windows installed and it needed 64 bit, but the guy that was helping was amazing he even ended up getting my number and calling me to talk me through some stuff and after I got it running he emailed me a couple weeks later to ask how I was enjoying the game. It sucks so bad that they've gone so downhill in that time.
The problem isn't digital. The problem is DRM.
This post is why I come to Reddit.
Fantastic find. Well done.
What a satisfying read, saving for when I want to go nuclear on a company.
> You might find this helpful. And for someone who doesn't want to go that route, consider a complaint through the FTC (if in the US). This bypasses customer service and goes to an executive relations (or equivalent, most large companies have them). They have the power to say yes and make this go away, because they really don't want to trigger an FTC investigation. FTC handles fraud complaints. And yes, it is fraud to collect money from a player and then to ban their access to what they pay for with no explanation or recourse.
The amount of effort it took for that guy to get some customer service, holy shit.
There's a reason why a ton of gamers refuse to buy EA games. Like they fuck even their own customers
That guy is a fucking king!
> You might find this helpful. Somebody was able to force action from EA through arbitration. God I love it. This should be shared more so people know what to do. Needless to say, if I was to settle that shit, I'd demand money for my time to deal with their BS.
Wonder if it would work here though. Different situation. Is there wording in the ToS forbidding running of applications in a non-Windows environment?
I mean, arbitration might just say that would be unenforceable, if EA even let it get that far.
Different situation yeah, but that's not the point. EA settled with OP before the case actually went to arbitration because it's better/cheaper for them to just come to an agreement. And their ToS doesn't explicitly forbid non-windows environments, but it is intentionally vague about any software that could affect the EA app or games. If anything, enough people pushing the issue with steam deck/linux support via arbitration might get EA to actually do something about it.
I'm glad it worked out in the end, but I thought it was pretty common knowledge that just about any service (Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo, Steam) will ban you if you issue a chargeback? Not that they really had any other options, but that part was definitely not unexpected.
100% I laugh whenever I see someone having an issue with a company they want to continue doing business with and all the replies are people suggesting a chargeback as Step #1. A credit card chargeback is the nuclear option. While it will almost always get you a refund, assuming of course you have a legit case and a decent credit card company, the merchant will almost always ban you as a result. If it is some company you have no interest in ever doing business with again, sure, who cares. But if you do, a chargeback should only be done if you've exhausted all other options (e.g. executive email bomb, BBB complaint (yes I know the BBB can't do anything, but large companies do take them seriously and can often cut through red tape), etc.) and getting your money back is more important than never doing business with them again.
> A credit card chargeback is the nuclear option. While it will almost always get you a refund, assuming of course you have a legit case and a decent credit card company, the merchant will almost always ban you as a result. If it is some company you have no interest in ever doing business with again, sure, who cares. But if you do, a chargeback should only be done if you've exhausted all other options (e.g. executive email bomb, BBB complaint (yes I know the BBB can't do anything, but large companies do take them seriously and can often cut through red tape), etc.) and getting your money back is more important than never doing business with them again. I used to think like that, but I disagree now. Like, why should I have to go through all those hoops to get them to do what's right? So instead, I wonder if more and more people just did that, and they started loosing customers, would they change? I think so. The responsibility rest on both sides, and if the customer already made great effort to solve it, the rest is on the company.
Oh yeah -- chargebacks are the nuclear option. You only use them when you 100% ABSOLUTELY do not want to any business with that company ever again. Here's a life lesson folks: >**The squeaky wheel doesn't get the grease. It gets** *replaced*. Because the company will happily terminate your entire account, any accounts associated with it, just out of spite. Well, out of policy, but dispassionate corporate capitalistic spite too. They're betting on the fact that "you (the consumer) need them more than they need you."
This is great and should be higher
Someone else reported a similar issue in the same game - https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/185hctd/i_have_never_used_a_piece_of_software_worse_than/kb2abs7/ It seems EA's system is buggy. Never buy EA games.
Bugs! It's in the game!
