airmangataosenai
Member
Well guess that's one game I no longer need to buy. I usually buy American anyway but regressive business practices like this are unacceptable.
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Persona 4: Arena Region-Locked on PS3 - Confirmed [PR statement in OP]
- Thread starter Squire
- Start date
I won't believe this until it's confirmed by a 3rd party like play-asia, I think Atlus is not telling the truth here. feel pretty confident it will be region free
game. set. match.
I'm not defending the decision, but I think some of you are being excessive with the hate. We don't even know the official reasoning behind their decision.
Also, let's wait until we're sure this isn't a one-time thing before assuming that all of Atlus' games will be region locked from this point forward.
Also, let's wait until we're sure this isn't a one-time thing before assuming that all of Atlus' games will be region locked from this point forward.
Yeah, because they'll totally think that this game losing support has everything to do with people not caring about their translation of obscure games and not because of the region lock.
Seriously, just because they do something right doesn't mean they get to shit on our face for free. If people don't support this game and they don't do it again, people will go back to support them, it's that simple
I won't believe this until it's confirmed by a 3rd party like play-asia, I think Atlus is not telling the truth here. feel pretty confident it will be region free
Prepare for disappointment.
slaughterking
Member
No, let's bitch even more to make sure this IS a one-time thing.
Augemitbutter
Member
i will only believe sony or a proven store to confirm this.
Bomber Bob
Banned
How can it possibly be region locked?
Enforced by japanese laws?
Enforced by japanese laws?
Publishers can region-lock PS3 games if they want.
Ragingnight
Member
rofl immature much?
The game is already out in arcades in Japan though (and the biggest played fighting game). So its not like everybody will be off brand new going in at the same time. Also I can't help but feel the term metagame is being used inappropriately.
smh, so officially first PS3 region locked game after 6 years of it's release, shitty accomplishment from Atuls.
I'm not buying this game,and if P4G is also region locked I wont be buying that too.
Sure, but no one ever did it before Atlus, and just think about it, even shitty publishers like Capcom and EA didn't region locked any of their their games on PS3,Atlus should know that they are doing something really wrong if not even Capcom or EA have done it before.
If they do have a good reason for that, they should have said it right away. No reason to let people hate. When it was just a rumor ok, but after they confirmed it?
The blazblue games weren't region locked, so I can't see why they'd force it for this one.
Gentleman Jack
Member
That a European distributor forced this into a contract with Atlus is the only explanation that makes even a little bit of sense to me. I don't fully understand why Atlus would sign it, unless they're deaf to the constant howls of impatience from their European fans.
LiquidSolid
Member
You're the one being ridiculous, defending their anti-consumer bullshit.
The funny thing is that Atlus are one of the publishers that have benefited the most from the PS3 being region free. Importers are the reason why Demon's Souls was so hyped up and requested so much, which led to them localising it and it doing so well. And that's not even taking into account the Europeans that would've imported Catherine.
slaughterking
Member
Which European distributor even has enough leverage to enforce something like that? SquareEnix? Koch Media? Ghostlight? Wouldn't it make more sense to ensure a timely European release instead of being a dick like that? It's so bizarre.
Well, we're telling people in an attempt to be transparent (and an official statement that's not just "some guys on a message board said" is coming, though Aram being out of the office at EVO is delaying that somewhat). We don't want people to waste their money on a copy of the game they won't be able to play.
D
Deleted member 13876
Unconfirmed Member
The odds of bumping into a super experienced Japanese player around release day won't be as bad vs people still getting into the game. Around one month after what is normally a worldwide release that starts shifting a lot. Don't see how I misused the term metagame in this context, but if you'd care to enlighten me please go ahead.
Absolutely.
BlazingDarkness
Member
Why?
Edit: deleted that bit, don't want to come across as bitter or spiteful or anything, and not directing any snipes at you personally. I'm just annoyed at Atlus. Apologies.
Alas, I'm not spending any my money on this game full stop. Region lock is the primary reason. I think this is a bad move by Atlus, and I hope people in the company are hearing what we're saying.
well, there ya go. Double confirmed. Sorry miladesn.
Many games on PS3 have different publishers in Europe than in America or Japan it's normal, yet no one..absolutely no one has done it before.
Andrefpvs
Member
Let's not forget that some legitimate consumers are getting screwed over here as well!
PS3 was released and advertised from the beginning as a region-free console. This means some Europeans have a Japanese PS3 because PS3 was released later in Europe.
P4A being region-locked means that Europeans who imported a PS3 from a different region will not be able to play an European copy of the game.
PS3 was released and advertised from the beginning as a region-free console. This means some Europeans have a Japanese PS3 because PS3 was released later in Europe.
P4A being region-locked means that Europeans who imported a PS3 from a different region will not be able to play an European copy of the game.
That has to be the reason. ZEN were probably afraid that the large gap between releases would lead to a swarm of importers cannibalizing their own sales of what will probably be a fairly popular game.
