Region Locks (see 1st post for summary of Q&As): Official - No lock for UK/EUR/US/AUS

[EmmJay]

Okay, simple question:

I live in Germany. I want the boxed original (as in: English) Collector's Edition with all pre-order boni. Money is not an issue. How do I achieve this?

If you answer, Eidos, is that this is not possible, you haven't done your job. Because I want to give you money for something you've created, yet you don't let me.

[wilm987]

Originally Posted by JakBot

I don't give a damn about the price. I still haven't received my answer. Where...can...I...order...the..Collector's..Edition...for..PC...in/to....Finland!? SQUARE ENIX?!! WHERE!!! Don't tell me you have robbed me of this. Bastards.

Only uk copies are restricted, so wherever yuo want except uk

[Driber]

As always, we have to delete all posts that violate our forum TOU. Not censoring; just the rules like usual.

Keep it clean, guys.

[Hackbarth]

Ähhhhhhmmmm did you know that it is forbidden in the EU to limit sales by those actions?

Nevertheless, is it PC only? Can I still play my PS3-UK-Version?

[TooNu]

Q: I live in Sweden, I am a British citizen and my family live in the UK. If I have a member of said family activate my copy of DE:HR on one of their PC's will I then be able to play it here in Sweden on my PC?

[bartgesang]

Okay, I followed the hints and emailed the EU autorities as well.

A line has been crossed here. And it is in our own interest as consumers to put an end to it before this desease spreads further amongst publishers. I know that STEAM offers you this feature. But it is still the choice of the customer - in this case Square Enix - to make the deal. And I am more than willing to help you in your decission.

[TheD]

Just heard about the region lock, via news on a German gaming site.

Very, very bad move SE. I'll cancel my pre-oder now and won't buy it elsewhere! Good way to treat your costumers, 'specially the ones that don't read these forums, or hear about the region lock elsewhere.

On another note it's quite possible, that such unexpected limitations are against the law of several states in the EU. Is an information about the lock at least printed on the cover of the boxed versions?

TheD

[JakBot]

Originally Posted by wilm987

Only uk copies are restricted, so wherever yuo want except uk

I know and I do apologize for the foulish language, but how about apologizing the foul behavior that is going on in here on parts of SE! I wish I could order anywhere except UK, but they are all sold out. I do not know about the copies that are printed in German, French or Spain since I'm not interested in those (As I don't speak the language), only the copies that are printed in English. They are nowhere to be found. They were limited quantities to begin with, especially the PC versions seemed to sell out fast, now they are nowhere to be found. In my search a while back I didn't find them locally to begin with as I rather buy locally to avoid the extra week mail-ordering takes, but I couldn't. Now they tell me I can't use the version from UK either.

For the love of all that is good and decent in this world, at least allow the AE/CE versions to unlock anywhere. They are limited in quantities and limited in availability across Europe, they are not the cause of anything SE is thinking they can prevent or bolster with this.

[SethSteiner]

This is really a news that makes me angry. A company can't patronize the consumer, they can't forbid me to use a product I buyed. It's bad enough that there were and are region locks for continents but within? And even within europe? Wow! And I think even the law is on the side of the consumer here and forbids such actions, since the European Union has a free movement of goods and of course that also means the clock I buy in the UK is working here in Germany.

I won't cancel my pre-order, because I am not willing to pay 20 or 30 more euro. I give money, I get product, I use it and you don't have the right to stop me from it.

[Baltar]

Originally Posted by TooNu

Q: I live in Sweden, I am a British citizen and my family live in the UK. If I have a member of said family activate my copy of DE:HR on one of their PC's will I then be able to play it here in Sweden on my PC?

That should work.. wish I had family in the UK that can do that for me..

[Shanshorshe]

I was really looking forward to this game, but if this is how they treat their customers, I won't support them. I mean, there was also a lot of trouble to find out where to buy in order to get "all" the content!
Have canceled my preorder which have been standing since may. Only luck that I found out this before release.
Shame on you Eidos and Square Enix!! Shame! This will not be forgotten.

Hope as many people as possible discontinue their preorder. The only way to show that this is not acceptable is to NOT buy the game!

[Brock]

I order in UK because that is almost the only way to get legal retail box copy of PC game in English in Latvia. And one more thing, most of the retailers here sell Russian copies of games, what do you think will happen when people will buy your game and it won't work because Latvia is part of EU (rest of Europa) and not Russia.

Thanks for warning us. /sarcasm

[nesmoth]

Hi everyone, the last week I purchased the augmented edition from Impulse with any restriction, now today if I try to buy the game(just as a test) it says that its not available in my location, I live in Paraguay.
So my question is, I would be able to get the game when it come out?
Digital distribution is also locked by region?
please guys help me with this. waiting for a positive reply.
bye.

[Gemuesepizza]

Originally Posted by TooNu

Q: I live in Sweden, I am a British citizen and my family live in the UK. If I have a member of said family activate my copy of DE:HR on one of their PC's will I then be able to play it here in Sweden on my PC?

Yes.

