Asheron's Call 2 blocks international billing

Microsoft has officially released Asheron's Call 2 in nine countries: the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, and the United Kingdom. However, those who purchased the game online and had it shipped to a country where the game hasn't been distributed yet have found that they can't log on. Unlike for Asheron's Call, Microsoft's billing system for Asheron's Call 2 requires that the credit cards tied to player accounts be issued in one of the nine officially supported countries.

Ken Karl, the game's live team program manager at Microsoft, has acknowledged that this has disappointed some who have already purchased the game, and said that the new billing requirement wasn't expected to have this result. He expects there'll soon be announcements of other countries that Microsoft will support for the game.