– Nintendo president Satoru Iwata According to a question asked at Nintendo’s recent investor Q&A session, the company is reconsidering whether to continue region-locking its games. “The game business has a history of taking a very long time with localization among other things, such as having to deal with various issues of marketing in each particular country, or games that have made use of licensed content that did not apply globally,” Iwata answered, in part, explaining why the company currently locks its games. The 3DS doesn’t allow users to play games bought in a different territory, though there was no such restriction on its predecessor, the Nintendo DS. It began to region-lock portable games with the DSi, and continued with the 3DS. Sony does not generally region-lock software for the PlayStation Vita or its consoles anymore. The question and answer were translated by NeoGAF member and Japan resident Cheesemeister; we’re still awaiting the full, official translation of the Q&A, which shows up in the days following the company’s earnings presentation. Iwata detailed the company’s first “quality of life” device in his prepared statements, which have already been published in English. We’ll be sure to keep writing if more interesting info comes to light when the full Q&A is translated.
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2014