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[ShogunDarius]

Think regional locks on movie streaming and other digital goods are silly? So does the European Commission. It's outlining a new strategy (the Digital Single Market) that would prevent companies from geo-blocking online services when it's not truly necessary. This kind of arbitrary limit "cannot exist" in a single European Union-wide digital marketplace, officials argue.
It's not clear what rules will be involved (you'll likely hear more about that when the full strategy is due in May), but the implication is that you wouldn't be forced to download or stream from a country-specific service. If you wanted to watch French Netflix from Germany, for example, you could.

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/29/eu-will-fight-digital-geo-blocking/


I wonder if this would eventually effect games, I assume that it would if this gets enforced

 

[Storm360]

Good.

Ideally we'd see region locking completely removed

 

[Madao]

hopefully this suceeds and is then brought to other continents.

region locking is one of the biggest bullshits to still be around. that crap should be illegal.

 

[CookTrain]

Hmm... so would that mean an end to region locking, or just one EU super-region that we all share between, but the wider world is still divvied up?

 

[southerncross]

if that's what it would take for arcsys to start publishing games on my country's PSN, so be it

 

[L33T]

 

[cyberheater]

I wonder if this would eventually effect games, I assume that it would if this gets enforced

I would love for Nintendo to be legally forced to abandon region restrictions.

 

[toythatkills]

I doubt this can end well for us, tbh.

In the case of Netflix, you'd have less choice because instead of just combining all the different countries catalogues, they'd remove everything that wasn't available across Europe already. So new releases that hit in Netherlands months before anywhere else will just not happen. Some obscure film which is only licensed in France will be deleted completely. Etc.

In the case of games, we'd all basically have the censored German marketplace.

 

[TheMoon]

Oh god, yes! We need this so badly! Geo-blocking is the worst thing. It makes no sense that I have to use a stupid proxy plugin to watch music videos on YouTube that everyone in the world can watch, for example.

 

[Lilalaunebaer]

benstillerdoit.gif

First the EU, and then the WORLD!

 

[Qurupeke]

About time.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

Hmm... so would that mean an end to region locking, or just one EU super-region that we all share between, but the wider world is still divvied up?

Going by the following line, it sounds like it just means across Europe, so for example there shouldn't be any locks in place preventing Germans from buying content from the UK (bypassing censored local versions).

This kind of arbitrary limit "cannot exist" in a single European Union-wide digital marketplace, officials argue.

 

[spekkeh]

Apparently the European media rights are a hot mess, or otherwise services like Netflix would already have been rolled out much sooner. If this means digital legislation get decoupled from existing legislation then that's probably a good idea (well, or not, given how existing consumer protection gets steamrolled because American media corps. have gotten too big and influential).

 

[Fdkn]

I don't think this would affect games very much because most of the region blocking is for whole continents or countries like russia that aren't part of the EU.

It's more aimed at the country based locking that TV channels make inside the EU for example

 

[Storm360]

I doubt this can end well for us, tbh.

In the case of Netflix, you'd have less choice because instead of just combining all the different countries catalogues, they'd remove everything that wasn't available across Europe already. So new releases that hit in Netherlands months before anywhere else will just not happen. Some obscure film which is only licensed in France will be deleted completely. Etc.

In the case of games, we'd all basically have the censored German marketplace.

Eh, Netflix is already easy enough to bypass any region locks on, and the Xbox Live marketplace is already set up this way, if I change my Xbox's region to US, I use that marketplace, even if im in somewhere like germany that's normally censored.

 

[Visualante2]

I have to imagine that publishers will simply turn their back on less well off European markets.

I don't think this would affect games very much because most of the region blocking is for whole continents or countries like russia that aren't part of the EU.

It's more aimed at the country based locking that TV channels make inside the EU for example

Wasn't Poland a source of cheap CD keys?

 

[Seanspeed]

I doubt this can end well for us, tbh.

In the case of Netflix, you'd have less choice because instead of just combining all the different countries catalogues, they'd remove everything that wasn't available across Europe already. So new releases that hit in Netherlands months before anywhere else will just not happen. Some obscure film which is only licensed in France will be deleted completely. Etc.

In the case of games, we'd all basically have the censored German marketplace.

Yea, this would be worrying.

 

[LonelyGreyWolf]

If you wanted to watch French Netflix from Germany, for example, you could.

