RANT: Why does region-locking exist?

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Yeah, I just looked at the cost of Bioshock and you Europeans are getting screwed there. I thought $60 was a rip off (though UK people are paying less than we are (and HMV shut down in the past 2 months? wow)).

I do enjoy the region-free blu-rays, I bought my sister Sherlock on blu-ray from the UK before it was shown in the States, so that is a step in the right direction (even though HD-DVD has no region, and I'm sure that's why it died (<- conspiracy theory)).

I still have trouble seeing how, in the 21st century, protecting the image of a game for up to months is still a feasible goal. The War Z on Steam proved that as soon as a game is released anywhere, there will be dozens of reviews on line, it's a fact of modern life. I can look up the review for a game on Famitsu from Chicago, and I'm sure someone from Europe could too. I'm not arguing with you, I'm arguing that keeping secrecy is an impossible idea.

With your second point, if the local distributor decides not to release the game, why should they force the people in said region not to play it? If someone really wants that SRPG, they'll import it, they have before the internet, and now they can have it in a week.

 

Why when I send a Hulu link to a friend who isn't in america he can't watch it?

Same thing, companies want to control content and that includes game companies.

 

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THe PS3 might be region free for the ps3 games but its not region free for the PS one import disk. I have the japanese import super robot wars, dragonball, ect. and I can play them on the US PS3.

 

PS1 and PS2 discs are region locked
PS3 are not (except for Persona 4 Arena)

 

Region locking is all about squeezing more money without doing a shit. Just like on disc DLCs or other crap.

 

The reason why they region locked is simple - to prevent games being imported.

What you have to remember is that there is a LOT of localization to do. Firstly, you have to translate to whatever languages are appropriate for a country. That delays matters, hence a Japanese game is released in Japan first. Whilst it's less likely to happen with Japanese games (but does happen), they don't want people importing games before they're ready for release in that country - that will only hurt local sales. There are legal issues to consider, too - for example, we has issues with Nunchuks being seen in the UK for a long time and some countries didn't want blood in video games.

With the advent of disc-based games, translation was often done en masse - so the US got English and Spanish language games on one disc (maybe even French for Canada, too) and Europe often had five languages on one disc. This meant you could manufacture less versions of a game, but you'd have a lot of translation to get done.

I don't think regions have become irrelevant now - in fact, they're more relevant than ever. Games in the UK / Europe have to be age rated. Age rating differs from country to country, so you can't have people importing US games that have been rated differently.

People are being rather cynical and saying it's greed. Whilst there is an element of retaining control, that attitude suggests an ignorance of the industry. Ultimately, developers and publishers are businesses and want to make as much money as possible. However, there's a lot of money that goes into publishing a game. Not only does the game need translating and certification, but it needs marketing. Posters, POS material, promo copies, kiosk demos, DLC demos, advertising.... there's a lot that needs doing to generate interest in a game even before it's released. And then, you need to press the game.

Importing also damages the retail industry. Whilst you get import shops, the major game shops cannot sell imports. They have to buy from their distributors in their countries. If someone else imports the games early and sells them for a premium, it damages the sales for those shops. Not only that, but it damages the local second hand market, as the copies that would come back as second hand cannot be bought by a lot of shops.

Yes, prices fluctuate, but that's due to varying factors including local sales tax. Importing games comes with cost, too - and that's the same if the official local discs are pressed in China.

What we should really be looking at is why the games are so expensive TO RETAILERS, and yet the supermarkets and Amazon sell them dirt cheap. Yes, you'd expect Amazon's business model to accomodate that, but a supermarket? In the past, the likes of Game and GameStation in the UK were getting better deals as large chain stores than the indie shops, but now even they (Game, as they swallowed GameStation) are having their prices beaten by the supermarkets. So yes, maybe there is a greed here... but it's in the prices that the distributors set their games at - not in comparison to other countries (obviously, marketing etc. is going to cost more in some countries) but comparing a small, one-branch shop with the supermarkets.

Here's an article from Australia on grey imports:

http://www.mcvpacific.com/news/read/opinion-anz-publishers-will-be-squeezed-on-prices/093123

And here's an interview with an indie who survives on imports:

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/interview-gametraders-we-wouldn-t-be-here-without-imports/096612

And a bit on Amazon and imports in Australia:

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/jason-hill-discusses-the-impact-amazon-may-have-on-game-prices/094707

 

I remember an article back in the 90's I think it was that showed that shops made about 40% profit on the games; the 60% was development, distribution, royalites, manufacture, etc. In other words, if you paid £40 for a game (as you often paid then), then £16 of that went to the shop. If, on those figures, a supermarket is more interested in getting you to buy groceries while you go there to buy a game, if they only charge say 20% profit, then you pay £32 for a game costing £40 at Game; supermarket is happy, and you like the supermarket price, so they win both ways. These days, outlets have to charge less or you simply buy off ebay, they have helped everyone pay less for the same things (yay ebay!), and in the process helped to keep retail charging reasonable prices not "captive audience" prices.

 

Bingo. Say Company X owns the JPN rights to game A, while Company Y owns the US rights to game A. Region-locking exists to ensure that US customers have to pay company Y to play game A, instead of being able to import it from Company X overseas. This all ties into MSRP and negotiated development fees based off of standard MSRP practices.

None of it is for consumer benefit. It's all weighted towards large businesses. TL;DR: It's an inconvinence at the consumer's expense to ensure the right people get paid.

 

Rumor the Ps4 might be region Locked

http://uk.gamespot.com/news/yoshida-talks-all-things-playstation-4-6404291

On whether or not the PS4 will be region-locked

I know the answer, but I don't want to be quoted and get a call from my PR guy saying, 'What did you say?' ​