6th July 2012, 7:58 AM
It's because games are often released by different companies in different regions. Say, Game X is released by Atlus in Japan. In America, it's released by XSeed, who paid Atlus a licencing fee to release Game X. However, Game X is released 6 months earlier in Japan than in the United States. As Game X is a niche game, many of its fans would rather purchase it 6 months earlier than wait for it to be released in English. Therefore, XSeed looses out on a chunk of sales, thus making them annoyed that Game X is not region locked, and making them less likely to want to license another of Atlus' games. However, in Atlus' world, they would make more money if XSeed licensed and released the game in English than from just the sales to importers, making them more likely to try to placate XSeed by enforcing region restrictions. The fan-pleasing solution, of course, is for Atlus to release Game X worldwide simultaneously, but that's not always a viable option.
Doesn't make it any less annoying for consumers, but that's basically why they do it.
Doesn't make it any less annoying for consumers, but that's basically why they do it.
Sometimes you get the scorpion.