Is Japan against PC gaming?

[OscarKB]

I live in Japan and a crazy amount of games on Steam have been region-locked! Dark Souls, everything by PlatinumGames and EA to name just a few! What's up with that?

[Von-Reaper]

well the fallout games its quite ovious why becouse Nukes

But dark souls i dotn see why thats region locked there i need to dwell into the JP equevlent of ESRB i'll be back

[Vynira Snowy]

It's not like Japan gets exclusive games or uncensored versions.

[OscarKB]

Originally posted by Von-Reaper:

well the fallout games its quite ovious why becouse Nukes

But dark souls i dotn see why thats region locked there i need to dwell into the JP equevlent of ESRB i'll be back

Strangely enough, Fallout is perfectly available on Steam over here. What really puzzles me is why Japanese devs and publishers region-lock their games in their own country! It's ridiculous!

[OscarKB]

Originally posted by Mint-Berry Crunch:

It's not like Japan gets exclusive games or uncensored versions.

That's true, but it would be nice to be able to play games available in Western countries here.

[OscarKB]

Just found out Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is region-locked. It's published by Capcom, for God's sake!

[Vynira Snowy]

Originally posted by OscarKB:

Originally posted by Mint-Berry Crunch:

It's not like Japan gets exclusive games or uncensored versions.

That's true, but it would be nice to be able to play games available in Western countries here.

What big games are exclusive to the west?

[OscarKB]

Originally posted by Mint-Berry Crunch:

Originally posted by OscarKB:

That's true, but it would be nice to be able to play games available in Western countries here.

What big games are exclusive to the west?

- Alien: Isolation
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
- All the Battlefield games
- Lords of the Fallen

I'm sure there are plenty more. These games are available on consoles, though.

[Vynira Snowy]

Originally posted by OscarKB:

Originally posted by Mint-Berry Crunch:

What big games are exclusive to the west?

- Alien: Isolation
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
- All the Battlefield games
- Lords of the Fallen

I'm sure there are plenty more. These games are available on consoles, though.

MGR had a Japanese release.

Also just remember it's not like this is one sided. We don't have:

- Monster Hunter X
- Mother 3
- A bunch of older Fire Emblem games

Also Japan usually gets a LOT of games (especially RPGs) months before everyone else does. And let's not forget the stupid censorship.

[UOII]

the ♥♥♥♥ keep games for themselves too

[Vynira Snowy]

Originally posted by Doge:

the ♥♥♥♥ keep games for themselves too

OP actually came up with a few games that aren't in Japan.

[OscarKB]

Originally posted by Doge:

the ♥♥♥♥ keep games for themselves too

That's true. We do often get games before America and Europe.

Also, please don't call us "♥♥♥♥". It's racist and old-fashioned.

[OscarKB]

Originally posted by Mint-Berry Crunch:

Originally posted by OscarKB:

- Alien: Isolation
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
- All the Battlefield games
- Lords of the Fallen

I'm sure there are plenty more. These games are available on consoles, though.

MGR had a Japanese release.

Also just remember it's not like this is one sided. We don't have:

- Monster Hunter X
- Mother 3
- A bunch of older Fire Emblem games

Also Japan usually gets a LOT of games (especially RPGs) months before everyone else does. And let's not forget the stupid censorship.

I just find it strange that Japanese companies wouldn't release their games in their own country.

It's true that we get games before you guys, but Steam is a software distribution service. I can understand if we were dealing with physical copies.

[UOII]

Originally posted by OscarKB:

Originally posted by Doge:

the ♥♥♥♥ keep games for themselves too

That's true. We do often get games before America and Europe.

Also, please don't call us "♥♥♥♥". It's racist and old-fashioned.

such sorry

[The nameless Gamer]

It looks like nobody is entirely happy in the end. You (OP) mentioning that they region-lock major western releases is puzzling to me to the same degree I can't understand why Japan's developers keep a lot of games for themselves. I'm really eager to read the VN Stein's;Gate or some from the Tsukihime series, but there are no means to get my hands on them. And that's just the tip of the tip of the iceberg of the games from Japan people in the west would love to play. There is a small share of grief on the "other side" as well.

But, things have changed a bit in the positive direction on our end. After a long wait, games from Falcom and ArcSystem Works found their way to western customers. Maybe other people can mention other developers. It would appear that both markets are opening up to each other, but the process is slow and not entirely painless, due to the differences in standards, expectations, points of view... the list goes on. One of the negative factors would be the western censorship, against which I already spoke a few times on this domain, is undermining the process of merging the markets. My guess is that there is(are) a (maybe similar) factor(s) in Japan that is(are) working against the process in the same manner.

Maybe one day we'll get there, maybe not. Expect nothing, be ready for anything.

[Val]

Originally posted by OscarKB:

I live in Japan and a crazy amount of games on Steam have been region-locked! Dark Souls, everything by PlatinumGames and EA to name just a few! What's up with that?

The Japanese companies wnats to make a whole lot more profit and consolidate their monopoly on cosole market over there by making those games console exclusive.

The only solution to this is to use economic and propaganda means to convince native Japanese and people worldwide ot boycott games made by Japanese developers that have games on PS3 and Nintendo.