Man Prevented From Registering For Paragon Beta Due To Being On Watch List

Epic’s upcoming third-person-shooter/MOBA hybrid Paragon is currently accepting sign-ups for the game’s beta, but one man, Muhammad Zakir Khan, was prevented from registering for it. The reason, interestingly enough, was due to his name being on a list of “specially designated nationals” who, along with many others, are tracked due to possible criminal activity.

Mr. Khan was shocked when he received the message telling him he was blocked from registering, and immediately reached out to Epic Games through Twitter in an attempt to get an explanation. Tim Sweeney quickly responded, resulting in a long conversation thread where he explains the situation.


Apparently, This list, published by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, is part of a security filter used in the licensing process of the Unreal Engine itself and was never intended to be used for any consumer-level products. Sweeney also commented that they are working on getting this fixed and seeking a different method of blocking users.

To their credit, Epic did allow Khan to register and fixed their mistake, but as is usual with these things, the damage has already been done. Khan has already retweeted images of harassing emails he has received, and the story has made national news, which has already created a significant amount of outrage. Though some are quick to make it a religious or political issue, there is no evidence this is so. Unfortunately, it was an oversight by a company who was required to use the list in their licensing process and the list so happened to contain his name for whatever reason. Another Muslim gamer even commented that he had no such problem in creating an account.

That being said, apologies were given by both parties and other than Mr. Khan, no one has come forward about being blocked from registering for the beta.

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About

Carl is both a JRPG fan and a CRPG'er who especially loves European PC games. Even with more than three decades of gaming under his belt, he feels the best of the hobby is yet to come.


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