P4 Arena PS3 full region lock - Atlus Japan's fault

M

mangaman74

Akatsuki
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012- ... egion-lock

Atlus has launched an impassioned defence of fighting game Persona 4: Arena, the first region-locked PlayStation 3 game.

In a lengthy press release sent out to press overnight, the US arm of the company responded to criticism from angry importers, which it insisted had come as a surprise.

"As we've ascertained from your impassioned responses online, this is obviously a tremendous frustration for many fans," the company said.

"We understand the various perspectives on the matter. Those who fear this is a slippery slope, the beginning of a dangerous and unnecessary precedent. Those who import foreign hardware for a multitude of reasons and expect to be unlimited in their software selection. Those who aren't necessarily affected by this issue, but who are principally opposed to it.

"We are not blind to these concerns and we pledge to grow ever more informed as to exactly what our fans want. It should be added that we were completely unprepared for the force with which the community communicated their disapproval."

Atlus promised the decision to region lock Persona 4: Arena on PS3 does not indicate the beginning of a new policy. Rather, Atlus said, it is an isolated case. "Moreover, and perhaps there is no way to convince our fans of this considering the magnitude of the betrayal many are feeling, but we are not doing this out of malice or a desire to control. Allow us to explain."

It highlighted what it considers to be "a number of triumphs" for its US publishing division: the inclusion of dual language audio in the US version, and the reduction in time between the Japanese and Western release (the game goes live in the US two weeks after it does in Japan. UK publisher Pqube told Eurogamer yesterday it's working towards a 31st August 2012 release).

"We pushed hard for these things," Atlus said. "We know our fans want them - well really, EXPECT them - and we did our best to get as much for our release as possible."

Onto the burning question: why did Atlus region lock the game?

"Importing, as great as it is for gamers who otherwise can't get access to a title, can also cannibalize the performance of a title in one territory to the benefit of another," Atlus said.

"While we're all one big Atlus family, the reality is that the dramatic difference between the Yen and the Dollar makes for a dramatic difference in price. So the decision was made, perhaps at the expense of some of our fans, clearly at the frustration of many, to region-lock Persona 4 Arena."

With the decision made, thoughts now turn to the future. Atlus vowed to "earn back your confidence" and to "learn from your arguments".

"We absolutely recognize the fear that this is the beginning of a trend. We in no way view it as such. Please also keep in mind that the game's excellent online multiplayer is global, a fact that is in no way affected by the region-lock. Players can compete against fighters from all territories.

"A tremendous team of talented developers and artists poured their blood, sweat, and tears into Persona 4 Arena, and every reaction we've ever received to the game has shown that those efforts are readily apparent.

"The decision to region-lock P4 Arena was a business one, one that has very clearly affected how many perceive the project, but we ask you to please not overlook the exceptional efforts of the people behind the game and to work with us through constructive dialogue.

"Thank you."
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Hope if/when it gets a UK release the bonus soundtrack disc is available either for preorders or as standard as I was going to preorder the US version (I did have it on preorder at Planetaxel before they went under).
 
Locking functionality to fix prices is really lame. All this means is I won't be buying the local or US versions at all where I might have otherwise - good job, localisation team!

I'm dismayed to see a lot of Americans supporting this (since there are no drawbacks for them personally and it means their right to cut price games is protected). Perhaps if it happens to something they'd have liked to import, they'll eventually realise how damaging accepting these stupid strategies to prevent customers from buying a product can be.

R
 
"While we're all one big Atlus family, the reality is that the dramatic difference between the Yen and the Dollar makes for a dramatic difference in price. So the decision was made, perhaps at the expense of some of our fans, clearly at the frustration of many, to region-lock Persona 4 Arena."
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Uh, with both Japan and the US being region A, how are they even able to region lock it so that it will play on a US PS3 but not a Japanese one? Unless there were secret hidden extra region codes A-1 and A-2 built into those countries' respective PS3s, or it somehow uses the DVD region?

Yet more anti-consumer market protectionist ********. We live in a world which constantly extols the values of the free market, but the market is only as free as allows the people at the top in each nation to remain seated in their comfy armchairs...
 
PS3 doesn't use BD regions for games, it uses JP/EU/US (unless things have changed). EU includes other PAL regions. They may have even finer tuning nowadays, but I doubt it and it's hard to tell with this having been the first game to deliberately region lock itself.

With gaming being so socially-driven and online these days, region fixing feels even worse. Everyone will be spoiling discoveries before Europe gets it, and we'll be late to the party for online play. Ugh, it just completely annoys me, especially as the only reason is to fix pricing.

R
 
Oh dear. Hope this is not a sign that other games will be region locked on the PS3. It is frustrating when a game is confined to a particular region - as it is only the sheer greed of the company that it benefits. It gives us consumers less choice and more lengthy waiting times.

Before someone jumps in - 'But you can import consoles!'. I realise this but would rather not have 2 or 3 consoles just to play perhaps only one game. Plus there is the added cost of importing and making sure the console has the correct voltage output by using a step-down convertor etc.

On another note: I fear the Persona series are now on overhype levels. I remember the days when it was just an obscure PS1 RPG series... :wink:
 
I already (only) have an imported console, but I can live without P4 Arena and I don't want to support this kind of thing. As far as I'm concerned, if people want buyers to buy locally they should incentivise it with features and bonus content, not just force them to by taking away their freedom to buy the best edition elsewhere.