Aren't there many issues with this? Licensing fees, copyright laws, server delay etc. Imo of course I think it would be good, but from a company's standpoint I can see why this would be problematic.

In terms of video games and download codes, I agree entirely.

 

[Rich!]

awww yeahh

glorious EU, the saviors of Nintendo's region locking hell

 

[Angel_DvA]

No region lock ?

Just Do It EU, then the World.

 

[Kinjo]

nice one EU ily

 

[Cheesemeister]

Screw region-locking.

 

[Khaz]

The NNID country lock on the European 3DS is the most ridiculous thing to have happened in recent gaming history. Hopefully this will make it go away.

 

[ShogunDarius]

I doubt this can end well for us, tbh.

In the case of Netflix, you'd have less choice because instead of just combining all the different countries catalogues, they'd remove everything that wasn't available across Europe already. So new releases that hit in Netherlands months before anywhere else will just not happen. Some obscure film which is only licensed in France will be deleted completely. Etc.

In the case of games, we'd all basically have the censored German marketplace.

this does have the potential to go either way but considering how consumer friendly the eu is, i'm not worried yet

 

[tryagainlater]

I doubt this can end well for us, tbh.

In the case of Netflix, you'd have less choice because instead of just combining all the different countries catalogues, they'd remove everything that wasn't available across Europe already. So new releases that hit in Netherlands months before anywhere else will just not happen. Some obscure film which is only licensed in France will be deleted completely. Etc.

In the case of games, we'd all basically have the censored German marketplace.

As right as you are, I feel people are going to ignore your comment.

 

[Durante]

I doubt this can end well for us, tbh.

In the case of Netflix, you'd have less choice because instead of just combining all the different countries catalogues, they'd remove everything that wasn't available across Europe already. So new releases that hit in Netherlands months before anywhere else will just not happen. Some obscure film which is only licensed in France will be deleted completely. Etc.

In the case of games, we'd all basically have the censored German marketplace.

If that happens, companies will see their sales dwindle and hopefully finally work out this mess.

If not, their loss.

 

[StayDead]

I love being in the EU. It looks like we're getting a refferendum in the UK to leave the EU. If people willingly vote to leave then my faith for the people in this stupid country will be completely gone. I don't have much left after recent events politically, but that would be the final straw.

The EU actually benefits normal people, our government couldn't give a damn.

 

[Kouriozan]

I can dig this, hopefully this'll lead to something,

 

[Chaos17]

No region lock ?

Just Do It EU, then the World.

This

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

good

 

[p0rl]

I doubt this can end well for us, tbh.

In the case of Netflix, you'd have less choice because instead of just combining all the different countries catalogues, they'd remove everything that wasn't available across Europe already. So new releases that hit in Netherlands months before anywhere else will just not happen. Some obscure film which is only licensed in France will be deleted completely. Etc.

In the case of games, we'd all basically have the censored German marketplace.

Perhaps that would fall under the following:

It's outlining a new strategy (the Digital Single Market) that would prevent companies from geo-blocking online services when it's not truly necessary.

If geo-blocking is necessary to confirm to a country's censorship/ratings laws, it would be acceptable, right?

 

[Nightbird]

Screw region-locking.

I knew you were going to be here hahaha


But yeah, region-locking is bullshit, and there's no reason for doing that

 

[TheMoon]

Eh, Netflix is already easy enough to bypass any region locks on, and the Xbox Live marketplace is already set up this way, if I change my Xbox's region to US, I use that marketplace, even if im in somewhere like germany that's normally censored.

My 360 was set to the UK, I was physically in Germany. I wanted to buy Dead Rising Case Zero which was not available in Germany because blabla violence blabla (the usual). My set-to-UK 360 would not let me buy it because it knew from my IP that I was in Germany.

 

[jiggles]

My fear with something like this is that anything banned in Germany gets banned region-wide digitally.

 

[oti]

As someone living in Germany: I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[TheMoon]

My fear with something like this is that anything banned in Germany gets banned region-wide digitally.

Yea no. That makes no sense.

 

[Kenzodielocke]

Only the UK Netfilx would give Netflix in germany so much more.

 

[Boogalogist]

Fuck region lock. Lead the way, EU.

