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Xbox One: Languages are region locked

Valravn

Member
I dont' know if there already is a thread about this. If so. lock it, burn it to bits etc.

Last Friday was release day in a lot of countries, including The Netherlands.

I have imported my XB1 a couple of months ago and last friday i set up my location and language to Netherlands and Dutch. So after doing that i played Dead Rising 3 and wait what, did i just hear Nick talk in Dutch? I drove past a survivor and yes he talks in Dutch. Hilariously voice acted too, like way over-the-top. I needed to change that ASAP!

Well, you cant set the game to English in options, so i went back to the system settings. I stared at the screen for a bit after i realised you cant set your location to The Netherlands (for instance) but set the language to English. It cant be done and its a damn disgrace! What the hell is Microsoft doing? I changed my location back to UK btw. But that means i cant buy stuff from the store because payment methods are also region-locked!
 

Eisenherz

Banned
Not that again.

Just set your region to US.

1. ALL digital games and DLC will be FAR cheaper
2. you get access to FAR more content.
3. You Can set up everything in ENGLISH.

Just DO it.

The First point ALONE is worth it, if you go ALL digital, like me.

And I hope Microsoft never changes it.
 

Seijuro

Member
Austria here, same problem (only with german). Hilarious because with the 360 it wasn't a problem at all to change language and location indepently from one another.
 

Lirrik

Member
You should blame developers, not Microsoft. Many games provide a menu in options to change language, but if devs are lazy, they just use your console language/region to choose it for you.

I could easily change language in other games such as Assassin's Creed and Metro Redux. So not really Microsoft's fault at all.
 

derFeef

Member
Austria here, same problem (only with german). Hilarious because with the 360 it wasn't a problem at all to change language and location indepently from one another.

Hello fellow compatriot!
I think they are adding more options, not sure where I read that though. Maybe Steverulez can chime in!
 

Majine

Banned
Not that again.

Just set your region to US.

1. ALL digital games and DLC will be FAR cheaper
2. you get access to FAR more content.
3. You Can set up everything in ENGLISH.

Just DO it.

The First point ALONE is worth it, if you go ALL digital, like me.

And I hope Microsoft never changes it.

I do this, but I'm becoming more and more paranoid that MS will start IP blocking / banning non-US people.
 

T.O.P

Banned
I had my account setted as US since day 1 since i hate italian voices

Cheaper stuff on the marketplace too :)
 

Valravn

Member
Not that again.

Just set your region to US.

1. ALL digital games and DLC will be FAR cheaper
2. you get access to FAR more content.
3. You Can set up everything in ENGLISH.

Just DO it.

The First point ALONE is worth it, if you go ALL digital, like me.

And I hope Microsoft never changes it.

But aren't payment methods also region-locked? I can't pay with my Dutch creditcard or Paypal account in the UK store.
Or do i have to change my location in Paypal?
 
Not that again.

Just set your region to US.

1. ALL digital games and DLC will be FAR cheaper
2. you get access to FAR more content.
3. You Can set up everything in ENGLISH.

Just DO it.

The First point ALONE is worth it, if you go ALL digital, like me.

And I hope Microsoft never changes it.

So you're saying , just risk a ban to get around this? Because that's against the ToS

Also region-locked payment's ^^^^
 

ekim

Member
Not that again.

Just set your region to US.

1. ALL digital games and DLC will be FAR cheaper
2. you get access to FAR more content.
3. You Can set up everything in ENGLISH.

Just DO it.

The First point ALONE is worth it, if you go ALL digital, like me.

And I hope Microsoft never changes it.

No don't do it. If you purchase your stuff with a CC card with an American faux address it will be most likely blocked by the CC issuer because of a suspicion of fraudulent transactions. Been there, done that... 2 times.
 

epmode

Member
Not that again.

Just set your region to US.

1. ALL digital games and DLC will be FAR cheaper
2. you get access to FAR more content.
3. You Can set up everything in ENGLISH.

Just DO it.

The First point ALONE is worth it, if you go ALL digital, like me.

And I hope Microsoft never changes it.

cb6f239d1c233cae04482970fb86bdf6d3e5ab5a.jpg__2647x1591_q85_crop_upscale.jpg
 

Forsythia

Member
It was like this on 360 as well with some games. Why developers don't simply include an option baffles me. Why they even spend time and money on a Dutch translation surprises me even more: no one wants to play the game in Dutch and young children shouldn't be playing the game at all.

It's also quite stupid that you can't set your location to the Netherlands and the language to English, I'll give you that. Just set your console to US/English and enjoy cheaper prices, I guess.
 