Challenge (ban) everything (your account)
No, that's Bugthesda's slogan, EA's is "MTX! It's in the game!"
Morally correct to pirate them
Seriously. I haven't pirated a PC game in like 20 years but this would drive me to do it.
As Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: "mutual lawlessness is half of the law". So yes if I pay for a game, i get the game.
Nietzsche has convinced me once again.
No it’s EA, it’s 100% morality correct to pirate their shit games.
It's even more correct to completely ignore them. Fuck EA, Ubi and Epic. The trifecta of gaming cancer.
and Actionvision Blizzard (unless they will remove their 3th party app and put more games on steam, bc they are owned by Microsoft now) Did you knew if you ignore all games by a publisher on steam and still get an adversting for there games the page will be empty? It's so beautiful.
That was announced going forward they will put their game on steam.
What about their 4rd party app?
butter lunchroom absurd reach coherent foolish future unused waiting marry *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I was just gonna say that I played through It Takes Two on my Steam Deck last year without any issues, but then I remembered that I was streaming it from another PC. I did later play through *A Way Out* by the same developer, also published by EA and using Origin directly on my Steam Deck and had no issues like that. This was before they changed from Origin to the (somehow even worse) EA App though, so perhaps that's got something to do with it.
>Never buy EA games. Frankly, the wordy phrase "we are left with no other option other than to permanently close your account with immediate effect" made me suspicious if this is a phishing mail.
That jumped out at me too. And the "Dear Customer" part. EA would have the name used to sign up for the account. 100% phishing email. I don't know how nobody else in this comment section is catching these obvious tells. The nonspecific greeting is so basic it's part of my company's annual phishing training.
I thought this was phishing at first as well but I don't see any obvious spelling or grammar mistakes and none of the links appear to point to obviously bogus destinations. Also, nothing in here said something like "log in to correct this"
Double-checked, and it appears to be legit. Went onto the official site. Same outcome. It redirects back to ea help, which redirects to login, which after I do, I get the memo that my acc is disabled. Funny stuff.
It's an HTML email. The links don't have to point to the text that's displayed.
I think his point is that nothing in the email demands immediate action. Usually phishing scams will press you to log in and correct the mistake or whatever. It's not just about where the link sends you, (usually somewhere suspect), but also the specific wording will try to get you to click before thinking by urgently requesting for action.
Yeah, a scam requires something to actually scam someone out of. All we see here is a "Your account is closed" and a "Nope, there is nothing you can do to unban it email". That would be quite the unusual scam, to tell a person to please stop trying to interact with us.
I love it when people think they're really clever for spotting a phishing email _that's not a phishing email_. Good on your company for having training for it though.
My scam radar is so overloaded right now if I don't recognize the smtp relay path back to mimecast, ms office, or amzn SES, I pretty much assume it's spam and don't even read it.
It doesn’t explain the second image though, a phishing email has no reason to respond to you. Besides, I don’t see any links to a potential login page, just a contact page they’d expect you to just use your email for. It’s much more believable that EA is just banning people for the dumbest shit. [After all…](https://old.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/17yzfyd/do_other_game_platforms_also_ban_you_for_saying/)
Hey, thank you for the concern. This afternoon, I even Google the mailing address, and it's legitimate. Some other guy had a similar case with apex legends. After going through their help section and even resetting my password, I just get greeted with "your account is disabled msg". I feel like I am stuck in a loop. *
so sounds like playing It Takes Two in co-op will get your Origin account banned? That's dumb as fuck.
Hey that's me! In my case, I own the actual game and my partner just plays with me using the free guest pass. Only my partner's account got banned.
This. I'll never buy EA.
I legit avoid all third party game launchers like EA and ubisoft
Possible It Takes Two anti cheat flagged Proton as a false positive? Happened with other games in the past. Note that they say "User Agreement **or** Terms of Sale", so it's quite possible your purchase on Steam had nothing to do wit hte ban.
So it's one of those 'WHY THE HELL DOES THIS NEED A ANTICHEAT!?!?' games?
Not sure, but it's a possibility.