R
 
There are a ton of people on various forums using any old excuse to justify what Atlus has done here. Some defend it on the basis that the game is released Europe just two weeks after the US, even though the 31st August date is not official and--knowing the publisher--will be subject to delay. Some claim that Atlus Japan have every right to protect their profits (so once again globalisation benefits the business but not the consumer). Some point out that the 360 and 3DS are region-locked, which is completely irrelevant to the issue at hand.

I was only mildly interested in P4 Arena, so the decision to region lock the PS3 version has just pushed it even farther down my list of priorities.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
There are a ton of people on various forums using any old excuse to justify what Atlus has done here. Some defend it on the basis that the game is released Europe just two weeks after the US, even though the 31st August date is not official and--knowing the publisher--will be subject to delay. Some claim that Atlus Japan have every right to protect their profits (so once again globalisation benefits the business but not the consumer). Some point out that the 360 and 3DS are region-locked, which is completely irrelevant to the issue at hand.
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Are they insane? No, on second thoughts they're probably just stupid.

In a free market capitalist society it's a given that people should have to work hard in order to get to the top, but somewhere a lot of people seem to have forgotten that they should also have to work hard in order to stay there. It shouldn't become a bloody free ride once you have a certain amount of wealth and / or power, and that goes for businesses as much as individuals.
 
Would it at least have kille them to region block it to US AND EU? I disapprove of region blocking as a whole, but if the aim was to stop the Japanese importing...
 
Don't want to drag up this ****-shower of a story again really (nor look for my posts elsewhere about it), but I just wanted to remark again that the idea of there being a "dramatic difference in price" between the US and JP releases of this game is SUCH ******* ******** that I can't believe any "news" outlet of any worth let Atlus get a free pass in that press release.

If the games industry had any semblance of a proper journalistic structure (there are one or two people out there, like Patrick Klepek for example, who try to do their job, but really), this **** would not have flown.
 
Not that I regularly import anyway, but thanks for removing that option from me now Atlus, you douchenuggets.
 
And here we....go, Persona 4 Arena EU delayed, we won't be playing it anytime soon.

Not much of an explanation there really, but I'm not surprised going by Zen's past track record. A combination of these "development issues" and Atlus/Index's bloody-minded determination to protect their domestic market whilst ignoring everything else lead to this. It's lose-lose really, if this sells it gives the impression that delayed releases and region-locking is A-OK and we'll be back to the 90's again. If it bombs, it further proves to Atlus/Index that the EU market isn't worth the effort. :evil:

I don't know much about the competitive fighting scene, but doesn't this delay pretty much kill P4A as a viable tournament game in the EU? With the likes of Tekken Tag 2 and Dead or Alive 5 it won't stand a chance. As the great Malcolm Tucker would say, it's a f****** omnishambles!
 
As a competitive fighter P4A is pretty much DOA in Europe. As you point out, it'll be overshadowed by higher profile games in Europe, while the US and Japanese players, having had the game for at least a couple of months by then, will be annihilating hapless Europeans.

Me, I'm waiting until it's a tenner and forgetting about playing online. A slow clap for everyone involved.
 
DOA won't affect it much, but Tekken will basically kill anything that isn't SFIV or Marvel in a lot of areas of the UK, they really needed to get P4A out sooner. tbh I don't think it will take off much in the USA either, and maybe not even Japan long term - a lot of the success it's had has been from its casual appeal.
 
Yeah, **** this. I have better things to do with my life than wait for Zen to slowly pap out the same freaking game that's already out on market.

Pre order Cancelled and I'll buy the game second hand, it's more money that can be spent on giving Bamco money for at least being sorry about taking forever to get Graces F out with that heruge standard edition set.
 
ilmaestro said:
Don't want to drag up this ****-shower of a story again really (nor look for my posts elsewhere about it), but I just wanted to remark again that the idea of there being a "dramatic difference in price" between the US and JP releases of this game is SUCH **** ******** that I can't believe any "news" outlet of any worth let Atlus get a free pass in that press release.

If the games industry had any semblance of a proper journalistic structure (there are one or two people out there, like Patrick Klepek for example, who try to do their job, but really), this **** would not have flown.
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A quick Amazon.com vs .jp suggests there is a significant difference 6980 Yen working out as just under $89 vs a US price of $56

Thats almost 60% more for the Japanese release.

I don't think anyone agrees with the region locking here but you can't say there isn't a price difference and that the Japanese are being screwed over in the name of profit.
 
Amazon's own price in Japan is actually just under 6000 yen, they are currently listing a marketplace seller as they won't have stock for a couple of weeks (the game has sold out hard all across Japan). Also, you didn't add on free shipping to Japan from .co.jp vs international shipping from .com. :p

Not to mention the fact that exchange rates are kind of non-representative if you are talking about people getting "screwed" - yen effectively aren't worth as much in Japan as they are in America.

(Not that I want to 100% defend Atlus in this regard - they have priced both P4G and P4A relatively high in Japan, which has slightly more flexible RRPs for games than the US or UK).
 
Fact of the matter is, I can not play Persona 4 Arena legally for love nor money and about 2/3's of the world can because they're not European. A rediculous metric for allowing people to play video games in this high tech future world of 2012 that is seeming to clawing it's way back into undeserved provenance.

The fact that the EUR distributors are happy to post images of Woody from Toy Story molesting Aiges seems to state their wanton frivolity over the subject.
 
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