Xbox One to Have Region Locks – No Importing For You!

In what may be the nail in the coffin for the Xbox One in the eyes of those who import, Microsoft have announced the next console in the Xbox line will be region locked.

Digital Trends confirmed the console’s stance on region-locking with a Microsoft representative:

“Similar to the movie and music industry, games must meet country-specific regulatory guidelines before they are cleared for sale. We will continue to work with our partners to follow these guidelines with Xbox One.”

This has been Microsoft’s stance on region locking since the original Xbox, but one has to question what those regulatory guidelines actually are considering the small number of people worldwide who import. Is someone underage really going to be importing Moe Daibouken: Momoiro Pantsu no Densetsu? Not a real game title, but you get the point.

This is just an inconvenience for North American and European gamers, but what about those in smaller countries in which importing is the only way to get games at affordable prices (or at all)? Then again, in many of these territories the once a day internet check-in wouldn’t be possible. The Xbox One will not even be a viable piece of hardware in these instances.

Most of my fellow North American and European import gamers were already leaning toward the PlayStation 4 because of the unlikelihood of the Xbox One taking off in Japan. Hopefully the PlayStation 4 continues in the PlayStation 3’s footsteps in region-locking policies and allows developers to choose if they want their titles to be locked to a region. If not, importers’ wallets may take a major beating during the next generation’s advent.