RF Generation Message Board

Oh dear. This decision by Atlus recently has caused quite the sh**storm on gaming sites ever since it was announced.

But to be fair to Atlus, at least they gave a valid reason for making the decision to implement such a controversial feature:

http://www.siliconera.com/2012/07/06/atlus-persona-4-arena-region-locking-not-a-slippery-slope/

As a longtime importer and supporter of Atlus-published titles, I'm really conflicted here. This was going to be a potential Day 1 purchase for me, but at the same time, I'm not really a huge fan of region-locking a game, especially on the region-free PS3. The one saving grace here is that Atlus has confirmed the game will have dual-language audio, so the game will be essentially be the same across all regions. It doesn't effect me that much personally, since I have a NA-region PS3, but importers may not be so fortunate. For 360 owners, they're used to this. Business as usual.

So, any thoughts on this? Good business move, or will this end up biting Atlus in the ass? ???

After reading that article I still don't understand why they're region locking the game in the first place? ???


On a more philosophical note I find it funny how in one generation of consoles, region-free games have become necessity. Weren't pretty much all previous consoles region-locked? The PS2, GameCube, ....

"a luxury once enjoyed becomes a necessity."

ya i don't really understand the big deal, region locking isn't new and makes sense. i'm actually surprised the ps3 is region-free, i didn't realise that

While I don't agree with Atlus doing this (Atlus! Of all the game publishers in the world, I would have never thought that Atlus would have been the first to publish a region-locked game on the PS3), I wasn't planning on buying this game until it hit a bargain price anyway.  Now Persona 5 would be a different story altogether...

I'm still on the fence. It looks fantastic and I might actually splurge and grab it at full price. The region lock wont affect my decision to purchase it in the least. If they think it'll make them a few more bucks and cut down on a bit of importing I have no problem with that.

The reason Atlus' PR department is giving is that supposedly because of the current state of the dollar being very weak against the Japanese yen and the Euro, Atlus is hoping they can prevent buyers in the EU/JP territories from importing the much cheaper NA version, since the game will have dual-language audio and will essentially be the same across all regions (the box art and manual might be slightly different, but that's about it). I'm not quite sure how much stock I'd be willing to put into that reason though, based on what I'm hearing from gaming sites, if the angry fans make good on their threats and there's a massive boycott of P4A on the PS3 due to the region-locking, the loss in sales is pretty much going to offset whatever money Atlus of Japan might have saved by preventing the European and Japanese from importing the cheaper NA version.


Lol. I thought everyone knew the PS3 console was region free. Heck, it's one of the big selling points of the PS3, aside from free online and some pretty good console exclusives. But yeah, PS3 is region free, the Xbox 360 has always been region-locked. PSN Store titles are region-locked, though, and PS3 games, on the other hand, CAN be region-locked, but that decision is up to the publisher, and subject to Sony's approval process.


Well, there is a pre-order bonus soundtrack CD available for the NA version, so there's incentive right there to get it Day 1. I don't know about the other regions getting pre-order bonuses or if there will be a LE available. I kinda doubt there will be an LE version of this game, it's going to depend on each regions' respective publishers as to how the releases pan out. It's worth noting that Zen United will be the publisher for the EU publisher for P4A (normally Ghostlight is the company that usually publishes Atlus titles).

The good news is, the game is supposed to come out around the same time in NA/JP; the JP version comes out July 26, and the NA version comes out a week and a half later on August 7. Zen United says the EU version is stated to be released sometime in August, but the date listed is currently a placeholder and is likely subject to change.

I suspect that this was a Atlus of Japan and not a Atlus of America decision to region-lock the game, which would be understandable for Atlus JP and Zen United for trying to maximize profits by preventing imports of the NA region. The NA version will be $60 on Day 1, the EU version would be around 50 Euros (UK ~31 pounds), and the JP version to retail for 7500 yen (about ~$85, $90 shipped for importers). Problem is, the backlash that Atlus may get from this decision may cost them more than the savings they'd get from merely making it tougher to import on the PS3. This decision may (unfortunately) promote more region-locking of future titles by other publishers, which would encourage more piracy and boycotting (which is MUCH worse than stopping imports). The next generation of consoles appears to be heading in this direction anyway, at which point I'll just pretty much stop being a video gamer. My collecting days would end with this generation.

