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Nintendo Discusses Region Locking

Demon_Skeith

Demon_Skeith

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With Sony and Microsoft officially supporting region-free systems as they enter their next generation of hardware, Nintendo remains committed to a strategy and philosophy that it has used for the majority of its time in the games industry - Wii U and Nintendo 3DS are locked to specific regions, unable to play software acquired from another territory.
Fans have taken to petitioning Nintendo to change its approach, with over 10,000 supporters pushing the publisher to end its restrictive practices. During E3, I had a chance to ask Nintendo global president Satoru Iwata about region-locking. My question was bundled with our discussion of digital rights management and used games, coming at the last minute during our wide-ranging conversation, which also covered Nintendo's future, struggles and more.

"From some people’s perspective, it might seem like a kind of restriction. However, we hope people can appreciate the fact that we’re selling our products worldwide," Iwata told me, acknowledging that Nintendo has "historically" worked with region-locked systems. "There are many different regions around the world, and each region has its own cultural acceptance and legal restrictions, as well as different age ratings. There are always things that we’re required to do in each different region, which may go counter to the idea that players around the world want the freedom to play whatever they want. "

Iwata noted that the strategy behind regional approaches to hardware and content was something not unique to Nintendo, that it was something the entire industry had to "grapple with" and manage. "I hope that game fans can understand that the industry isn’t doing this solely out of business ego," Iwata said. "There are some reasons behind it."

Unfortunately this conversation came before Microsoft completely reversed its restrictive digital rights approach, which now leaves Nintendo as the most conservative hardware manufacturer. Nintendo's general history, and current approach for Wii U and 3DS, would seem to preclude any shift in approach, regardless of fan interest. Still, Nintendo has experimented with its approach, even during Iwata's tenure - the original Nintendo DS and DS Lite were region-free, before the DSi locked things down.
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I read the whole thing and did not see one appropriate answer. This just screws around people from buying games they want to play. Almost all of my DS games are imported because they never saw the light of day in Australia.
 
Wow Nintendo, you have really let me down with that kind of reasoning behind region locking...
 
They'll probably free up their regions, when they're not too bad off financially.

Legal stuff is tough. I really hate it. I write my own contracts and stuff, but when it comes to dealing with government regulations, I absolutely hate my CEO position.
 
GracefulAssassin said:
^That.

Plus how are you 16 and a CEO?
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fantanoice said:
Hire somebody who knows about business law?
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>implying a 16 year old actually has money to hire people

And GA, you have a good question. I started the company.

But, actually, lawyers are a very expensive thing. As it is, I'd estimate that the majority of Nintendo's budget goes to its legal department. It's the same with a variety of companies, spanning numerous industries.

I just realized that I kinda went off topic there by not saying that those two statements in my post were related.

Nintendo can't remove region locks without real legal issues. Just look at Australian game bans, US regulations, international patent law, etc. It's a real hassle to clear your way with this many groups.

Also, how does region freedom make less money than region locks? I'd see being able to sell games anywhere as a good thing. Nintendo probably just wants to wait until next-gen (and financial capability) to undo region locks, since it's pretty hard to do while you've already got your console out in the open.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
I saw a 11 year old run a lemonade stand the other day, technically she would be CEO of that stand.
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I lol'd. Yes. Although it's increasingly illegal to do stuff like this.
 
It maybe in Nintendo's best interest to enforce region lock to avoid a console and video game sales ban of their consoles by the Germans, and other countries which sometimes ban violent games, and to avoid lawsuits and bad relationships from countries because of selling violent games.

Doom which is a First person shooter game was originally banned in Germany because Doom was too violent for its time.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
yeah, been reading that of late. Kind of sad really.
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Kind of sad...? It's really just an illustration of the anti-Capitalist attitude of the modern West. But...let's leave politics to the Realm of the Fierce.

That...is a surprisingly good impromptu renaming of the debate forum, haha.
 
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