What was/is the reason for region lockouts?

[SlowCoder]

Most consoles, old and new, have region lockouts. What is the purpose behind it?

Is it for sales? I can't imagine that an English speaking American would go out of their way to buy a Japanese version of a game that they couldn't understand, pay to have something shipped to get us. At least not 99% of players.

[Rex Dart]

Wikipedia says:

Reasons for Regional Lockout

 

Pricing. It is difficult to maintain a single pricing structure that can be applied worldwide. Region-locking a console means that there is no need for pricing parity across the world; different territories can have different prices for games without people simply shopping "wherever is cheaper".

Sensitive regions. Some games could be regarded as offensive for religious or political reasons, and regional lockout may be required to prevent these games from being distributed in sensitive countries.

Staged launches. If a console is region-locked, then staged launches of the games would be easier, as console producers could easily control the huge bow-wave of people wanting a game the moment it is released.

Piracy. Piracy is more common in some countries than others. For example it is particularly common in China as compared to North America. Region locks can prevent pirated games from these countries from being played on systems outside of their designated region.

[+Ransom]

As I understand it in the DVD market, region lockouts allowed for regional pricing without worries that people would buy low in, say, Tunisia and sell high in France.

 

I imagine the game companies were thinking along the same lines.

 

Edited to add: Rex Dart beat me to it, and with a more comprehensive answer.

[keilbaca]

It also allows for companies to hog all the games for themselves.

 

I'm looking at you Cave. I want to play Ketsui damn it.

[so_tough!]

Wikipedia says:

Reasons for Regional Lockout

 

Pricing. It is difficult to maintain a single pricing structure that can be applied worldwide. Region-locking a console means that there is no need for pricing parity across the world; different territories can have different prices for games without people simply shopping "wherever is cheaper".

Sensitive regions. Some games could be regarded as offensive for religious or political reasons, and regional lockout may be required to prevent these games from being distributed in sensitive countries.

Staged launches. If a console is region-locked, then staged launches of the games would be easier, as console producers could easily control the huge bow-wave of people wanting a game the moment it is released.

Piracy. Piracy is more common in some countries than others. For example it is particularly common in China as compared to North America. Region locks can prevent pirated games from these countries from being played on systems outside of their designated region.

 

That's interesting, a few years ago there was a lot of old "new" neo geo stock floating around on ebay, I myself purchased some games at the time. There was a haul found in the middle east, on every cover(of NAM1975) there was black marker over a womans boobies and thighs.

 

Strange but true.

 

Game is new, but was originally bound for Saudi Arabia, where the local Islamic rules would not allow the woman's flesh to be on display, so on the clear plastic of the box, the cartridge sticker and also on the manual (not the baggie), there is marker pen scribbled over the chest and leg area of the blonde with the gun. The seal on the box has been broken. This may well be removable, but we are selling as the game arrived to

us.

 

(from videogame imports, they have some copies, no pics though)

Edited January 5, 2012 by so_tough!

[Tempest]

Also there may be copyright reasons why a game can't be released in a certain country as copyrights aren't always worldwide. I know there have been some Japanese games that couldn't be released in the US because the US copyrights were held by a different company. Obviously region locking a game would stop it from being played in the wrong country.

[Sonic R]

It also allows for companies to hog all the games for themselves.

 

I'm looking at you Cave. I want to play Ketsui damn it.

 

Ketsui was published by 5pb on the Xbox 360... so it's out of Cave's hands…

 

in regard to some of the other Cave titles, ie Death Smiles, region locking is used in the financial sense as Cave would stand to make more money by licensing it to a USA/European publisher than from the few stray sales that would be imported… a publisher pays a lump sum to the developer and it's up to that publisher to have financial success by selling in volume…

 

back to Ketsui, IF a USA publisher were to obtain the rights to Ketsui, 5pb would stand to make money as opposed to having it region free and only realize a small percentage of import sales…

Edited January 6, 2012 by Sonic R

[yell0w_lantern]

When it comes to why a business makes a decision it usually comes down to one word, "money".

[cparsley]

The major reason for video game lockouts began with the NES to prevent the majority of crappy companies (Majesco, etc) that flooded the VCS from doing so for the NES. Since then it was a way for the hardware guys to control who made games, while getting a cut of the money from the software produced for their consoles, which did not happen in the VCS/INTV/Coleco era.

[TheGameCollector]

If one region constantly had cheaper games, why don't people just buy a console from that region online instead and just import each and every one of those games? Especially Australia where prices are crazy.

[Rex Dart]

If one region constantly had cheaper games, why don't people just buy a console from that region online instead and just import each and every one of those games? Especially Australia where prices are crazy.

 

Well, it's popular to import Asia-region games (different than Japan region) because they often:

1) are cheaper than US or JPN releases

2) are released earlier than US releases

3) include English options, and

4) are region-free, or at least compatible with North American regions.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Rex Dart

[NinjaWarrior]

The Genesis and SNES didn't have region lockout..

 

I remember when SF2 Turbo was released in Japan for the Super Famicom..Videots the used Store I went to at the time, Had the game so people could play it

[MN12BIRD]

The Genesis and SNES didn't have region lockout..