VE3TRO

Formerly Gizmowned
Uninstall the game. Change region so a speaking English country. Reinstall while online and it will then have English.

I found this out recently when buying Spanish copies of games. It's a method you could try which may force English in game.
 

Hammer24

Banned
You are aware you can change regions (and thus languages) as often as you want on XB1? Even several times a day is no problem.

And regarding payments: putting your CC info on a console has never been a very good idea. Just go to the GAF buy/sell/trade thread, and get discounted funds for the US market. Works like a charm.

Uninstall the game. Change region so a speaking English country. Reinstall while online and it will then have English.

I found this out recently when buying Spanish copies of games. It's a method you could try which may force English.

Many games are multilingual and wont need a reinstallation.
 

derFeef

Member
You guys are mixing up some things.

For example, if you set your console to english, your games will be english (as long as the disc has the language on it, or the DD is isntalled in that language, or the game supports languages itself).
 

Piccoro

Member
This is odd. Every other console lets you pick a combination of (any country + any language). PS3/PS4/Wii/Wii U.
 

Daviii

Member
Not that again.

Just set your region to US.

1. ALL digital games and DLC will be FAR cheaper
2. you get access to FAR more content.
3. You Can set up everything in ENGLISH.

Just DO it

That is terribly insulting to all the users out of the US. Well done MS.

I guess nobody giving a fuck about Xbone out of the US is a good indicator of how well MS handled the situation.

So sad.
 

Alx

Member
You should blame developers, not Microsoft. Many games provide a menu in options to change language, but if devs are lazy, they just use your console language/region to choose it for you.

Well no at that point MS is to blame, because setting language at OS level is an expected feature, you shouldn't have to do it per application, and only letting people access their local language is silly.

With that said even if people from the "second launch" may only realize it now, it's been known (and criticized) since the first launch, especially in all non-English speaking countries.
 
Not that again.

Just set your region to US.

1. ALL digital games and DLC will be FAR cheaper
2. you get access to FAR more content.
3. You Can set up everything in ENGLISH.

Just DO it.

The First point ALONE is worth it, if you go ALL digital, like me.

And I hope Microsoft never changes it.
That's a workaround but the initial issue remains very real.
So yes, that again.
Someone made a thread about that a few months ago and I'm glad I read it because it's a deal breaker for me.
 

Alx

Member
You also have to realize that setting up your console to another area may change the support for other services like VOD or TV channels.
 

Valravn

Member
That's a workaround but the initial issue remains very real.
So yes, that again.
Someone made a thread about that a few months ago and I'm glad I read it because it's a deal breaker for me.

It would have been a deal-breaker for me too. But i had to import the damn thing because i would never suspected MS to fuck this simple of a thing up.
 

VE3TRO

Formerly Gizmowned
Many games are multilingual and wont need a reinstallation.

Depends whats country you buy the game from and what game it is. Seems to be here in Spain that most games only supply Spanish, Italian and French with a few including English. I was going to buy Destiny from the shop but according to certain sites the disc version only has Spanish with no other languages.

I could of purchased it then installed while connected online to the US/UK region which would have installed the UK version but it's still 18GB to do download and seeing as I'm going to play it a lot I opted for digital and pre-loaded the US version.

You also have to realize that setting up your console to another area may change the support for other services like VOD or TV channels.

I think some of these apps are region locked to your profile not the setting on the Xbox One. I wanted to watch Godzilla last night on Xbox Video but even after changing the region to USA it kept popping up saying my Profile region was locked and not available to watch videos in another region apart from UK.
 

Fliesen

Member
it's pretty annoying on the PS4, too.

game languages are bound to system language most of the time. I would have liked to play Diablo 3 in german (hoping my gf would be able to get into it), but i can't be arsed to switch console language constantly.
 

Izuna

Banned
I don't understand.

First of all, they will not and cannot region lock payments unless they forcefully change their ToS to basically say that you are not allowed to travel with your Xbox One.

Secondly, I can set my Xbox to anything language from English UK to Dutch to Japanese etc. You have to set the language and then the locale pops up. If Dutch Xboxes are not able to be English THAT MAKES NO SENSE.

Yes you have to change the whole language of the Xbox in order to use another language, but you can still buy things from your normal store with the same account using Smartglass or Xbox.com.

I am not sure about DR3 but I am pretty darn sure that when I set my Box to Japanese it turns the game to Japanese. Perhaps it is only with digital games.
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
I got Halo Reach from the XBL Store, the game was only French, MS doesn't even know we speak Dutch.

Is this still a thing? I saw this problem mentioned years ago. By now MS must have realized that Belgium has two official languages. In fact, almost 60% of all Belgians speak Dutch, French speakers are a "minority".
 

