Sorry if I’m using incorrect terminology.
Killing Eve is region locked to GB apparently and I vaguely remember El Orfanato being only available in Spain for a short while, but it’s seemingly not locked there anymore.
What is the reason for this? Isn’t it better and more profitable to not region lock?
In: 2
There are many reasons.
In videogames older TVs across the world ran at different frequencies. 60hz for America, 50hz for Europe. The consoles therefore ran at these frequencies and the hardware was physically different so the game carts required region locking or they would have a lot of upset customers with non functional carts for their region .
Gameboys were not region locked because the hardware was the same allover: they didn’t need a TV to work.
Some of it is legal. Europe I believe has laws requiring games be available in all languages, whereas the US just needs English. So slightly different versions.
Pricing is another thing. And probably tax. Being able to charge the optimal price point in each region ensures optimal profits.
Copyright is another. Certain names are copyrighted in Europe that aren’t in the US and vice versa.
Censorship too. Japan famously has less lax censorship requirements than many other places.
Piracy prevention is a big motivator too.
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