Posted by Gary Kelman on 05/07/07 00:25

"Colin Wilson" <REMOVEEVERYTHINGBUTnewsgroup@phoenixbbsZEROSPAM.co.uk> wrote
in message news:MPG.20a5c2f824a2fe0d98a060@news.individual.net...
>> blimy.... its pretty simple, for the most part it is about making sure
>> that a release stays in one geographical area, so a game released in
>> the US wont work in the EU. That is purely a money thing, stops
>> unwanted moving of content, supposed to reduce (fails at) piracy.
>
> If I *buy* a game, irrespective of where I buy it, I expect to be able
> to play it on a console I own.
>
> The company has still had the profit margin they were happy to accept
> in the jurisdiction where the game was purchashed, so preventing or
> limiting sales in this manner is simple abuse of a monopoly power.

There's also the matter of distrubitors, publishers and retailers.
Especially with distrubitors and retailers, there's few (if any) companies
run solely at an international level. So if, purely for example, SquareEnix
make Final Fantasy 15 and it's published by EA in North America and Ubisoft
in Europe, Square have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to protect
the European market so only Ubisoft can sell the product to that market
since they have invested time and money in bringing the game to that market.
If they know that European customers are totally free to import a game
months before they are able to localise and market the game themselves, why
should they bother? They are being undermined. They in turn how their own
partners (such as retailers) who also need to know they are getting the best
crack of the whip to sell a game to their market to be able to invest their
own time and money in selling the game. The game doesn't go directly from
developer into the customers hands, there's a lot of people in between who
need taken care of.

Of course, this doesn't really explain handheld games and region free PS3
and 360 games, but I'm just saying it's usually more complicated than just
if Square sell a copy of Final Fantasy 15, they should be happy because they
aren't the only company who are going to be taking a slice of that profit
margin. And they need all their partners to be happy to ensure the best
support of and overall sales of their games.

All this doesn't seem to take the customers' happiness into consideration,
but when do they ever? Then again, the majority of the gaming public in any
one country seem to want to just buy games from their high street shops or
country specific online retailers anyway, so maybe they are thinking of the
customer in a way.

Gary

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