Fans speak out against Persona 4: Arena PS3 region lock – Video Games Update
Atlus has announced that the Playstation 3 (PS3) version of Persona 4: Arena (P4: Arena) will be region locked. This is a first as normally all PS3 games are region free.
Persona 4: Arena is a fighting game from Atlus which features characters from the previous Persona role playing games (RPG) such as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 and Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4. The game was announced on August 2011 and came out for Arcades
in Japan on March 1, 2012.
The console version for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 is set to launch on July 26 for Japan followed by the North American release on August 7, 2012. Currently there is no release date for the European version of the game.
The Shin Megami Tensei series has a cult following in the West and Playstation gamers were outraged upon hearing the news that the game will be region locked. This means that hardcore gamers who can’t wait for the official release cannot import the game
anymore due to it being region locked.
When the Region Lock news first surfaced many fans were confused regarding whether the game was region locked or just the online servers. Atlus provided clarification that the game was indeed locked and gamers will have to wait for the official release to
get their hands on the game as they said, “To reiterate, our version of the game works for the North and South America regions. Also keep in mind that both the NA and JP versions have both English and Japanese text/voice options, making them nearly identical.”
Atlus has provided another clarification after the fan outburst showing their disapproval of Atlus’ decision to lock the game. Atlus stated that the reason for the region lock was because of the difference in price between the Japanese and the American version
of the game. Because of exchange rates, the game is going to cost 7,329 Yen in Japan which is roughly $92 where as it will cost $59.99 in America.
Since both versions of the game are similar, the higher ups at Atlus decided to region lock the game to avoid mass importing which would have led to weaker sales in Japan.
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