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[RurouniZel]

This question has been bothering me in recent years, and I can't seem to find a sufficient explanation for it. Why does region-locking still exist? I mean, what exactly does it prevent? I'll tell you what it doesn't prevent; hacking.

Seriously this has always been the one of the most prominent justifications for hackers hacking a system and instructing others in how to do so; to play games from other regions they can't play in their own. Region-locking doesn't necessarily make the system more secure; hell the PS3 lasted the longest of all the platforms before being hacked, and it's not region-locked for games (movies yes, games no). And with piracy being more prevalent and easier than ever to accomplish, the last thing hardware makers need is to give hackers a perfect excuse to do so. Does Nintendo really want hackers to find a way to let gamers play imports on their 3DS, which would ultimately lead to a method to play pirated games? Now, that doesn't mean that region-free systems are never hacked (see DS and PSP), but region-locking doesn't seem to make anything more secure, so why bother?

Are they really afraid of Americans importing from Japan first? That's not a very big market of people to be honest; probably 20,000 at best. Same in reverse, I can't imagine there's more than say, 20,000 people in the east who would import the game from the states or Europe. I just don't really get it.

Why is this still so bloody prominent?

 

[Aeana]

Reasoning for region locking generally includes concern over rating systems being different across regions, and over lost sales to other regions. I think it's all pretty dumb, personally.

 

[LQX]

If another company is taking a chance bringing over a game the original publisher won't I would think they would want all that money going to them.

 

[Lard]

Money and arrogance from companies that think they should have the right to tell you what you can and can't play.

 

[StuBurns]

There are lots of reasons, but the UK and Australia should be in the same region as the US now. PAL isn't an issue anymore. Stop making us wait for shit.

 

[Easy_D]

If another company is taking a chance bringing over a game the original publisher won't I would think they would want all that money going to them.

No one would have to take that chance if region blocking didn't exist to begin with.

 

[Deleted member 81567]

 

[Durante]

Because corporations like to enjoy the advantages of globalization while denying their customers the same benefits.

 

[Boogiepop]

Game companies continue to overestimate the percentage of consumers that import, much less import things that actually have a chance of coming to the region officially. Yes, it is stupid.

 

[Zoe]

Licensing and ratings boards.

 

[Deacan]

Because corporations like to enjoy the advantages of globalization while denying their customers the same benefits.

Could not of said it better

 

[Enkidu]

There are lots of reasons, but the UK and Australia should be in the same region as the US now. PAL isn't an issue anymore. Stop making us wait for shit.

Screw that, cheap games from the UK is great (I mainly buy PC games though so I don't really care about regions).

 

[Scalemail Ted]

The same reason its always existed...

regional licensing vs international licensing

 

[ACESmkII]

It really bothers me that Nintendo has started doing this with their portable systems.

 

[LQX]

No one would have to take that chance if region blocking didn't exist to begin with.

But not all games are made already translated. The secondary publisher might be the one paying the cost for translating and bug fixes for another another region.

 

[H_Prestige]

So glad Sony got rid of this shit after the ps2.

 

[Durante]

Licensing and ratings boards.

The "ratings boards" excuse is clearly debunked by PC, PS3 and the countless region-free portables.

 

[Jarmel]

Why would they care about the rating boards? It's not like they buy games. Licensing seems to be the major issue. I fucking hate region locks.

 

[surly]

Region locking is up to the publisher on the Xbox 360 and I can understand why some releases are region locked, but not others. There's Japanese shmups that are never going to get a release outside of the NTSC-J territory that I can never play and the devs/pubs will never see any of my cash either. Makes no sense to me, cos everyone loses.

 

[Dark Schala]

Ratings across different regions is part of it, I guess. But I don't think companies want their regional divisions to lose money because consumers are importing the game from other territories, leading to lost sales to their home regional division. So, basically "money".

I think it's stupid, personally. Thank goodness the PSP, DS and PS3 are region-free. It sucks that the 3DS and Wii are not, however.

 

[Why would you do that?]

It really bothers me that Nintendo has started doing this with their portable systems.

Yeah, Nintendo started doing that because of the parental controls and ratings across regions. I don't agree with it, but considering games like Dead or Alive are rated very differently between regions (and could actually be illegal in some countries) I understand.

 

[Vinci]

Because corporations like to enjoy the advantages of globalization while denying their customers the same benefits.

Ding-ding!

 

[Durante]

Yeah, Nintendo started doing that because of the parental controls and ratings across regions.

No they did not. That's an excuse. Ratings didn't suddenly start diverging.

 

[Suzzopher]

I'm surprised Sony are going region free on the Vita. I thought for sure, they'd go with region locking.

What annoys me most is, Microsoft have a region free system and yet not all the games are region free!!