 

[Dascu]

Gonna be hard to pull this off due to copyright and licensing contracts, different VAT regimes, different localizations, different censorship/child protection laws, etc.

 

[toythatkills]

Eh, Netflix is already easy enough to bypass any region locks on, and the Xbox Live marketplace is already set up this way, if I change my Xbox's region to US, I use that marketplace, even if im in somewhere like germany that's normally censored.

Yeah, Netflix is easy enough to bypass the region locks at the moment which is why they can get away with it being how it is, because those region locks are still technically there.

Imagine a Netflix with no region locks though. Instead of ten Netflixes around Europe, there's just one EU Netflix. Netflix still needs to license films in all ten regions, though, and so if they can only get a film in nine of them, it just can't appear on Netflix at all, whereas currently it would appear on those nine and if you're in the one it doesn't, you can just region-swap.

 

[666]

The world is one country, lets start treating it as such. Lets start with less wars and more humanitarian work first though dudes.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

Praying for the day that region locking in gaming is deader than disco. We've already made great strides these last couple of years.

 

[Storm360]

My 360 was set to the UK, I was physically in Germany. I wanted to buy Dead Rising Case Zero which was not available in Germany because blabla violence blabla (the usual). My set-to-UK 360 would not let me buy it because it knew from my IP that I was in Germany.

The 360 was different, for a start, there is no longer account regions on One, It just uses whatever your console is set to, my "UK" 360 account has purchases from not only the UK, but also America and Japan tied to it. I haven't tried any IP locked games though

Yeah, Netflix is easy enough to bypass the region locks at the moment which is why they can get away with it being how it is, because those region locks are still technically there.

Imagine a Netflix with no region locks though. Instead of ten Netflixes around Europe, there's just one EU Netflix. Netflix still needs to license films in all ten regions, though, and so if they can only get a film in nine of them, it just can't appear on Netflix at all, whereas currently it would appear on those nine and if you're in the one it doesn't, you can just region-swap.

I don't think this is saying get rid of individual netflix services for each country, just they can't say either "THIS IP/ACCOUNT IS FROM COUNTRY X, YOU CAN'T USE COUNTRY Y'S SERVICE"

 

[Teppic]

Seems to be just across Europe. Still good if they manage to enforce this.

 

[Lusankya]

Y
Imagine a Netflix with no region locks though. Instead of ten Netflixes around Europe, there's just one EU Netflix. Netflix still needs to license films in all ten regions, though, and so if they can only get a film in nine of them, it just can't appear on Netflix at all, whereas currently it would appear on those nine and if you're in the one it doesn't, you can just region-swap.

No, read the quote again:

It's outlining a new strategy (the Digital Single Market) that would prevent companies from geo-blocking online services when it's not truly necessary.

 

[Heartfyre]

I doubt this can end well for us, tbh.

In the case of Netflix, you'd have less choice because instead of just combining all the different countries catalogues, they'd remove everything that wasn't available across Europe already. So new releases that hit in Netherlands months before anywhere else will just not happen. Some obscure film which is only licensed in France will be deleted completely. Etc.

In the case of games, we'd all basically have the censored German marketplace.

It seems to be that that's what this regional limit is trying to lift? Rather than suppressing the continent with German law, it's to open up regional restrictions on, say, Italian programming in the UK. The problem would arise where Germany's censorship law would be incompatible with such content (containing Nazi imagery etc.), but that would be up to Germany to restrict within its own region, not for them to restrict across the continent.

Frankly, this outlook is deeply cynical and stands contrary to the reigning paradigm of European policy.

 

[RealityCheque]

Movie and TV studios love regional lockouts as it means individual deals for each geographic area = moar money!!!

I applaud anyone who trys to end this kind of bullshit, but I'm not confident it can be achieved against that kind of entrenched politics.

 

[faridmon]

So German censored games for everyone.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Imagine a Netflix with no region locks though. Instead of ten Netflixes around Europe, there's just one EU Netflix. Netflix still needs to license films in all ten regions, though, and so if they can only get a film in nine of them, it just can't appear on Netflix at all, whereas currently it would appear on those nine and if you're in the one it doesn't, you can just region-swap.

Isn't this going to make country-specific licenses illegal? So film companies are not even allowed to license content to one country only, there can only be an EU license.

 

[herod]

There is no way this means anything except within Europe.