With both the Xbone One and PS4 saying “No!” to region locking, many gamers have been looking in Nintendo’s direction to also remove the limitation to play games that are released outside of your region of residence.
Whilst Nintendo is becoming better at releasing games simultaneously across the globe (Pokemon X and Y being a perfect example of this in October later this year) many gamers are still upset and feel that Nintendo is denying them the right to buy games that they want to play.
In a recent interview with IGN, president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata said:
“From some people’s perspective, it might seem like a kind of restriction. However, we hope people can appreciate the fact that we’re selling our products worldwide. There are many different regions around the world, and each region has its own cultural acceptance and legal restrictions, as well as different age ratings. There are always things that we’re required to do in each different region, which may go counter to the idea that players around the world want the freedom to play whatever they want.”
He later continued saying:
“I hope that game fans can understand that the industry isn’t doing this solely out of business ego. There are some reasons behind it.”
This came after IGN reached out to Nintendo after many publications started posting support of one fans online petition for Nintendo to remove its region locking restrictions across all of its consoles. You can sign your name on the virtual dotted line by visiting: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/nintendo-stop-region-blocking-make-the-3ds-and-wii-u-region-free