But I concur, blcklblskt; while Atlus isn't exactly EA or Capcom or Activision (and region-locking is not nearly as egregrious as Machiavellian-level DRM or on-disc DLC or perma-saves), I'm hoping that P4 Arena is an isolated incident and that Atlus doesn't plan on making a habit of this. If Persona 4 Golden or, heaven forbid, Persona 5 gets region-locked, and the games weren't dual-language audio, that would pretty much kill a purchase from me. Also, another factor to consider is that since the game is being jointly developed by Arc System Works and Atlus, I wonder just how much influence Aksys Games may have had in making this decision to region-lock, assuming they supported it in the first place.

tl;dr: I will support Atlus and buy P4 Arena, but I may or may not buy it Day 1, I might be tempted to wait until the price drops to $30 or less, assuming it goes down at all. But I won't be so kind with my wallet if Atlus does this voluntarily in future titles. That being said, this game looks really good, and could be potentially better than either Blazblue or MvC. So I'd say check it out if you like 2D fighters.

Here's Atlus' latest trailer for the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xdQM2vGO_k&list=UU7hgDFSPvJVIUx_b8i1cILA

While I'm not a fan of region locking at all myself (as I type, my Duo and Duo RX are at Apolloboy's shack getting repaired and region switch modded :D ) I can understand the economics of these decisions.

It's not about pure profits for Atlus of Japan; remember, an $85 game sold in Japan is NOT an automatic $15 profit for Atlus over a US release, as we forget the different costs associated with distribution, marketing, taxation and a host of other factors out of Atlus' hands.  Anyone who followed the nonsense around getting Rock Band into international hands at non-ludicrous prices knows that not all markets, nor market prices, are created equal, and even outside profit margins,  it is not often economically feasible to release a game at the same relative price across every region.

Looking at my collection, with PS3 imports ranging from the Korean WipeEout HD disc to the Euro Monkey Island SE disc, I likely come across as hypocritical.  While I do not want region coding on any game or console (admittedly for the sake of my own preferences and conveniences) it is a complex issue with business economics beyond the scope of just 'moar monee, fleece this region!!' 

Atlus is known for listening to its fans far better than typical media companies, and while I'm sure they care more than EA or Ubisoft about the type of fan who does not want region restrictions, it is also perhaps unrealistic to believe that the forums and bloggers who are unhappy about this represent a large customer base compared to the hundreds of thousands of customers whom Atlus hopes will purchase the game.  Not that they deserve to be ignored, but the number of day-1 boycotters is going to be unrealistically over-represented via their internet voice.

Also, I've had the game preordered for several months now myself, can't wait!

I will likely buy this game, but only when it hits ~$15 or so. I like supporting Atlus, so I tend to buy their games new, albeit when they're on sale. Like I said before, though, Persona 5 will likely be a day one.

I was probably going to be in the same boat until I heard about the soundtrack preorder bonus :P

I hear ya. I'm a sucker for soundtrack CDs, even if it's a mini-soundtrack CD.;)

Oh, and this game is getting a LE in Japanese for those who are interested in importing the Japanese version:

http://www.play-asia.com/Persona_4_Ultimate_Mayonaka_Arena_Famitsu_DX_Pack/paOS-13-71-bp-49-en-70-4tgj.html

There's also a arcade controller stick made by Hori available for sale as well:

http://www.play-asia.com/Persona_4_Ultimate_Mayonaka_Arena_Stick_for_PS3/paOS-13-71-zl-49-en-70-4pwd.html

Sadly, neither are an option for me because as much as I love LE swag, the prohibitive cost of these two items (not to mention the aforementioned region-locking) pretty much ensures that I'm sticking with the NA game. I could buy a Xbox 360 console for the combined price of those two items + shipping.

^same here.  I would have imported the LE for PS3 if it were not region locked. :(

Region locking sucks. Not the best way to be a trendsetter, Atlus.

So I got a refund in the mail and it happened to be about the price for a new game and I decided to pre-order this for my PS3. Looking forward to sparring with you guys soon!

double

i just got the game Day 1 for $50 before sales tax at Fry's (they were running a release-day discount). Really nice fighting game, great for both newbies and veterans alike. I'd like to try and figure out how to unlock the extra voice navigators without having to purchase them as DLC.