Persona 4: Arena is PS3's first region-locked game.

[emigre]

Atlus has confirmed that the PlayStation 3 version of Arc System Works fighting game Persona 4: Arena will be region-locked. This, we believe, makes it the first PS3 game to feature any region protection since the system's launch in 2006.

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This wouldn't that bad, but a sAtlus games tend to take fucking ages to reach Europe, importing is a nice option to have. Atlus really need to sort out a European division or at least come into a secure publishing deal with someone like Ghostlight or Deep Silver to do it for them. Some sort of simultaneous release will go a long way in not pissing off the fanbase (aka me).

 

[Luigi2012SM64DS]

even wii had region protection.

 

[Clarky]

seems like a wierd time and a wierd game to implement this on

 

[LunaWofl]

Yep... I was really hoping to import this too >_

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

Seems like this was already being talked about a week or two ago; supposedly the reason was that Japanese prices are so high that it'd actually be cheaper to import the NA version and pay taxes, shipping, etc. than it would be to buy it from a Japanese retailer. I don't know how true that is, but given how close the releases are (something like two weeks apart) it wouldn't surprise me. It's a shame that Europe would get the short end of the stick because of something like that, though.

 

[Hyro-Sama]

I hope this doesn't become a trend.

 

[Izzy011]

Maybe servers will be region locked too to prevent lag.

 

[Hells Malice]

It's surprising that a company as awesome as Atlus would be the first to do something like this on the console.

If they were doing a simultaneous launch for all regions, it'd make more sense.

 

[GameWinner]

Any reason as to why they did this?
I know I shouldn't really care about this since it's coming here to the states, it just seems weird to do something like this out of the blue.

 

[Armadillo]

It's surprising that a company as awesome as Atlus would be the first to do something like this on the console.

Not surprising. They might be a great company if your in NA or Japan, but they are just awful if you are Europe. Games from them simply not released in Europe, released with huge delays and insist on region locking (360 games).

 

[Lumstar]

For some reason Atlus refuses to set up publishing operations in Europe. After 20 years in the states, you'd think they'd have saved up the capital to try it.

 

[Hells Malice]

It's surprising that a company as awesome as Atlus would be the first to do something like this on the console.

Not surprising. They might be a great company if your in NA or Japan, but they are just awful if you are Europe. Games from them simply not released in Europe, released with huge delays and insist on region locking (360 games).

Doesn't pretty much every company screw over EU?
At least that's the impression I got from...every game forum ever.

 

[Armadillo]

It's surprising that a company as awesome as Atlus would be the first to do something like this on the console.

Not surprising. They might be a great company if your in NA or Japan, but they are just awful if you are Europe. Games from them simply not released in Europe, released with huge delays and insist on region locking (360 games).

Doesn't pretty much every company screw over EU?
At least that's the impression I got from...every game forum ever.

Used to. Not so bad now. Most games on the 360 and ps3 get released same sort of time now, difference of a couple of days (Tuesday in NA, Friday in EU). There's the odd exception, but mostly not too bad. Wii is a little worse, seems to be a lot more games that have delays compared to the other two consoles, but even then, it's not too bad. Even Nintendo who seemed to have a burning hatred for Europe last gen has gotten better.

There are some hold outs though, Atlus being a example. No European division. Won't set up a bulk publishing deal for their games and still region lock, so if someone doesn't pick it up, we don't get it. If they can't be bothered with Europe, they could at least leave it region free.

 

[chartube12]

Wait... PlayStation 3 games were never region locked til now? Are you serious? So I could import the somewhat rare games from japan that do have English text and play them? WTF! This knowledge comes very late in the ps3 life cycle.

 

[Skelletonike]

Doesn't pretty much every company screw over EU?
At least that's the impression I got from...every game forum ever.

Used to. Not so bad now. Most games on the 360 and ps3 get released same sort of time now, difference of a couple of days (Tuesday in NA, Friday in EU). There's the odd exception, but mostly not too bad. Wii is a little worse, seems to be a lot more games that have delays compared to the other two consoles, but even then, it's not too bad. Even Nintendo who seemed to have a burning hatred for Europe last gen has gotten better.

There are some hold outs though, Atlus being a example. No European division. Won't set up a bulk publishing deal for their games and still region lock, so if someone doesn't pick it up, we don't get it. If they can't be bothered with Europe, they could at least leave it region free.

Europe hasn't been so bad the last few years, companies like Square Enix, Nintendo, Sega and a few others are growing in Europe, look at Nintendo for example, a few years ago it lacked a lot of stuff here, now we get almost the same stuff as the US and sometimes we get some stuff that they don't get (like Inazuma Eleven, Pandora's Tower, and some others), not to mention that there's several stuff being released earlier here, the original 3DS, the 3DS XL next month and quite a few games.

But yeah, Atlus needs to establish itself in Europe, or make some sort of partnership with Ghostlight, I just love them, they have such a great service and limited editions.

 

[Frank Cadena]

I don't know how I feel about that. On one hand I don't mind because I could still play this game when I get it, which is selfish of me I know, but on the other hand if I didn't have an American console I would be really pissed right now. I really, really, really love Persona games. Even if it is a fighting game, which I suck at.

 

[Qtis]

Wait... PlayStation 3 games were never region locked til now? Are you serious? So I could import the somewhat rare games from japan that do have English text and play them? WTF! This knowledge comes very late in the ps3 life cycle.

Have you been living under a rock? o__O I thought people generally new that you could play games from any region on any PS3.

OT: This is kinda stupid. If the new PS4 console is released in 2015 or so, why start the region locking now, when over half the consoles life cycle has passed? :I

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Atlus has released a statement regarding the region locking.

For me it's tl;dr and I don't even care about the game so you can look for yourselves at the link.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-07-atlus-launches-impassioned-defence-of-persona-4-arena-ps3-region-lock

 

[jalaneme]

For some reason Atlus refuses to set up publishing operations in Europe. After 20 years in the states, you'd think they'd have saved up the capital to try it.

yep, it's been like this for quite a while now.

Yep... I was really hoping to import this too >_

 

[jalaneme]

Atlus has released a statement regarding the region locking.

For me it's tl;dr and I don't even care about the game so you can look for yourselves at the link.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-07-atlus-launches-impassioned-defence-of-persona-4-arena-ps3-region-lock

more corporal BS as expected, they are basically saying "we are trying to protect our investments so to squeeze as much money as possible from each region we will region lock the game to maximize profits hur hur $_$ "