Nintendo’s thinking of removing region-locking from its future gaming hardware.
Nintendo consoles currently only work with software bought from the same region, but that could change with the NX, Nintendo’s mysterious new gaming hardware, reports Eurogamer. Speaking to investors, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that the company was investigating whether it could remove region-locking going forward. It’s potentially good news for gamers, who currently can’t easily import and play Nintendo games that aren’t released in their part of the world.
Nintendo’s Wii U is the only contemporary home console that includes region-locking for physical titles. Both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are region free.
All we currently know about the NX is that it’s a “dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept,” according to Iwata. That hasn’t stopped GamesBeat from speculating about it, though. Making the NX region-free would be a smart move that would please Nintendo’s core audience.
It’s unlikely that Nintendo’s current machines will ever lose their region locks, though, as Iwata said that doing so “presents various issues, so we don’t consider that to be very realistic.”
“However, regarding NX, given the customer feedback and proposals from the market, while nothing has been decided yet, we’re currently investigating internally what problems there would be in realising it. You can think of that as the current situation. I understand your desire, so I’d like to look at it optimistically going forward.”