Phantasy Star Online 2 now playable in the West without workaround

Wow, this year has certainly been filled with a lot of great surprises; Final Fantasy 7 remake, Shenmue 3, and now Phantasy Star Online 2. Now to be fair, players in the US were actually able to play the game before, however the game's publisher in Asia had your IP blocked if it originated from the US or Europe, which meant a workaround was necessary to play it, as well as an English patch.

It looks like the publisher AsiaSoft has officially removed the IP block and is offering the download, complete with localized text from the game's official website. Now keep in mind, this is still very much the South East Asia version of the game with localization that probably isn't completely perfect. So expect to find some odd translations here and there. However, given that fans have been waiting to officially play the game here in the West since 2012, a slightly shoddy localization can be forgiven.

The game is completely free-to-play so even if you're casually interested, you can give it a shot risk-free.

Phantasy Star Online 2 is a SEGA title however the IP block removal comes strictly from the game's publisher, AsiaSoft, which could be the main reason why there was no official announcement made.

[rice digital]