MDMAlliance said:
Nope. Here's a copypasta list of reasons. Pricing. It is difficult to maintain a single pricing structure that can be applied worldwide due to currency conversion, taxes, international trade laws (e.g., European Union free movement of goods). Considerations such as local/national discretionary income, the prevalence and ease of obtaining pirated media, competing products/services and loss-leading promotion (to establish a foothold in a territory) can also affect pricing. Region-locking a console means that there is no need for pricing parity across the world; different territories can have different prices for games without people simply shopping "wherever is cheaper". Sensitive regions. Some games could be regarded as offensive for religious or political reasons, and regional lockout may be required to prevent these games from being distributed in sensitive countries. Staggered launches. If a console is region-locked, then staggered launches of the games would be easier, as console producers could easily control the huge bow-wave of people wanting a game the moment it is released. |
What you cite is true, but it doesn't deny what I wrote, although it adds a thing: region-lock sole purposes serve exclusively the interests of vendors, as I wrote, and governments too, and of religious groups too where they have strong influence on governments, as instead I didn't mention, but it's totally against the rights and interests of private citizens. If I were a liberal muslim (or belonging to another religion, or atheist or agnostic) in a muslim country, or a liberal chinese in China, wanting to bypass any censorship, region lock would actively damage my human rights. If I were a gamer not giving a damn about jurassic staggered launch strategies, region lock would hurt my right to enjoy all the benefits of a global market, if I was a gamer ripped off by excessive prices in my country, and wanting again to enjoy the benefits of the global market, I'd be damaged too.
So yes, what you wrote is true, but it doesn't deny what I wrote, it instead adds infos about how end-users are damaged and only the interests of other parts are served.
