Publisher ATLUS has confirmed that Persona 4 Arena will be the first PlayStation 3 game to be region locked, a policy that’s consistent across every territory the game will release in.
“This is obviously a tremendous frustration for many fans,” says the official response, which then goes onto attempt to calm any fears that this will be an ongoing policy. “We understand the various perspectives on the matter,” it says. “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.”
You may not be immediately affected by this, but Atlus are keen to highlight that those who import foreign hardware (which includes TSA writers here) and those that are principally opposed to it shouldn’t worry.
“This is NOT the beginning of a new ATLUS policy,” says the statement, “nor do we view it as a precedent or a slippery slope. If anything, your determination and dedication to what you believe in has certainly stood in the face of that.”
“This is an isolated case, a situation precipitated by a number of factors, some of which are simply out of our North American hands. 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.”
Atlus then goes onto explain the reasons, which includes a huge amount of work in translating and a release date that’s within two weeks of the Japanese release. The real issue is that the American release and the Japanese release are vastly different in pricing.
“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. 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.”
It seems like the publisher can’t really win here, but at least they’re being entirely honest with the reasons and have attempted to speak to fans directly.
Youles
Great to see a publisher come out and say exactly why, which can’t be surprising given the current financial climate, and that they do appear to value the fans’ input/opinions. Also nice that this doesn’t appear to be a new “policy”, although if it’s for these financial reasons, I can’t see it changing anytime soon.
McProley
To be fair, although I’m not a fan of region locking, his comments make sense. Its not a drastic price difference and for the amount of translating involved, I don’t think many can grumble at that.
Regardless, I think his honesty at least should drum up a certain amount of respect
hazelam
but i think the fact he’s saying they did it to force people to buy the more expensive version pretty much outweighs any respect earned due to honesty.
in my opinion.
i mean, if ea came out and admitted they just created the online passes because they’re greedy, would they get respect for being honest?
McProley
Yeah but thats because greed is different to putting up the price in a product due to there being more work involved such as translation. That argument doesn’t stand.
As I said, I’m not a fan of region locking, but I hold a certain amount of respect and understanding for his truthful comments. Some other pulishers, such as EA as you mention or Activision, would not give such comments or even make statement in reaction to fans/consumers feedback.
Youles
The way I see it they are correct – not saying I like it – it’s the same as most product costing. They are a business trying to get a decent price for their product in each respective country – and to protect that they are region locking it. There is obviously a market for it here, and rather than have all EU consumers importing it (for cheaper) they are forcing them to buy it at their desired price, in the consumers’ country.
I think their honesty even comes accross in a good light by how down to Earth the comments are, no big corporate speak as such.
zb100
If you’re buying an imported version, then you shouldn’t have to shoulder the cost of translation as you’re doing this yourself? Plus you’re shouldering the import costs to ship the title over early?
This is not a good thing.
fs
They’ve done pretty well with that.
colmshan1990
Not a nice decision to make, but it’s refreshing to see it well explained.
Hopefully this doesn’t become the norm.
stage1
I’m not buying this BS and I’m not buying the game.
If there’s an exception for one game then other publishers will follow.
hazelam
it’s not a new policy at atlus?
and if the same situation comes up again, they won’t do the same thing?
yeah, right. o_O
and as for being give credit for being honest?
he’s just telling people what they already knew.
i do give them credit for realising when there’s simply no point in lying, where it would drive the fans even further away.
take note ea. ^_^
Lord_Gremlin
What happened to Sony? they never allowed region lock. At first this even caused major problems with Japanese publishers, but Sony just forced it’s position throughout PS3 and PSP console lifecycle (and now Vita is also region free).
Just what the fudge happened? What’s so massive about this that Sony let Atlus violate policy they had for many years and which served them well?
Something is amiss. Similar situations with importing happened many times but this is the only case in many years in which Sony suddenly allowed region lock. What’s the real deal here?
stage1
It’s crazy how so many people have commented on here saying “Well, at least their being honest so I guess that’s alright”.
Wake up people!
Forrest_01
Well, at least they are being honest right? :P
stage1
Haha, good one :)