Xbox One to be region locked
After what most people would classify as a disaster of an announcement, where Microsoft did not mention a single thing about gaming for the Xbox One; now it appears as though Microsoft’s next-gen console will be region locked as well.
In a statement sent to Digital Trends, a Microsoft spokesperson said “Similar to the movie and music industry, games must meet country-specific regulatory guidelines before they are cleared for sale.” He then added “We will continue to work with our partners to follow these guidelines with Xbox One.” This should not come as a surprise however, as most Xbox 360 games were region locked, bear in mind though, that it is the publishers that have a large say on whether or not a game is region locked.
Rivals Nintendo have also enforced region locking on their hardware with, Wii, Wii U, and 3DS, but the Nintendo DS was region free. Sony have yet to make an announcement on whether or not the PlayStation 4 will include region locking, although the PlayStation 3 and Vita were region free with the exception of Persona 4 Arena.
Christopher Deleanides
May 28, 2013 @ 9:02 pm
Yeah, the whole region lock business just deals an extra blow to Microsoft, on top of that we’ve got the Kinect surveillance news as well.
Charles
May 29, 2013 @ 7:28 am
Pretty sure PSN is also region locked. Region locking isn’t so much an issue because ultimately, it is the governments of the various countries which demands it.
Daniel Flatt
May 29, 2013 @ 10:09 pm
Region locking not that big of a deal, and according to recent news the whole Kinect thing can be completely turned off allowing our more paranoid gamers (cough cough) to rest easy.