League of Legends players in Iran and Syria will need to fire up their VPNs. Riot Games’ popular battle arena title has been blocked in those regions by the U.S. due to escalating tensions between it and Iran, which recently took out one of our $176 million drones.
The ban has to do with League of Legends’ reliance on microtransactions. Dot Esports believes the loss of games could become a regular thing during future conflicts.
The sanctions placed on Iran detail that any business in that country can’t trade with the U.S. and that any business caught trading with Iran is in trouble as well. League, like many other free games, has to sustain itself with microtransactions, which undoubtedly counts as a form of trade and therefore has to abide by the sanctions.