PlayStation 4 Is Region-Free

Demon_Skeith

Demon_Skeith

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Sony has revealed that the PS4 system it self is region free.

However, if the developer wishes to region lock a game, then the game will be region locked.
 
I'm hoping that the PS4 is the same in that the developers don't lock games. I don't mind the odd exception (such as Persona 4 Arena), but I'm considering buying a PS4 in Korea if I'm still here when they're released and taking it back to the UK, when I finish my job. It would be terrible for people in my situation who travel between countries, if developers decided to start region-locking their games.
 
Great news for gamers around the world. The PS4 looks like the only option for gamers who travel a lot, what with its region free and offline capabilties. Microsoft, please follow suit.
 
I personally have never bought games or consoles from anywhere overseas.I live in Australia, so the prices are severely pushed up but I just find the convenience wins over price to me. 

This year, I was planning to buy the PS4 from Amazon and get it shipped to Australia. I understand that some blu-ray discs won't work but that isn't a huge deal for me. 

Seeing as you guys seem to have more experience, which developers tend to region lock their games? I am planning to order some of my games overseas as well so this could really impact where I should be buying from.
 
This is going to me another advantage that Sony has over Microsoft. All I can see is pros from doing this as people who cannot buy a PS4 from their local stores could simply order the console from Amazon, Ebay etc. This will also benefit users who want to play games that are not released in their country. For instance, if an American gamer wanted to purchase a Gundam game that was only released in Japan. I doubt too many game developers will region lock their games as it is another step they must take and why would they want to work harder to restrict their customer base to specific regions.
 
Hmm, I was thinking it might be a better idea to get the PS4 in the US and bring it back here to the UK. It would work out a bit cheaper and I tend to be in the US quite a bit anyway. What do you guys think? Would I encounter any problems?
 
Well, the only case of region lock that i can remember for the PS3 was Persona 4 Arena, but that was because of server issues, so i expect that not many companies will region lock their games, which is a good thing.
 
Urgh, I can never understand region locks, but I know companies have their reasons (latency, for one). Glad that Sony isn't going to play the middleman.
 
So it's the same as the PS3. As someone already pointed out before, the only (?) region-locked PS3 game ended up being Persona 4 Arena. The Vita is similar with its lack of region locks, so I was expecting Sony to continue with their region-free policies.
 
I don't think (at least I hope) that many developers will lock their games from particular regions, but who knows. I assume the policy is there so developers can pick and choose what they want. Either way, this is a clear advantage over the Xbox.
 
halv said:
Hmm, I was thinking it might be a better idea to get the PS4 in the US and bring it back here to the UK. It would work out a bit cheaper and I tend to be in the US quite a bit anyway. What do you guys think? Would I encounter any problems?
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If the developers act the same as they did for the PS3, then you shouldn't have any problems. I don't think it's been confirmed if the internal PSU will support 120V - 240V though. If it doesn't, then you won't be able to use it as the US is 120V and the UK is 240V. It should do, but I've not seen confirmation.
 
EdenSB said:
If the developers act the same as they did for the PS3, then you shouldn't have any problems. I don't think it's been confirmed if the internal PSU will support 120V - 240V though. If it doesn't, then you won't be able to use it as the US is 120V and the UK is 240V. It should do, but I've not seen confirmation.
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Thanks for this, guess I just may wait and see. I can always just buy it here the difference in price won't be that much just thought it'd be handy if I got it while I was there.
 
Just another convenient thing for the PS4 to do. Hopefully the publishers won't put on a region lock, because who wants to limit their sales? 
 
One of many good decisions made by Sony. Going about it this way, there are fewer complications, and leaving it in the hands of developers makes it an option when they feel it is necessary. 
 
lianymode said:
I don't think (at least I hope) that many developers will lock their games from particular regions, but who knows. I assume the policy is there so developers can pick and choose what they want. Either way, this is a clear advantage over the Xbox.
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We'll have to see. You know, the Xbox 360 is the same way. The publishers can choose whether or not to allow region-locks. But, surprisingly, lots of 360 games are region-locked but PS3 games aren't. Even if, for example, Tomb Raider 360 is region-locked, Tomb Raider PS3 isn't... which is pretty damn odd in my opinion. I think Sony added this feature for publishers late on the PS3's life cycle while the 360 had it since the beginning, which might be a reason why it's inconsistent. Perhaps there's something going on that we consumers don't know about that explains the inconsistency of publishers in regards to region-locking...

So what I am basically saying is, don't get your hopes too high up. The publishers get to choose and they might just choose to screw the whole region-free stuff this time around.
 
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