Persona 4 Arena Will Be Region Locked on PSN

Atlus announce that they'll be bringing Persona 4 Arena to PlayStation Network. TheGamersHub reaches out to Atlus on comment about region lock and receive a disappointing response for importers.

[Bodachi]

As long as it gets released in Europe I'm fine with it.

[Sidology]

wow, that sucks

[WilliamH]

The EU version has been MIA for about 6 months, not even a hint of a release. If that's your attitude towards the EU Atlus you won't be getting one cent from me.

[pompombrum]

Yup, a nice big FU from Atlus to Europe.

[ShadyDevil]

Region locking PSN titles now...damn.

[wishingW3L]

they have to do it due to exchange rates, it's the same as reverse importing.

[wolokowoh]

When a game sales they make money. They do not lose money on the difference because that sale may have never happened otherwise. It's the same principle with Steam sales. Some people are only willing to $5-$10 per game and only on rare occasions do they spend more than that. Steam sales don't hurt developers. They help developers and imports do as well, even when the exchange rate helps them get it cheaper. The only market it hurts is Japan and most sales occur at launch so simply delaying the release of the other versions a few weeks would solve the need for region locking entirely. There is literally no sound reason to region lock the PSN version now.

[rainslacker]

@wolokowoh

They bring in revenue, however due to exchange rates, and different pricing for different regions, they don't make as much as they want out of a region due to importing. I think importing isn't as big of an issue as some publishers make it out to be since most people do buy from their own region. However it isn't uncommon for some regions to import heavily because of outrageous pricing on games.

This could be a bigger issue for people willing to buy digital, as there wouldn't be the import mark ups that you usually see like say for Japanese titles that get released in the US.

I personally don't import anymore, but I'm against region locking because I used to import Japanese games that would never make it here, and I would have hated not being able to do that.

[SonyNGP]

Don't want my money? Suit yourself c:

[Sharius]

i use AS PS3 version 'cause i like to have O is a config button over X so i can't buy this game, oh well, i'm not a fan of fighting game so it isnt hurt me much so i'll keep my ,omey for bigger release

[pompombrum]

Is there anyway around this that anyone knows of?

[Sharius]

there are 2 way around, either you change your PS3 to NA version, or you make an AS account and download this game from AS store, but i doubt that the AS store up to date yet

[pompombrum]

AS store? What region is that? Also does PSN definitely detect your region through console and not IP? Was hoping I could just use an IP spoofer.

[Sharius]

hong kong, singapore, malaysia.... all count as asian store, like EU store, and sony detect your location isnt base on your console version or your IP but base on which country you choose when you create an account

for exam if you want to create EU account just pick one country in euro (like UK) the rest of address doesn't matter you can make it up, and when your account was creat it'll count as EU account and can access to EU store

[hazelamy]

thank god i don't give a shit about this title.
i mean, i'd like to play the persona games, but not a bloody one on one fighter.

all this, just so they can sell it on the eu store a a vastly inflated price.

i hate this kind of precedent being set.
publishers will now start to think it's ok to region lock titles so they can force people to buy the overpriced local versions instead of importing.

screw this game.

[Hicken]

Geez.

To be fair, the retail version was also region-locked.

ATLUS isn't as big as people think; the fact that the Japanese game would have English voices. wishingW3L said it above, but it was done to prevent people from importing the game and thoroughly shafting their local branch who went through the trouble of localizing the game.

I'm not fond of it, but I can understand the reasoning behind this move.

[hazelamy]

yeah the one and only ps3 game that is region locked from my understanding.

they changed something that was standard for every other ps3 game, just to protect their high prices in certain regions.

i can see why they'd want to do it, from a business perspective.
but from this side, the side of the consumer, it stinks, so i say again, screw this game.
and any other game that decides to follow suit because they want to force us to pay more.

[Chrono]

The question is, what makes the European publisher not release it or even announce when to do so? If they can't release it, why not remove the region lock, or hand it to another publisher?

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

So what options do I have if I want to play this game in Australia? Would I have to buy the non-existent UK version?