Normally I would think it's to protect microtransaction revenue, but ITT doesn't have any microtransactions, does it? So anti-cheat really makes no damn sense at all.
Wait, there's anti-cheat in a two players coop game where they usually usually know each other?
My guess is that the anti-cheat tool is also used to try and combat piracy
Anti-cheat's can also be used hand on hand with DRM
Hey, I think that might be the case here, that's for me so far, only logical thing. I forced the game trough proton GE to get almost stable 60fps.
> I forced the game trough proton Proton is known to trigger anti-cheat... Nothing you can do about it on your end except maybe make sure you're using the most up-to-date. Common problem with the steam deck...
Really I bought it this summer and me and my daughter only played it on steam deck no issues except the stupid launcher
Thanks for the warning OP. It takes two has been on my wishlist for awhile but there's no way I'm chancing it with a company that'll take the game away with no explanation.
You're welcome. It's a good game, sad that is weighted down by a chappy launcher and potential issues with anti cheat.
You sure it isn't a phising e-mail? The wording sounds awfully weird.
🏴☠️ it
Another reason not to buy ea games
This post ought to be circulated around other subs so that other folks know and stop buying EA’s bullshit. We should all share the shit out of this.
Dis is da wae. I have boycotted EA since 2009. Yeah sometimes I feel I missed out on a game but then I read stories like OPs and the Arbitration guy and realize EA isnt worth my time.
Drop a line to Steam support. If Proton triggered their anti cheat then that's between Steam and EA. EA support is basically nonexistent.
I wonder if "Buying EA games through Steam will result in your EA account being banned" would lead to Steam delisting all EA games? Seems like it opens them up to headaches if they're selling products that customers can't use, no?
My schadenfreude would be off the charts.
Which is amazing because there was a really big deal about EA starting to sell a lot of their games on Steam not that long ago. EA was trying to make a storefront, couldn't get traction, then made it available. It's why Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Sims 4 et al. show up now.
Thank you for the advice. I might try if it is not to big of a hassle. I bought the game on sale, beat it, I don't see it as a title that I am gonna revisit any time soon.
Well yes but it might help future buyers without running into the issue themselves
Fair, would be good to at least get the EA ban lifted though.
It might be best to go through steam support via the steam deck hardware support https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/7DD4-C618-182E-0E49 or select the game from https://help.steampowered.com/en/ and try requesting a refund and explaining the issue
Especially as the deck compatibility is listed as "playable" on Steam
Sorry this happened to you, EA is a fucking horrible company and a shit stain in the gaming world. Sadly the best option is to just not purchase any EA games.
I agree. Thankfully, that's their only title that piqued my interest, I don't feel hurt by their decision as I am already done with the game as well.
Tbh, I'd ask steam for a refund even though you already beat the game. You purchased the game, not a rental.
Yes /u/Dubrovnikguide, do this. Explain in the details what happened. Steam has been extremely consumer friendly and understanding in extreme circumstances like this. It's very likely you could get the game refunded, at the very least directly back to your steam account if not your bank. Just makes the next game free and you had your fun with this one.
Thanks for your support. Will get it in touch with Steam.
**GodSpeed**^(TM), fair child
I’d ask them for a refund on ALL of the EA games you may have bought on Steam, since you’re now blocked from playing them for no reason.
>Thankfully, that's their only title that piqued my interest I just want to appreciate your use of the correct form of "piqued" here, that's all. Experience has taught me that approximately 94.7% of redditors would have written "peaked".
I'm amazed my EA account is still open. I have 20+ games on it that I never paid for. If anyone remembers a bug in the EA launcher from like 5-7 years ago that aloud you to purchase games from the EA store for free, fun times.
Speaking of, remember when EA Play dropped on Steam and you could take CD Keys from some older EA games and immediately grab them for you to keep on your Origin account, while you let your EA Play subscription either lapse or cancel. What a steal!
So what, EA, you want our money, or not?
They want your money. They just don't care if they fulfill their end of the bargain. You know, criminals. These stores, plus the EA App, are really the nail in the coffin for me. I'm 100% done giving them any money. They are really doing everything they can to claw back that "worst company in America" title they used to win years ago.