Again, I'm not defending the decision, but I do think some people should wait for an official answer from ATLUS before boycotting them or feeling "betrayed" or whatever.
corporate cheerleader
Member
Thanks for being honest. Now, please tell us why. Did Zen United have an influence on the region lock?
Zeouterlimits
Member
Forced? I'm sure there were at least 3 publishers in the EU who Atlus could have gone with.
I'm sure Zen pressured them but for Atlus to agree to this they should have mandated a nigh simultaneous release contractually.
I don't see how Zen wanting the lock prevents Atlus from saying no and going else where or asking for a similar demand like a close release day.
So you're saying we're not a "major gaming site"? Ouch.
Hey, guess what? People make mistakes sometimes. I was honestly under the impression that the region locking stuff wasn't available from the start.
LiquidSolid
Member
The thing about that theory is, why on earth would Atlus bow to the whims of one of the weakest publishers in Europe? Unless Ghostlight and Rising Star Games have already passed on it, which I find very hard to believe.
StevePharma
Member
I imported Catherine because Atlus treats Europe like some red-headed stepchild.
That way I didn't have to wait 6-9 months between an inter-Western release, which is ridiculous.
Sorry Atlus but you lost some goodwill from me on this one. Don't try this with P4G please, I'd like to play that game in 2012 thank you very much.
That way I didn't have to wait 6-9 months between an inter-Western release, which is ridiculous.
Sorry Atlus but you lost some goodwill from me on this one. Don't try this with P4G please, I'd like to play that game in 2012 thank you very much.
ShockingAlberto
Member
I was planning on getting the 360 version, so this doesn't affect me personally, but I think we will be moving more toward things like this in the future rather than further away.
corporate cheerleader
Member
Rising Star and Zen are both trash. :/
Regardless, thanks for your information.
*Everyone, direct your anger towards this site: http://www.zen-united.biz/contact/
Ditto.
I'm not entirely disappointed at not playing Arena, since I'm not big on fighters anyway, but if this happened to P4G too... :/
I can't really talk about the reasons why, sorry. I'm only posting here to emphasize that this is not a lie on anyone's part and people shouldn't go buying the game from a different region under the assumption that this is a bluff.
Gaming companies arent your friends, the relationship between publisher and consumer is a purely financial one. Now certainly they can garner "goodwill" and enhance brand loyalty but they arent selling these games as a favour to us, theyre selling them at a profit as a business. As such whenever they make a business decision that people find unpopular they should be prepared to suffer the consequences.
The only thing thats ridiculous is the slavish unthinking loyalty displayed by consumers such as yourselves who are all too happy to acquiese to whatever bullshit publishers come out with.
This. I'd be really disappointed if Persona 4 Golden was locked. I really don't want to wait for someone to localise that. If it's anything like P3P, it'll be a 10 month wait.
BlazingDarkness
Member
Will P4G be region locked in the US also?
xxczx
Member
Europe publisher for P4A is pushing this hard to get it to sell, people importing because of the release distance will be money loss
Would you be mad that people now want this product to sell horribly / fail completely just to make sure this won't be remembered as being a good decision?
Sony's always advertised PS Vita games as being region free. If P4G wasn't then you'd probably have a very good case of false advertising & have the ability to return the product for a full refund. At least in Europe.
I find it baffling how you would want to be the trailblazer for being anti-consumer on the PS3.
Being the actual very first region locked retail release in the history of a console that has been out for 5 years 7 months and 24 days.
There are things you don't want to be first at. This is one of them.
My stance: Tit for tat. I won't be buying it and I will actively dissuade anyone that considers it.
Being the actual very first region locked retail release in the history of a console that has been out for 5 years 7 months and 24 days.
There are things you don't want to be first at. This is one of them.
My stance: Tit for tat. I won't be buying it and I will actively dissuade anyone that considers it.
Viola of the Abyss
Member
That seals it then, no buy for me!
I really hope that this is not a hint of times to come!! I'm very upset about this!
BlazingDarkness
Member
Maybe if the European publisher gave it a freaking release date, and one that wasn't several months apart from the US release then people might give a toss
Oh and could we perhaps stop with the "ITZ ARE ALL ZENZ FAULTZ WE LUV U ATLUZ" speculation that people have pulled entirely out of their arse? The official statement from Atlus linked in the EGM article states that the game is locked in ALL regions i.e. NA, EU and JPN, and its pretty fucking unlikely that Zen is responsible for the Japanese version being region locked
darkside31337
Tomodachi wa Mahou
If you live in the US and you were already planning to buy this game then there is no logical reason you should choose to boycott the title. It's a decision that doesn't affect you as a consumer. The mass outrage at a decision thats completely irrelevant is pretty asinine. Even more so if you haven't taken this stance before and have supported companies that support region locking like Nintendo.
Now if you're living in Europe then you can bitch all you want. But it might not be Atlus you want to direct your bitching at.