Skip to main content

Microsoft answers the question of Xbox One region locks

xbox-one-event-console-sideAs the details of the Xbox One continue to trickle out following the May 21, 2013 unveiling and the subsequent deluge of facts (some real, some not), we have one more piece of information to confirm about the console: the Xbox One will still feature regional locks.

“Similar to the movie and music industry, games must meet country-specific regulatory guidelines before they are cleared for sale,” A rep from Microsoft confirmed to Digital Trends. “We will continue to work with our partners to follow these guidelines with Xbox One.”

Related Videos

No surprise here. Region locks are nothing new, especially for video games. Different parts of the world have different rules regarding what content is acceptable, both from a moral and a legal standpoint.

Brazil, for example, has incredibly high taxes on video game software and hardware. Whether or not those taxes are fair is another conversation, but without region locks people would simply circumvent the law and order their games and hardware from a foreign vendor. While that might sound like a good thing for Brazilian gamers, it would create mind-bendingly complicated legal problems. All of that can be prevented by a simple piece of software that is already considered part of the industry standard.

Editors' Recommendations

Sonic Frontiers is getting a free update this week, including new modes
Sonic holds his heels during a midair trick in Photo Mode.

Sonic Frontiers will receive its first of three planned updates on Wednesday, March 22. The free DLC -- dubbed Sights, Sound, and Speed -- has a load of new features, including Photo Mode, Jukebox, and new challenge modes.

Sega previously detailed its plans to support Sonic Frontiers in the long term last November, but it didn't share a timeline for when the updates were coming. Now that first wave is finally here, giving the game it's first significant update since it launched last year.

Read more
The best upcoming Xbox Series X games: 2023 and beyond
A spacecraft in Starfield.

The Xbox Series X and Series S have now been out for over two years, bringing better resolution, higher frame rates, and ray tracing to gamers around the world. The upcoming Xbox Series X games on this list promise to continue to show off all those bells and whistles in fun, new experiences.

If you're eager to find out what Microsoft has in store for the years ahead, we've rounded up every game confirmed so far, including new offerings, franchise installments, and ports of existing titles. We're looking beyond the first-party projects here to encompass all the great games coming to this powerful piece of gaming hardware.
2023

Read more
Everything we know about Alan Wake 2
Alan Wake Looking Grizzly In Alan Wake 2.

The original Alan Wake is a game that went through quite a troubled development before it was finally released. After many iterations and changes in scope and direction, the final product was initially a cult hit, but didn't hit the mass market it needed -- at least not initially. After two DLC episodes, a sequel was in the works to build upon the first game and revive some of the elements that had to be cut from the first in order for it to ship, but this was ultimately not meant to be. The sequel was canceled and a smaller downloadable game, Alan Wake's American Nightmare, was released instead.

Since then, we hadn't heard from our intrepid writer until he showed up in a very unlikely place. Featured in the AWE expansion for a completely different game, Control, Alan was back in the picture. With a remaster of the initial game catching everyone up on his first appearance, now was the perfect time to announce that the long-awaited sequel was back in development. We haven't found all the manuscript pages yet, but here is everything we know about Alan Wake 2.

Read more