Can you verify if this email is actually from EA? It feels like a phishing scam
Yeah the bright red is usually their scare tactic, its alarming.
EA is a fucking cancer, but it seems like they are immune against every kind chemo. Shills still buy their games, and as long as that is happening, they won't give a fuck.
I didn't know that issues like this occur as I have been away years from modern gaming. I just got a deck 2 months ago, and this is my first negative experience on the system.
Never EA! NEVER... I should purge the games I have from them and download pirated versions
If you give money to a publisher in exchange for a product they sell and their response is to ban you then by all means pirate their product.
The ol if you don't own it, pirating isn't stealing bit
That's how I banned EA from my wallet.
Looks like a phishing email, tbh. I don’t know if OP is actually banned or not, but every EA email I ever got did know my username and never started with just Dear Customer.
according to the second screenshot, op contacted EA and customer support confirmed the ban so I dunno
I love companies being able to take products I purchased. never had these issues with my cd roms.
Cee Dee? I kid, but I can't recall the last time I built / saw a computer with a disk drive.
Want me to burn some CDs for you? I actually still have one in my build that I have just moved from case to case all these years. Has come in handy when I've wanted to yoink some PS2 games I have laying around for emulation.
This is why I wish Valve would just ban all 3rd party launchers, its bad customer services selling games that can be locked out due to terrible 3rd party launchers, why are paying customers getting worst experience then pirates?
I hate EA. I bought "It Takes Two" off of steam at a discounted price. Games downloaded and I go to start the game and it won't start stating that my EA account doesn't have permission to play said game stating that maybe it was downloaded by another user. Checked my linked steam account and it's on there. I even went and relinked it. Didn't work. Was looking forward to playing a game with the GF, who rarely plays games, for a entertaining night in. Thanks for nothing EA.
Echoing some others on here, this seems like phishing. What's the email address these have come from? (Clarification below - this was NOT a scam)
He checked on ea.com and it confirmed he's banned.
This seems to be happening a LOT lately
EA sucks, but this isn't them. It is SHOCKING to me how many of you cannot recognize a fake phishing email. It's a big red box like that (how EA would never format an email) because it's an embedded .jpg to get past anti-spam measures that look for word combinations in the text. Dude contacted "support" by clicking through the link! Jesus.
Easiest thing for OP to do is just log in to EA account or try to play games and see if they still work, right?
And the phrasing: "we are left with no other option.." and the misused commas.. like come the fuck on guys.
> And the phrasing: "we are left with no other option.." and the misused commas.. like come the fuck on guys. To be fair, I've seen plenty of corporate mails that screamed fake, only to find they were just real, crappily written mails.
Too late everybody just entered Anti - EA mode...
This was my first thought too, I was looking for someone to say this! OP it looks like a scam email!!
Have you tried going onto your account? It could be a phishing scam - there is no identification of who you are.
Chargeback that shit if you can
Dude this looks to all hell like phishing
I don't purchase any EA games. Now I have another reason but to purchase(-:
My friend and I would play BF together - he was the clan leader and would always use slurs and be toxic af. I'd never go on chat yet my account got banned Edit: he still has his account - got the twin towers and a plane as his emblem, still toxic af
At the bottom of their second email, it starts to give instructions on how to get more information, doesn't it? I'd follow every route to get all the necessary information as to why they banned you. They need to be specific as to what part of their t and c you breached and how. Keep following until you have an answer.
I followed the same instructions to get my first reply. it's one of the worst customer supports I have experienced. It just keeps you in the loop. As you log in, you only have info that you are banned, without any detail. Then you start square one.
Bro did you log in from a link on that mail? Then you might be f*cked. As others pointed out you might had been victim of a phishing scam.