Sir TapTap

Member

Kind of, if you switch system language and use a US account a Japanese Xbox is all English, which is cool (still doesn't play region locked US disks though), but certain things are 100% tied to the region of the account. Pretty sure it's a much worse set up in that regard than the Xbox One.
 

Hammer24

Banned
Depends whats country you buy the game from and what game it is. Seems to be here in Spain that most games only supply Spanish, Italian and French with a few including English.

I was going to buy Destiny from the shop but according to certain sites the disc version only has Spanish with no other languages.

I could of purchased it then installed while connected online to the US/UK region which would have installed the UK version but it's still 18GB to do download and seeing as I'm going to play it a lot I opted for digital and pre-loaded the US version.

I´m buying all my games digitally from the US marketplace, and noticed several times, that the spoken language changes with the region.
 
I do this, but I'm becoming more and more paranoid that MS will start IP blocking / banning non-US people.
I talked with the german MS support about that. As long as you got a real payment adress
in the us everything is fine - and borderlinx is fine for them.
 

Valravn

Member
I don't understand.
Secondly, I can set my Xbox to anything language from English UK to Dutch to Japanese etc. You have to set the language and then the locale pops up. .

The Netherlands is not in the list of locations if you choose English as a language.
 
some MS branches in europe must be pleased that they get the console a year late and now the users are forced to download all the games on the US marketplace.
 

Alx

Member
some MS branches in europe must be pleased that they get the console a year late and now the users are forced to download all the games on the US marketplace.

I suppose (and hope) that MS internally counts sales on the US marketplace done from European locations as European sales, or they'll quickly think that only Americans are buying games.
 

Izuna

Banned
The Netherlands is not in the list of locations if you choose English as a language.

Ahhhhhhh

Yeah this I understand. I'd like to pick Japanese language with English region for example. But is there any benefit to having a Dutch region if you don't want your games to speak Dutch? If you're not using Xbox Video everything else would work, and much better at that.
 

Hammer24

Banned
I suppose (and hope) that MS internally counts sales on the US marketplace done from European locations as European sales, or they'll quickly think that only Americans are buying games.

I doubt they bother with that. A sale that cuts out the retail middleman must be a win in their books no matter where it came from.
 
J

JoJo UK

Unconfirmed Member
No don't do it. If you purchase your stuff with a CC card with an American faux address it will be most likely blocked by the CC issuer because of a suspicion of fraudulent transactions. Been there, done that... 2 times.

True, but what he meant was that you can get banned and red-flagged if you pay in the US-store with a creditcard that is registrered with a faux address.
Buy MS gift cards from amazon.com or another online vendor. That's what I do (I live in Northern Ireland).
 

kubus

Member
Yep it's total bullshit.

Not being able to choose English language when you set your locale to the Netherlands is just... Wow.

They really don't have a clue how europe works.
 

kiri

Member
This is odd. Every other console lets you pick a combination of (any country + any language). PS3/PS4/Wii/Wii U.
Not wanting to derail the thread but let me stop you there.

Wii and WiiU in Japan have zero language or location options. The Japanese eShop is the only thing available and content is locked to Japanese and often the English content has been completely wiped (NfS:MW, Injustice, ZombiU etc.)

As a British person, you have no idea how disappointing it was booting up ZombiU on launch and only hearing Japanese with no option to revert back to the original Cockney/Estuary etc. accents :/
 

Osahi

Member
I got Halo Reach from the XBL Store, the game was only French, MS doesn't even know we speak Dutch.

Had the same problem. Bought a package with console and game inside, never finished Reach because of this. Really anoying. And I enjoyed the game a lot, but it was just jarring to hear a french dub when you want English. Fable 3, which was in the ame package had the same problem...

So yeah, now I know I don't have to change my locale on my imported One. I'll change it when I want a game in the store, and back again. But that's it.

Sony had the same btw. Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction was in Ducth when you're PS3 was in Dutch, without an option to change it ingame. So since then I always keep my consoles on English
 

Piccoro

Member
Not wanting to derail the thread but let me stop you there.

Wii and WiiU in Japan have zero language or location options. The Japanese eShop is the only thing available and content is locked to Japanese and often the English content has been completely wiped (NfS:MW, Injustice, ZombiU etc.)

As a British person, you have no idea how disappointing it was booting up ZombiU on launch and only hearing Japanese with no option to revert back to the original Cockney/Estuary etc. accents :/

You are correct. I was referring to the European consoles. Usually we have lots of languages and countries available.
Of course the Japanese consoles sometimes have only Japanese (especially the Nintendo consoles) and the US has English/sometimes Spanish.
 
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