# Regional Lockout



## DemonDragonJ (Oct 30, 2014)

Many video game consoles feature regional lockout, meaning that those consoles have designated geographic regions, and games from a certain region will play only on a console from the same region or that the console shall play only games from its region. Among the current generation of consoles, both Sony's Playstation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One are region-free, but Nintendo continues to use regional lockout, having used it since the NES.

I greatly dislike this practice, as I find it to be very tyrannical and completely unfair to the customers. If an American citizen went to Japan and legally purchased a copy of a game for a Nintendo system, that game would not play on an American console, thus requiring that they purchase a Japanese copy of that same console. If an American decided to purchase an import of a game that was released only in Japan, or was not due to be released in the United States for some time, they would again need to have two separate consoles for games from different regions.

This practice is also used with DVD's and Blu-ray discs, which, to me, is clear evidence of distrust and dislike between regions of the world. It also greatly hurts business, in my mind, since I am certain that all media being region-free would make it more appealing to the customers. What can everyone else say about this? What is the purpose of this practice, and is there any chance that it may eventually disappear altogether?


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## Aruarian (Oct 30, 2014)

DDJ not understanding regional branches and/or personal responsibility.


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## Buskuv (Oct 30, 2014)

It's mostly used so that places with egregiously high prices for media (Japan, Australia) don't massively import from places where it's cheaper (the United States) and gut their domestic sales.


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## DemonDragonJ (Oct 30, 2014)

Dr. Boskov Krevorkian said:


> It's mostly used so that places with egregiously high prices for media (Japan, Australia) don't massively import from places where it's cheaper (the United States) and gut their domestic sales.



In that case, I believe that it is the country's own fault for having such high domestic prices. Perhaps if they lowered their own prices, people would not need to import items, and thus, there would be no need for regional lockout.


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## Buskuv (Oct 30, 2014)

Well, I'm certain the reasoning behind the difference in prices is a complex quagmire of raw materials, production, design and distribution, as well as the local and regional economy, and I doubt their effect on video game prices factor into such decision making much.


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## Velocity (Oct 30, 2014)

It's a thing.

It's an annoying thing, but it's generally a necessity due to stuff like exchange rates. The dollar isn't worth as much as many currencies, so they get stuff cheaper. Likewise, the UK has a very strong currency so we have to pay more for stuff. There are other factors as well, of course - Australia pays so much because exporting to there is crazy expensive and Japan pays so much because it's Japan and they're weird.

Personally, I'm happier with consoles that don't have region locks. I like importing games a lot, usually to get them earlier rather than to get them cheaper, and not being able to do that is inconvenient. I know why Nintendo, for example, does it but that doesn't mean I agree with it. If the 3DS hadn't been region locked, I would've gotten a lot of Atlus games much earlier... but without the region lock, why bother localising niche games at all? Would certain games have even been released in Europe if people could freely import them from America instead?


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## Naruto (Oct 30, 2014)

In the event of currency inflation, draconian regional taxing and other shenanigans, you can always count on one thing:

Customers get fucked before companies ever do.

So as a consumer, fuck anyone involved in this kind of practice. They have no sympathy for us, why would I have any for them? 

Where I live, unemployment and poverty is rampant. Benefits are close to none. With the austerity measures in place to rid the country of debt we are working shittier hours for less pay and less subsidies. Do these companies care what the average buying power for their target audience is? lol no 

Fuck. Them.


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## Naruto (Nov 4, 2014)




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## Patchouli (Nov 4, 2014)

> Nintendo "must consider" ending region locking





> Iwata concluded by stating that any change in policy would likely be some way off, but that it was something the company was considering.
> 
> "Unlocking would require various problems to be solved, so while I can't say today whether or not we intend to unlock, we realise that it is one thing that we must consider looking to the future."
> 
> The Wii U is the only current-gen console with a region lock on physical games. Both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are region free.



Well, it's better than nothing I suppose.

Region locking doesn't work anyways. Between emulators, ripped iso's, third-party exporters, "homebrew channels", and modchips - people are gonna find a way to play the games you don't willingly sell to them.


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## Buskuv (Nov 4, 2014)

It's just easier to learn Moon and get a Japanese system if it's region locked.


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## Linkdarkside (Nov 4, 2014)

[YOUTUBE]4rLrXdEDzJc[/YOUTUBE]


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## St. YatōKiri_Kilgharrah (Nov 5, 2014)

Region locking is really pssing me off with my PS Vita.

Fucking DLC is locked


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