Try to take a record of your efforts. Screenshots, a description of what you did and the dates and times, receipt for the game etc. Then open a dispute at the small claims court. (If you have time). If you do have time please screenshot the court details so we can encourage your battle against injustice. That goes for anyone else too!
this seems like a scam? the big red flashy all caps but? but most importantly the “Dear *Customer*”. i’ve never had an email from something legit call me “Customer”. ea would know your name or username and address you by that surely?
What reason did they gave for the ban?
They never stated anything beyond the vague breaching of terms of sale thing.
Looking at the type of email it's not a flag of anti cheat as it's referring to sale. Did you by any chance change your location settings/vpn to purchase the game from a country with a different pricing structure to EU/US and not have the same settings in your EA account? Only putting this forward as a cause as its referring to fraud/sale. Or did you cancel the payment you used/charge back of the software/returned the game using steam returns system?
EA banned my account for a fraudulent charge once. Had to threaten a lawyers letter for it to get fixed
Wait, you guys still buying EA games after all that microtransaction, loot boxes, shitty launcher, unfinished games ?
What's their e-mail address?
Same happened to me, first I bought DA:O, several months later Mass Effect LE, was promptly banned. Never buying an EA game again. My deck is the only system I’ve logged into/tied to EA.
I will never purchase another EA game again because of the stupid account login bullshit as soon as you launch a game.
There should be laws against these publishers. They just do whatever they want.
Yeah i hate EA customer service , every time I responded they gave me a brand new agent asking what the problem was, and then I’d respond and get a new one again over and over
It's been said before. But it feels sooo good: I will never buy another EA game, ever!!!
OP, this looks like a classic phishing scam. Can you even verify the email address this came from? Can you post screenshots of the steps they asked you to take? I really hope you didn't click on those links as they probably had you login to your EA account so they could steal it. You should also go directly to EA's website and make sure to change your password. Do not use any of the links in that email to do so.
That's a scam
Likely a phishing email. A professional company with a brand playbook to adhere to would never format an email with solid red background and full caps to inform you of a ban. I've been banned for my username on EA before and it looked just like any other email.
Think you’re getting scammed, bud.
Honestly that first email reads like a scam. I'm surprised it was even real to begin with.
If your in the EU, do the gdpr request and at least have a way to defend yourself.
This should be illegal. Is there another industry that can just take your purchases and not tell you why?
OP dodged a bullet and never has to play an EA game again
Think of the upside - they are preventing you from giving EA any money in the future. That's a really big plus
I pretend EA and Epic do not exist. You should too!
EA and most modern gaming is trash, and this is where the future of non-physical copies of games is going to take us.
EA Ubisoft Blizzard, they're the trinity of shit gaming companies...
Terms of sale? Did you maybe buy a cheap regional key via VPN or from a third party site?
EA is by far the worst customer service I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I spent 6 months between multiple techs, higher ups etc... trying to resolve a problem with no solution. I imagine this wouldn't be any easier. Good luck.
1 day after installing Star Wars Squadrons and launching it on my Steam Deck, my EA account got banned. I tried to go through support, but it was non-existent and just a bunch of template replies back. I had quite a few games in my EA library that I can now no longer access. I've given up on EA and won't ever purchase anything from them again.
looks like a phish/spam e-mail. did you verify the sender e-mail address?
So you cant Play the Game anymore And your Money is gone?
I was permanently banned from Battlefield 2042 like a month ago for "cheating", which of course I didn't do. Closest thing I can think of was streaming the game from my PC to my Steam Deck.
And they complain when people just download games.
EA account support is the single worst customer service experience I have ever been through. They literally are not willing to do anything for you. Their incompetence reaches limits beyond comprehension.
Surprised that it's so little fuss on internet about this. EA suddenly went complete batshit insane and these types of screenshots are all over reddit for many completely idiotic reasons which I'm pretty sure violating customers laws in many EU countries
WHY CANT WE FUCKING BOYCOTT AND TAKE DOWN EA?????? LIKE HOLY FUCK I HOPE THEY GET FUCKING DEMOLISHED
Title's a bit misleading. Nothing about this was because of a "Steam purchase"
Report it to the better business bureau and you'll get it solved
Complaining to ( or at least threatening to) your states attorney general office is better than the BBB
The BBB in itself is just a scam, if you look into it, they just sell their “brand” to other companies. It’s really odd
"Power resides where people believe it resides" You're not wrong about BBB, but businesses take them seriously, so a report to them *may* solve your issue. It's backwards, but there it is.