 

I remember when SF2 Turbo was released in Japan for the Super Famicom..Videots the used Store I went to at the time, Had the game so people could play it

 

They both have region lockout

 

The SNES is only physical. Stock system and or stock carts, a Super Famicom cartridge will NOT fit into an American SNES unless you cut out the tabs inside the cart slot or the slots on the back of the cartridge. I bet the store that sold the imports was cutting slots into the back of the carts.

 

The Genesis is physical and electronic. The Japanese Mega Drive games will NOT fit into the American Genesis unless you grind out the cart slot to make it a tad wider. On top of that there is an electronic lockout based on the software. Most Genesis/Mega Drive games after a certain year (apx 1992) are locked and if you put a Mega Drive game in a Genesis (after you make it fit) you will still get a bootup screen that says it's for X region only or for play on a "Japanese Mega Drive" system only.

Edited January 10, 2012 by MN12BIRD

[Ace_1]

The SNES is only physical. Stock system and or stock carts, a Super Famicom cartridge will NOT fit into an American SNES unless you cut out the tabs inside the cart slot or the slots on the back of the cartridge. I bet the store that sold the imports was cutting slots into the back of the carts.

 

Not quite. Don't forget the European Super NES, which has a physical lockout on North American cartridges, but an electronic lockout as well due to the shape of the cartridges being the same as Super Famicom cartridges. European Super NES cartridges and consoles use a different lockout chip than any North American Super NES or Super Famicom cartridge(both the North American Super NES and the Super Famicom share the exact same lockout chip). This prevents all NTSC games from working in a European Super NES unless you A) disable the lockout chip(in turn, causing games with the SA-1 co-processor which can detect the presence of a lockout chip not to work), B) replace the PAL lockout chip with an NTSC lockout chip or C) rig up both an NTSC and a PAL lockout chip and activate whichever one is needed. You would also need to widen the cartridge slot so North American Super NES games can fit.

 

The difference in lockout chips also prevents European Super NES games from running on any NTSC Super NES. You would need to once again either disable the existing NTSC lockout chip, wire up both the NTSC and PAL lockout chips(I'm not even sure this would work) or replace the lockout chip entirely, and if you have a North American Super NES, break the tabs in the cartridge slot.

[MN12BIRD]

Right I should have mentioned that. I was just using the Japanese imports as the most common example. But once you start getting into PAL (on NTSC systems) you have not only regoin lockout but also 50/60hz to worry about as the game may not run at the correct speed once it does run. I was mainly just thinking of Americans importing Japanese games for SFC and MD since that's what's most common for us. Either way there's plenty of region lockout on the SNES and Genesis.

[TheGameCollector]

The SNES is only physical. Stock system and or stock carts, a Super Famicom cartridge will NOT fit into an American SNES unless you cut out the tabs inside the cart slot or the slots on the back of the cartridge. I bet the store that sold the imports was cutting slots into the back of the carts.

 

Not quite. Don't forget the European Super NES, which has a physical lockout on North American cartridges, but an electronic lockout as well due to the shape of the cartridges being the same as Super Famicom cartridges. European Super NES cartridges and consoles use a different lockout chip than any North American Super NES or Super Famicom cartridge(both the North American Super NES and the Super Famicom share the exact same lockout chip). This prevents all NTSC games from working in a European Super NES unless you A) disable the lockout chip(in turn, causing games with the SA-1 co-processor which can detect the presence of a lockout chip not to work), B) replace the PAL lockout chip with an NTSC lockout chip or C) rig up both an NTSC and a PAL lockout chip and activate whichever one is needed. You would also need to widen the cartridge slot so North American Super NES games can fit.

 

The difference in lockout chips also prevents European Super NES games from running on any NTSC Super NES. You would need to once again either disable the existing NTSC lockout chip, wire up both the NTSC and PAL lockout chips(I'm not even sure this would work) or replace the lockout chip entirely, and if you have a North American Super NES, break the tabs in the cartridge slot.

 

PAL Mr. Nutz works on USA NTSC SNES systems, so it's not every game. Just certain ones like Sega Genesis.

[+thegoldenband]

My understanding is that certain models of the Pro Action Replay will solve the PAL-game-on-NTSC-SNES issue, though I haven't tried it myself. I'd like to pick up Winter Gold and Dirt Racer at some point, and those are the only two PAL exclusives I can't run on the Everdrive (since they use the Super FX chip).

 

I have played The Firemen on my Everdrive, and that seemed to run very well. I may have also run a PAL version of Rendering Ranger R2...? Not sure.

[Sonic R]

My understanding is that certain models of the Pro Action Replay will solve the PAL-game-on-NTSC-SNES issue, though I haven't tried it myself. I'd like to pick up Winter Gold and Dirt Racer at some point, and those are the only two PAL exclusives I can't run on the Everdrive (since they use the Super FX chip).

 

This is correct... the necessary device to play ANY PAL SNES cartridge on a NTSC-U/C is the Pro Action Replay Mk III

 

I have this specifically to play Terranigma - the PAL version is the only version of this game that had been translated in English…