The last week brought with it news that Persona 4 Arena would effectively become the first PlayStation 3 system game to be region-locked. We can today confirm that this is true; the game will be region-locked in all its respective territories of release.
As weve ascertained from your impassioned responses online, this is obviously a tremendous frustration for many fans. We understand the various perspectives on the matter. Those who fear this is a slippery slope, the beginning of a dangerous and unnecessary precedent. Those who import foreign hardware for a multitude of reasons and expect to be unlimited in their software selection. Those who arent necessarily affected by this issue, but who are principally opposed to it. 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.
There are, however, a few points to clarify. This is NOT the beginning of a new ATLUS policy, 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. Allow us to explain.
Persona 4 Arena achieves a number of triumphs for our North American publishing house. For years, our fans have asked us to include dual language audio in our games. Finally, with P4 Arena, we were able to deliver on that desire and include the exact same content as the Japanese release for our North American fans. Moreover, our North American community is often forced to wait months for a localized release (a plight our friends across the Atlantic can relate to). Again, with P4 Arena, were able to release within two weeks of Japan. We pushed hard for these things. We know our fans want themwell really, EXPECT themand we did our best to get as much for our release as possible.
The unforeseen consequence in all of this was that we had a version of our biggest game of the year releasing within a couple weeks in two territories, both identical in content, but at radically different price points. Importing, as great as it is for gamers who otherwise cant get access to a title, can also cannibalize the performance of a title in one territory to the benefit of another. While were 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.
For many of you, there is no explanation that resonates, no justification that atones for this fact. We can only endeavor to earn back your confidence and, to learn from your arguments. We absolutely recognize the fear that this is the beginning of a trend. We in no way view it as such. Please also keep in mind that the games excellent online multiplayer is global, a fact that is in no way affected by the region-lock. Players can compete against fighters from all territories.
A tremendous team of talented developers and artists poured their blood, sweat, and tears into Persona 4 Arena, and every reaction weve ever received to the game has shown that those efforts are readily apparent. The decision to region-lock P4 Arena was a business one, one that has very clearly affected how many perceive the project, but we ask you to please not overlook the exceptional efforts of the people behind the game and to work with us through constructive dialogue.
Thank you.
seems reasonable to me! great to see such direct communication from a company that seems to care a lot about making its fans happy.
Over the years, I've really come to respect those guys. I've only played so many of their games, but they're better about these things than most. Is it PR? Absolutely. But it's better PR, and it's very specific PR.
-- K | H | A | Q | Q | A | H | K "we're about 50 years behind the rest of western society." -icon on B8
So basically they admit that Japanese gamers are getting screwed by the fact that companies can arbitrarily set the price of a popular game ridiculously high and they don't want their domestic base to import from the US?
It's the same reason why Bandai was selling blu rays of a single episode of Gundam Unicorn for like 70$ here in the states. They're afraid of reverse-importation
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"One of these days, I'm gonna find a loophole my friend." - Man in Black
Over the years, I've really come to respect those guys. I've only played so many of their games, but they're better about these things than most. Is it PR? Absolutely. But it's better PR, and it's very specific PR.
It's "PR" in that this is spun to look positive, but honestly, they're being very candid and truthful about their business practices. I think most Atlus fans should embrace their reasoning if not their policy: they went out of their way to make a game accessible to two regions at once, and don't want one market to cannibalize the work they put in for two different regional editions.
-- West of the brick. ~*Rockets Fan*~ Epic SA-X: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI89FfIEYU4
The fact there was such a community backlash in the first place is incredibly annoying, given Atlus have gone out of their way to give practically no reason you should import it in the first place. Paying for the price the regular price inflation has set for games isn't that ludicrous, and there's STILL local or online deals for every region some way or another if that hurts so bad.
Every version has English and Japanese voice acting and text, far as I know the online ISN'T region locked so you can play globally, all releases are within a very short time of one another (less than 2 weeks in the case of JP/US), and there is no exclusive content specific to any region.
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I have no idea who you are, but I thank you for arousing me. - Beruga Brawl FC: 3823-8243-5663
I would be okay with region locking if there was minimal difference in content and release date. Unfortunately it seems like that will only be the case a select few times.
I don't know how bad the backlash was here, but Atlus should have expected there would be complaints over this. especially considering they don't have publishing rights in Europe.
stuff has been region locked in the past before so whatever. stuff will be region locked in the future too, so whatever. it happens. there end up being ways around it, and i'm perfectly fine with it here because there really isn't any difference. atlus is one of those companies you're supposed to trust and they have never let me down in the past 10 years of work. ain't starting now.
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"Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
I don't even get why they were getting so many complaints. The online isn't region locked and the game is releasing with dual audio so the only people whining are either incredibly impatient or just want the cheaper US price and none of their complaining is justified whatsoever.
I'd think the people who hired her to play Chie would know! Oh yeah and if anybody wondered it sounds like Mitsuru, Elizabeth, Aigis and Akihiko all have their original voice actors.
Capcom could release this exact statement and there would be absolute hate
I doubt it. also they would never release a statement like this - their statement would say "Sony won't allow us to make it region free, also we never promised it would be region free so you are really complaining about nothing. as a consolation prize you can buy 25% of the cast for an additional $20 six months from now." Capcom exists in a different reality of customer interaction.
Capcom could release this exact statement and there would be absolute hate
To be fair, Atlus hasn't been in the practice of incredibly stupid and eyebrow raising practices for the past year or so. In fact, Atlus has continuously shown itself to be a company that does the opposite of Capcom by trying to give consumers as much as they can for their money.
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/cwistofu/younha-combo.jpg Younha's back with a new album!
the way this was handled and the way Capcom handled SFxT are vastly different though. Atlus apologized, promised it isn't a new policy, and explained why they did it. Capcom lied about the reason there was no couch co-op, lied about the DLC characters not being finished, and responded to BBB complaints by saying "we never promised couch co-op play on 360 anyway."
Capcom does get some flack it probably doesn't deserve, but there's a clear difference between Capcom and Atlus in these instances and it's easy to see why one met with a lot of negativity and the other did not.
As far as the negative response, I think European and Japanese have the most to be upset about. This affects them more than anyone. Japanese because this prevents them from having a cheaper option, and Europeans because they have to wait however long until a publisher releases the game. Atlus in NA handled this as best they could, though. It isn't their fault the main company put the region restriction in.
yeah this does seem like something pretty minor to complain about. maybe it's one of those "principle of the matter" things. NA especially seems like they're doing pretty well out of this.
This is probably one of the more understandable complaints. I roll my eyes when people get upset about DLC, but this is understandable. Atlus is doing something no other company does so that they can charge more in certain territories. It's as bad as any on disc DLC.
Japan likes to do this same thing with their anime. They don't like letting anybody have a chance of buying the far cheaper NA products because they lose out on a lot of money.
I would take this as a big deal if it was a RPG or any game with some content on it, but lol it's another barebones fighting game. You have about 50 of those already in the last 2 years.
I would take this as a big deal if it was a RPG or any game with some content on it, but lol it's another barebones fighting game. You have about 50 of those already in the last 2 years.
the game is supposed to have a 30-40 hour story mode or something
but hey, blanket statements are fun!
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/cwistofu/younha-combo.jpg Younha's back with a new album!