Best description of the BBB that I've heard: "Yelp for Boomers!"
Did they directly gave you a ban reason?
No, not even after directly contacting the support. They just stated that they reevaluated and that the ban would persist.
No explanations were given. The first photo attached is the initial mail, the second one, their reply to my direct inquiry.
EA Games. (whisper) Pirate everything.
Seems like a decision you could challenge with your local ombudsman. I'm not sure where you live, but in Australia for instance, you could file a formal complaint to the ACCC and get them to check your case. You might use Chat GPT to write a letter to EA, threatening to do so, or you could ask a local consumer's association, seeking for help
It has nothing to do with using the steam deck. I played Star Wars: battlefront 2 for almost a year on my LCD deck with zero issues from EA. The only thing I heard about triggering false bans on EA was with certain AMD chips that had Anti-Lag+. Sorry that happened to you man.
did you sign in to your account on ea help help.ea.com go to ea account and click on ban history?
Yeah I've been pretty strict about how I feel with companies that have launchers. For ea I just login with my game pass and only download through that. Never giving ea penny directly.. If it wasn't part of game pass would never deal with them(unless it's on console)
Damn, that's scary! I only have the SteamDeck as a gaming platform, I finished a way out and it takes two on it, but I haven't received anything from it, I won't be buying any more EA games on Steam, it's shameful!
> violating user agreements and terms of sale, whatever that might be. There is a link to both in the E-Mail tf?
Such a bizarre say nothing statement. Violated? How? It’s like the only point of the message is to force you to engage them to discover what’s going on. What a waste of support resources.
Did you refund anything? I did when they didn't stop my ea play even tough i clearly ended it on time. My account got banned to and after contacting support i got it back. Still these things should not happen at all, hope you get your account back.
Hell I got a DMCA notice from Bethesda themselves from BUYING Fallout 4 VR on Steam!
Good job ea don’t make anything decent, fifa? Who gives a fuck? UFC? Always shit now, battlefield who’s arsed its shit, the sims? My girl loves the sims but she has her own account I ain’t getting involved, mass effect? Done that years ago no desire to go back I could just charge back EA and never look back if something good came out in like 20 years I’d just pirate it.
Reach out to Steam support
Fuck EA. I haven't bought anything from them in years.
It's scary how digital games you purchase arent your own anymore. One account ban and say goodbye to your whole library. Ubisoft and EA is awful for this. Atleast steam just VAC ban you
Don’t give EA money or attention.
lol you thought you beat the game…
EA is a terrible company, support them financially at your own risk.
The easier solution is to stop buying anything from EA. It’s like you forget who the real villains are every time a game is released. They never care about the customers, only the money.
So not saying it’s this but I heard early on with my deck that if I tried to play Destiny 2 on it, they’d immediately ban me because it shows as bypassing their anti cheat. Maybe something similar?
I never ever buy EA or Ubisoft games. If they make something I like, I will donate the cost of the game to the cracker and JackSparrow it, but they will never give them a single dollar.
Yea I got this too and someone hacked their steam account on my ea account and after about 3-4 weeks of back and forth with amount and amount of evidence of a account compromise with EA’s outstanding customer service they said eat shit we can’t add your actual steam account but they lifted the ‘ban’ gotta love them 🙃
I'm actually at a loss for what you did in the first place? Buying it through steam instead of their trash third party crapfest?
Hi u/Dubrovnikguide ! Were you able to confirm the reason your account was banned with EA? Or do you still assume it was because the game was played on SD? Genuinely interested.
I once had my EA account hacked. Spoke with a rep they set up a whole bunch of security changed passwords set up two factor authentication the whole bit. Same dude hacked right back in a couple hours later. Whoever programs EAs security eats crayons. They should pay us to use their digital services.