 

[Grampa Simpson]

If Nintendo sells the Wii with Mario Kart for $150 in the US (150 US dollars = 12009.0000 Japanese yen) and in Japan sells it for 20,000 Yen (Amazon.co.jp list price - no pack-in title), do you think it's in their best interest to make it unpalatable for the Japanese to import it from the US?

 

[RurouniZel]

It really bothers me that Nintendo has started doing this with their portable systems.

Same here. Part of the reason this doesn't make sense to me at all. Region-free never hurt the GB, GBC, GBA, or DS, why suddenly with the 3DS they need a lock all of a sudden?

 

[low-G]

To curb the spread of Gal Gun.

 

[Negator]

Because the world sucks and people are full of shit.

 

[dejay]

Game publishers have arrangements with distributors in other countries. These distributors may be a different part of the same company or they may be a third party. The distributors need to make a profit to justify their existence, even if they're part of the same organisation - the money men like to segment of parts of the company and prefer if as many parts of the organisation are showing a profit. This means the distributor generally buys from the supplier and then sell on to the shops, with both the supplier and distributor needing to show a profit.

The idea of region locking is there partly to protect the distributors from grey imports. In the age of the internet and cheap international direct shipping (FedEx, etc) - grey imports are a major source of lost revenue for local distributors, or at least that's what they'll have us believe. Sony no doubt see this as an outdated model and feel that a profit is a profit, no matter where their software is sold and also believe that they'll sell more overall if their model isn't as restrictive as MS or Nintendo.

Interestingly in Australia it's legal to hack hardware if it allows you to play imported games - so if a mod chip allows you to play imported games, and also play copied games as a side consequence, it's fine to mod in the eyes of the court and the companies can't do anything about it legally.

 

[whalleywhat]

Because corporations like to enjoy the advantages of globalization while denying their customers the same benefits.

Ooh, well said.

Because the world sucks and people are full of shit.

Ditto.

 

[A Human Becoming]

If Nintendo sells the Wii with Mario Kart for $150 in the US (150 US dollars = 12009.0000 Japanese yen) and in Japan sells it for 20,000 Yen (Amazon.co.jp list price - no pack-in title), do you think it's in their best interest to make it unpalatable for the Japanese to import it from the US?

Even with modern global distribution the prevalence of that would be minuscule.

 

[RurouniZel]

If Nintendo sells the Wii with Mario Kart for $150 in the US (150 US dollars = 12009.0000 Japanese yen) and in Japan sells it for 20,000 Yen (Amazon.co.jp list price - no pack-in title), do you think it's in their best interest to make it unpalatable for the Japanese to import it from the US?

Except that doesn't take import fees and shipping into account, which (usually) brings it right back up. I can argue the same with the PSP, which is $129.99 in the states (10,407 yen), but 16,480 Yen in Japan; this system is already region-free and would cost a lot less to ship than a Wii. Doesn't seem to effect Japanese PSP sales in any meaningful way.

 

[Utako]

Price fixing.

It's usually illegal... but hey, it's just videogames, right?!?

 

[Massa]

Yeah, Nintendo started doing that because of the parental controls and ratings across regions. I don't agree with it, but considering games like Dead or Alive are rated very differently between regions (and could actually be illegal in some countries) I understand.

That is a very poor excuse, not to say complete bullshit.

If they're worried about parental controls with different ratings just treat different region games with the worst possible rating, so that regardless of the ratings for Nintendogs in America (for example) you couldn't play it on a EU system with parental controls on.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

Except that doesn't take import fees and shipping into account, which (usually) brings it right back up. I can argue the same with the PSP, which is $129.99 in the states (10,407 yen), but 16,480 Yen in Japan; this system is already region-free and would cost a lot less to ship than a Wii. Doesn't seem to effect Japanese PSP sales in any meaningful way.

Apologies if I came off as arguing that it was a good tactic, but I've seen it a lot before. When I was a horrible otaku, I remember hearing from US anime distributors at conventions that the reason that they were releasing two episodes a tape for $30 a tape was that the Japanese rights owners were afraid of reverse importing. There are other examples, but that one's the easiest.

 

[luka]

Could not of said it better

 

[Why would you do that?]

No they did not. That's an excuse. Ratings didn't suddenly start diverging.

Well, the only portable systems Nintendo put the region lock on are the ones with parental controls...

And no, the ratings don't normally diverge, but there are a few games with different ratings or other changes between regions. Like DOA for instance. If someone were to import the Japanese game (which has 16 year olds) into, say, Australia, it could cause problems that Nintendo won't want to deal with.

Not that I agree with the decision to region lock because of that, but I can see the rationale.

That is a very poor excuse, not to say complete bullshit.

