Seriously... What are the point of region locking games?

[Vlcice]

I wonder how much of it has to do with historical reasons. I might be wrong, but I think the first console to have region locking was the NES. That was implemented due to NoA's very different content standards compared to Japan - they didn't want games designed for a different set of standards filtering through to the American audience. It was also a part of NoA's tightening of control over developers since it coincided with the introduction of the lockout chip. It wouldn't surprise me if the inclusion of region locking from then on was sort of because "that's just how we've always done it."

[Ze_ro]

For example, let's say Wii was region-unlocked. Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom has already been out in Japan for a year now, but it hasn't been released in the United States yet.

That game isn't a good example. The only reason it has taken so long to get out of Japan is because of all the ridiculous licensing issues with the Tatsunoko characters.

If the game could be played on US system, what would stop people from importing the Japanese game?

Price and convenience are reason enough for the vast majority of people. Enthusiasts (ie: Nerds) like us are willing to order games off Play-Asia for a higher price and wait for them to be shipped, but the average Joe isn't likely to do that. I guess this is changing as the internet makes it easier and easier... at least you don't have to buy them from some shady company that advertises in the back of a magazine anymore.

At one point, I was ready to import TvC through Play-Asia. The price was something like $60-70. When Capcom announced that it was going to release the game in North America, Play-Asia's price dropped significantly. It's $30 at the moment.

That's a year's worth of sales lost to the US publisher and retailers, which is a lot of money, especially for such an anticipated game in its genre.

Again, TvC is a bad example, since Capcom published it in Japan, and will be publishing it in North America as well. They won't lose any money at all due to importing. There are companies like Atlus and XSEED that base their business on bringing obscure games to North America when the Japanese publisher isn't interested... but then your money really isn't going to the companies and people that came up with the concept in the first place.

I really have no complaint with region coding as long as we're not missing out on games. If they want to region code Halo 3, who cares? It's out in every region anyways, so aside from PAL regions being impatient for their localization, there's little reason to import. I'm more annoyed with obscure niche games that are only ever released in one market. For example, all the 2D shooters released for the Xbox 360 in Japan... what point is there in region coding them? If you never planned to release Espgaluda II outside Japan (Which seems incredibly silly to me anyways, considering the size of the 360 market in Japan), why not throw us a bone and at least make it region free so we can import it without having to do silly things like modify consoles or install a Japanese profile or whatever. Thankfully, Cave did just this with their latest shooter Mushihimesama Futari ver 1.5. In fact, if I remember correctly, they purposely made it region free to test the waters and see what effect importing had on it.

--Zero

[Bojay1997]

That game isn't a good example. The only reason it has taken so long to get out of Japan is because of all the ridiculous licensing issues with the Tatsunoko characters.


Price and convenience are reason enough for the vast majority of people. Enthusiasts (ie: Nerds) like us are willing to order games off Play-Asia for a higher price and wait for them to be shipped, but the average Joe isn't likely to do that. I guess this is changing as the internet makes it easier and easier... at least you don't have to buy them from some shady company that advertises in the back of a magazine anymore.

At one point, I was ready to import TvC through Play-Asia. The price was something like $60-70. When Capcom announced that it was going to release the game in North America, Play-Asia's price dropped significantly. It's $30 at the moment.


Again, TvC is a bad example, since Capcom published it in Japan, and will be publishing it in North America as well. They won't lose any money at all due to importing. There are companies like Atlus and XSEED that base their business on bringing obscure games to North America when the Japanese publisher isn't interested... but then your money really isn't going to the companies and people that came up with the concept in the first place.

I really have no complaint with region coding as long as we're not missing out on games. If they want to region code Halo 3, who cares? It's out in every region anyways, so aside from PAL regions being impatient for their localization, there's little reason to import. I'm more annoyed with obscure niche games that are only ever released in one market. For example, all the 2D shooters released for the Xbox 360 in Japan... what point is there in region coding them? If you never planned to release Espgaluda II outside Japan (Which seems incredibly silly to me anyways, considering the size of the 360 market in Japan), why not throw us a bone and at least make it region free so we can import it without having to do silly things like modify consoles or install a Japanese profile or whatever. Thankfully, Cave did just this with their latest shooter Mushihimesama Futari ver 1.5. In fact, if I remember correctly, they purposely made it region free to test the waters and see what effect importing had on it.

--Zero

Of course, the upcoming release of Deathsmiles kind of undermines your argument. While some people who imported two years ago may buy the US version, I'm willing to bet a lot of them won't. Sure, it's probably only a few hundred sales in this case, but it can be the margin between profit and loss in niche titles.

[PapaStu]

Alot of it has to do with licensing. Music licensing has hampered many a games release (DDR, Beatmanias ect) because who controls the songs in Japan isn't who controls them here (if they've even got representation outside of the country). That alone puts the kibosh on a few genres of games. I'd also venture a guess that there are fees and issues that Publisher X has to deal with in regards to Sony, MS and Nintendo and sometimes it's just easier for them to lock something than it is for it to be open.

Also, save handhelds, this generation is the first one thats been really starting to experience the reduction of region locking. It'll take some time for these companies to realize its not as big a killer as they might be thinking (hugely thanks to the fact that the new TV's don't need 'PAL' or 'NTSC' setting like they used to).

[Emuaust]

Its all about the pirce baby!, no region locking means they cant charge $119.95aud to Australians for games.

Seriously though, with small companies like XSEED and Atlus it does help them out a bit in the likes of North America but ultimately region coding just screws over PAL gamers, I mean honestly why do the UK and Australia have to wait for the game to be translated to french/Spanish/German ?. If Sony ever get recorded for doing only one thing right this generation it is introducing Region Free gaming.

[Ze_ro]

Of course, the upcoming release of Deathsmiles kind of undermines your argument. While some people who imported two years ago may buy the US version, I'm willing to bet a lot of them won't. Sure, it's probably only a few hundred sales in this case, but it can be the margin between profit and loss in niche titles.

I'd argue that the shmup fans out there are likely savvy and devoted enough that they'd have no problems with importing from Japan (as long as it didn't require hardware modifications), so if they had just made Death Smiles region free in the first place, a North American localization would have been largely irrelevant, their hardcore fans would be satisfied, and they still would have made their money off the sales without having to worry about the risk involved in a small market.

But hey, if they do plan to eventually localize Espgaluda II and Daioujou, then great, I'd be quite happy to see them all come here with full english menus and such.

--Zero

[Bojay1997]

I'd argue that the shmup fans out there are likely savvy and devoted enough that they'd have no problems with importing from Japan (as long as it didn't require hardware modifications), so if they had just made Death Smiles region free in the first place, a North American localization would have been largely irrelevant, their hardcore fans would be satisfied, and they still would have made their money off the sales without having to worry about the risk involved in a small market.

But hey, if they do plan to eventually localize Espgaluda II and Daioujou, then great, I'd be quite happy to see them all come here with full english menus and such.

--Zero

But you're failing to account for the fact that if a niche game gets a US release, more people will buy it and unless there is at least some reasonable protection of exclusivity which region locking can provide, publishers in the US are less likely to touch a title. I agree with you that the math is unclear for any given title and obviously Sony doesn't care at all, but I can understand the need for region coding as a means of protecting markets.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Markets don't need protection, corporate profit on the other hand...

It's a trivial and wasted effort really. The devoted (importers where region lock rubs up on) will bypass the locking, however method they can, and the not-so devoted, content with their regions offerings, won't care about or even have a reason to be bothered by it.