Why are there lock outs on consoles to prevent import gaming?

I'm not much of a business guy, but why do companies create their consoles to prevent you from playing imports? Like I can't play a JPN PS2 on a US PS2 and vice versa. I mean isn't all the money going to the same place? Or are they trying to protect the vendors like EB and Gamestop to make sure they get business?

Some people don't mind (which is most of us here) the JPN text and we would love to play games that will never see a state side release here on our domestic consoles without the hassle of modding them. I would just like to have it like my NEO GEO and PC Engine DUO and not have to get modded. Is there any legit answer to my question?

It's about MONEY plain and simple bro. It's why DVDs are Region coded as well. While it would make more sense for us die-hard gamers, it wouldn't bode well (at least to them) if say I could get online and order a game straight from Japan that would play right out the box on my respective system, because then there'd be no need for a publisher here to buy the rights for a game... or if they had already, but you had ppl like myself who prefer the JPN version, then that company would be losing money on the domestic front, never recouping the investment made on buying "the rights" for distrib in a different territory. *It's for this reason that corporate entities like EB GAMES and GAMESTOP simply will not carry/stock IMPORT games, because then the big houses like KONAMI or SONY themselves would just not go direct with them, and they'd have to go through a middle man distrib like V.L.M. back in the day. *Though I find it strange GAMESTOP had no problem stocking "import" Pokemon cards during the shortage of domestic product sometime back. *When SNK and NEC released their respective consoles, neither were "household names" in this country.

Ppl knew NEO:GEO for arcade games, but couldn't afford the pricey AES, thus making it non-lock out wasn't a big issue with SNK, since it was originaly a "home system" of the Arcade meant to be Rented out. The PC-ENGINE thing had more to do with an oversight, and downright laziness on the part of NEC and later TTi, and their ridiculous business practices are what kept out the games that might have made the TURBO DUO a contender here in the states as well. **I'm with you all the way for a REGION-LESS Next Gen Console, but it'll never happen.

MERCENARY X99

Ah the middle man, makes sense now. Shows you how shallow my business knowledge is. Well the day is fast approaching where you will no longer buy games in a store, but actually just pay and download them straight to your computer. Hopefully these regions barriers can fall for consoles too.

Mercenary X99 said:

It's about MONEY plain and simple bro. It's why DVDs are Region coded as well. While it would make more sense for us die-hard gamers, it wouldn't bode well (at least to them) if say I could get online and order a game straight from Japan that would play right out the box on my respective system, because then there'd be no need for a publisher here to buy the rights for a game... or if they had already, but you had ppl like myself who prefer the JPN version, then that company would be losing money on the domestic front, never recouping the investment made on buying "the rights" for distrib in a different territory. *It's for this reason that corporate entities like EB GAMES and GAMESTOP simply will not carry/stock IMPORT games, because then the big houses like KONAMI or SONY themselves would just not go direct with them, and they'd have to go through a middle man distrib like V.L.M. back in the day. *Though I find it strange GAMESTOP had no problem stocking "import" Pokemon cards during the shortage of domestic product sometime back. *When SNK and NEC released their respective consoles, neither were "household names" in this country.

Ppl knew NEO:GEO for arcade games, but couldn't afford the pricey AES, thus making it non-lock out wasn't a big issue with SNK, since it was originaly a "home system" of the Arcade meant to be Rented out. The PC-ENGINE thing had more to do with an oversight, and downright laziness on the part of NEC and later TTi, and their ridiculous business practices are what kept out the games that might have made the TURBO DUO a contender here in the states as well. **I'm with you all the way for a REGION-LESS Next Gen Console, but it'll never happen.

MERCENARY X99

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actually, i don't know if it really works this way. i remember gamefan magazine saying that no matter which game is bought (japanese or english), the money still goes to the mother company and not the domestic branches. but then again, those guy were crazy and retarded.

The money goes to the respective branch that it was bought from. The american companies need to fend for themselves and never recieve any money at all from the Japanese branches. Since the Japanese branches make so much more money anyway its the only way to protect that the american branches will receive their cut.

Nash said:

actually, i don't know if it really works this way. i remember gamefan magazine saying that no matter which game is bought (japanese or english), the money still goes to the mother company and not the domestic branches. but then again, those guy were crazy and retarded.

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Might also explain why there outta business .. They only published for what....3, 4 years?

I have another theory. Piracy in some Asian countries is horribly rampant, so if Americans all had consoles that could play imports, we'd all be hooking it up with teh burnz, causing all kinds of lost sales for the parent game companies. Just a thought.

galfordo said:

I have another theory. Piracy in some Asian countries is horribly rampant, so if Americans all had consoles that could play imports, we'd all be hooking it up with teh burnz, causing all kinds of lost sales for the parent game companies. Just a thought.

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Actually that was a pretty good thought

I remember when I first got Ikaruga, I got it from the local EB...times have definetly changed.

Simple, because game companies hate you.

galfordo said:

I have another theory. Piracy in some Asian countries is horribly rampant, so if Americans all had consoles that could play imports, we'd all be hooking it up with teh burnz, causing all kinds of lost sales for the parent game companies. Just a thought.

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what do you mean? region lockout and booting copies are different things..

Syxx573 said:

Simple, because game companies hate you.

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So true, so true!!

Big Shady said:

Ah the middle man, makes sense now. Shows you how shallow my business knowledge is. Well the day is fast approaching where you will no longer buy games in a store, but actually just pay and download them straight to your computer. Hopefully these regions barriers can fall for consoles too.

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Globalization at work.

You've been playing too much Neo Geo if...

10.You put an imported game in your domestic system without a converter and expect it to work.


http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=85621&referrerid=7536

ClassicMode1985 said:

You've been playing too much Neo Geo if...

10.You put an imported game in your domestic system without a converter and expect it to work.


http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=85621&referrerid=7536

Click to expand...

HAHA, yeah that's definitely me.