If they're worried about parental controls with different ratings just treat different region games with the worst possible rating, so that regardless of the ratings for Nintendogs in America (for example) you couldn't play it on a EU system with parental controls on.

Yeah, I think that's the best solution, too. Most who import are not little kids anyway.

 

[RurouniZel]

Apologies if I came off as arguing that it was a good tactic, but I've seen it a lot before. When I was a horrible otaku, I remember hearing from US anime distributors at conventions that the reason that they were releasing two episodes a tape for $30 a tape was that the Japanese rights owners were afraid of reverse importing. There are other examples, but that one's the easiest.

I was a huge anime collector back in the day, so I do understand where you're coming from (I heard this all the time too!). It's just that, when you look at it logically, the percentage of people who would import a game are so small it wouldn't even make a dent; it's simply too inconvenient for the vast majority of people, so region-freeing the system wouldn't affect much but it would make the few who import happy and give hackers one less excuse to hack a system. In my opinion, anyway. ^^

 

[Version 3.0]

But not all games are made already translated. The secondary publisher might be the one paying the cost for translating and bug fixes for another another region.

In that case, they'd still reap the benefits, because very few people in, for example, North America would import a game that's fully in Japanese.

 

[wrowa]

There are lots of reasons, but the UK and Australia should be in the same region as the US now. PAL isn't an issue anymore. Stop making us wait for shit.

Your idea sounds like a distribution nightmare.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

I was a huge anime collector back in the day, so I do understand where you're coming from (I heard this all the time too!). It's just that, when you look at it logically, the percentage of people who would import a game are so small it wouldn't even make a dent; it's simply too inconvenient for the vast majority of people, so region-freeing the system wouldn't affect much but it would make the few who import happy and give hackers one less excuse to hack a system. In my opinion, anyway. ^^

Why do companies insist on DRM that punishes those that purchased the software more than those who pirated it? Same goes for DVD regions. We have 7 of them. One of my handles is on record on some site arguing that it is stupid too for exactly those reasons.

It's usually some asshole up at the top who's making the decision based on their gut who doesn't truly understand the problem. Knowing that is what I get for being corporate scum for the last decade or so.

 

[BKK]

It really bothers me that Nintendo has started doing this with their portable systems.

Well Nintendo are also the ones who started it with home consoles too back with the NES. Sega's first console the SG-1000 was actually region free, unfortunately they followed Nintendo by introducing region lockout with the Master System. I guess with Nintendo's dominant position other manufacturers had to accommodate publisher's demands to also impose region locking or risk losing publisher support.

Fortunately Sony and to a lesser extent Microsoft have moved away from region locking now, leaving Nintendo to continue this outdated practice alone.

 

[dejay]

Except that doesn't take import fees and shipping into account, which (usually) brings it right back up. I can argue the same with the PSP, which is $129.99 in the states (10,407 yen), but 16,480 Yen in Japan; this system is already region-free and would cost a lot less to ship than a Wii. Doesn't seem to effect Japanese PSP sales in any meaningful way.

Not in my country (Australia). I can get a game shipped here for free and on top of that we don't pay the usual 10% GST (sales tax) on imports under $1000. I can easily save $20-$40 on a lot of new release titles and at most I wait a week to do so, and often get it before local release.

I bought a Japanese PS3 fat before getting my slim - I didn't like it because the X and O buttons were used differently and the news ticker wasn't in English. Still, it saved me over $200 from memory.

A lot of people don't do it, but if it forces a better price point locally it's a good thing.

 

[rollingstart]

yeah, I don't understand why some have it and some don't.

PS3/PSP/PS Vita have none
Xbox 360 depends on software
Wii/3DS are fully region locked

I don't get it. I have more than a dozen imported DS games (a few are my favorites on the system) and I can think of at least one 3DS game I'd import (Gundam). It seems like a good thing to have.

 

[Deacan]

Excuse my bad grammar, still I really did enjoy the picture.

*couldn't have said it better*

 

[vocab]

Because Nintendo is retarded.

 

[Tempy]

I can understand EA region-locking major titles like FIFA, but I have no idea why Japanese developers of extremely niche titles which will never come out in the West, region-lock their games (xbox 360).

I've pretty much unlocked most of my consoles through mods (eg. NES, PCE) and adapters (eg. N64), and in some cases bought multiple consoles (eg. SNES, WII). Bit tedious to say the least.

 

[CadetMahoney]

pretty much.

 

[Corto]

Different publishers on different regions want to make some business. Regional dependencies of companies that localize the games and distribute them need to make a buck too.

 

[BKK]

Different publishers on different regions want to make some business. Regional dependencies of companies that localize the games and distribute them need to make a buck too.

You could also argue the opposite. I doubt that Atlus would have sold so many copies of Demon's Souls if it hadn't been for the great word of mouth from importers.