An Atlus staff member has confirmed on their official forums that their upcoming PlayStation 3 release of Persona 4: Arena, a fighting game based on the Persona series, will be region-locked. This is unusual, as the PS3 is the only console of the current generation that is completely region-free, so generally a game from any region can play on any system. Both the North American release and the Japanese release will include Japanese and English options for both voice and text, so gamers in either region shouldn’t be missing out on any content due to the inability to import. No specific reason was given for the region-locking. This may not be a huge deal for this particular game, as the international releases are fairly close together and similar in content, but it could set a bad precedent.
Persona 4: Arena is set for release on Xbox 360 and PS3 in Japan later this month, with a North American release to follow on August 7.
Update 7/12/12: After confirmation that Persona 4: Arena will be region-locked, Atlus has since clarified the reasoning for the sudden change. In a statement, Atlus PR and sales manager Aram Jabbari confirmed that this is not the beginning of a new policy, and most of their future games will not see the same fate. He explained that the region lock was a business decision resulting from a number of factors, many of which benefit their fans: both feature the same exact content (including dual language tracks and global multiplayer), and the North American release is within two weeks of the Japanese release. As a result of this, there was a chance of cannibalizing the sales of the game in Japan due to Japanese gamers importing the North American version at a significantly lower price (since both feature the exact same content). He went on to recognize the benefits of importing, but pointed out that in this case both regions are receiving the same game, so while importing has little benefit to the consumer, it would be to the detriment of the publisher.
While region-locking is unfortunate, at least in this case it seems to be a result of Atlus’ efforts to please fans in other ways. Importing often occurs because of long delays between regional releases (or no release at all) or a lack of features, and it seems like the publisher has made efforts to fix both of these, at least in the regions they are established in (North America and Japan).
