Phantasy Star Online 2 servers closed to international players

Phantasy Star Online 2 players outside Japan are out of luck; Sega of Japan has blocked international players.

The MMO is currently only offered for sale in Japan, but that hasn't stopped players importing and enjoying the game - until now.

Kotaku reports Sega has both updated its terms of service and implemented measures to keep international players out.

"Connecting to the game server through the installed software is restricted to domestically located computer terminals. It's prohibited to directly connect to the server from outside Japan as well as to route a connection from outside the country through domestic computer terminals."

The abrupt change in policy may be related to a hack last month, which is said to have been perpetrated by non-Japanese players.

Phantasy Star Online 2 had over 700,00 registered users at the end of last month. It's expected to release in the west during 2013, and the European and US versions will share servers.