[Golden]

Why we get now Statement for this? Turn of this damn region lock and all will be fine.

[Jordasm]

Honestly, I think even if they reverse the whole region lock thing, they won't get all the pre-orders back, alot of people are furious, and the damage is done.

[AxiomaticBadger]

Wow. After weeks of not having any free time whatsoever to check the board I see this as a welcome back gift.

Awesome.

Quick question, apologies if this has already been asked and I've missed it:-
What exactly will activation entail? If all that's required is entering a code into steam, could I hypothetically contact a friend and/or family member, have them log into steam and register for me, and install the game on my computer afterwards?
Or does the CD need to be in the drive for activation to occur?

[nesmoth]

I'm very sad, this was going to be my birthday present, the worse part its that just a few days after the release i can buy an pirate copy for 3 usd, Im choosing to do the right thing and you cut out the way, very bad move square enix.

[Krill]

Region lock?

What, they hated the UK sales?

Pre-order cancelled.

[deice]

Dear Mods: So, I've posted twice already and mods deleted all of them. I'm going to assume they're just deleting them in good faith and not censoring and write it once again. If this still doesn't make the mods happy, would you at least PM me how to make the post acceptable to you, so I don't waste yet another 10min rewriting it, thank you!

Back to my post:

I cancelled my preorder for AE. And even if this is remedied I doubt I will order it again, how can I trust a company that does this kind of thing?

I always order all games from amazon.co.uk or other UK stores. The retail prices in my country just aren't competitive (50-70e). So considering alternatives isn't really an option (and I had already set my eyes on augmented ed.)

Doing this kind of region locking is the same thing as region locking in the USA by state, or in japan by prefecture. How could they not have seen that this is going to become a PR disaster and people are gonna (online) riot about this?

[angrycustomer]

Pre-order cancelled. I'll also make sure I'm not the only one.

Have a nice day.

[Singular Stratagem]

I have, potentially a strange prediciment.

I live in Israel, and I want to purchase the retail Augmented Edition of the game, from a store in the next town over. While technically in Asia, Israel is physically very close to Europe; by default, imported games are of the European version.

Steam, however, classifies my country as "Middle-East".

I fear I won't be able to play the game I bought here, in my country, within my country. Any kind of confirmation on the subject will be much appreciated.


I apologize ahead of time for my English; it is not my first language.

[SethSteiner]

You will be able to play your game since it's only the United Kingdom and Russia who are restricted. If you're not buying from the United Kingdom or Russia, you should not have any problem.

[Gaelic Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Singular Stratagem

I have, potentially a strange prediciment.

I live in Israel, and I want to purchase the retail Augmented Edition of the game, from a store in the next town over. While technically in Asia, Israel is physically very close to Europe; by default, imported games are of the European version.

Steam, however, classifies my country as "Middle-East".

I fear I won't be able to play the game I bought here, in my country, within my country. Any kind of confirmation on the subject will be much appreciated.


I apologize ahead of time for my English; it is not my first language.

We have the same problem in Ireland and were actually in Europe, all our highstreet retailers are UK based naturally they will source UK editions of the game.

Nobody has yet been able to say for sure 100% if my gamestop PC boxed copy will work or not.

I am not taking the chance so the preorder is cancelled and I will wait till Gamestop can assure me it will work.

[Kraken]

So, I sent a mail to European legal services.
Sent to those addresses as I was not sure which one was the more relevant: service-juridique@euroinfo-kehl.eu, service-juridique@cec-zev.eu, comp-market-information@ec.europa.eu
Here is my draft, in French, if anyone want to use it as a model:

Bonjour,

Je souhaiterais vous signaler ce que je pense être une pratique illégale dans le cadre de l'union européenne.

Tout d'abord, un peu d'explication sur la situation. Je parle couramment Anglais. Étant quelque peu puriste et presque toujours déçu par les localisations Françaises, j'achète tous mes jeux vidéos en version originale depuis l'Angleterre depuis des années sans jamais avoir eu de problème.
Et donc, comme d'habitude, j'ai pré-commandé Deux Ex Human Revolution depuis le site game.co.uk en Décembre 2010.
Cependant, hier l'éditeur de ce jeu vidéo, Square Enix, a annoncé que ce jeu serait zonné. La version UK du jeu refusera de fonctionner dans le reste de l'Europe comme indiqué sur la page officielle ici:
http://support.eu.square-enix.com/fa...=59795&id=2134 (en)
Et mon cas n'est pas le plus scandaleux puisque les habitants de l'Irlande se trouve dans la même situation, se trouvant dans l'incapacité d'utiliser le jeu si ils le commandent en Angleterre.
Sans parler du fait que cette information ne soit délivrée qu'une semaine avant la date de sortie, et très difficilement accessible à la majorité des consommateurs (je ne l'ai appris qu'à travers un site d'informations spécialisées et de nombreux revendeurs ne sont même pas au courant).

Or cette politique me semble être en clair violation du respect de la compétition et de la libre circulation des marchandises dans l'Union Européenne.
De plus, cette pratique force les revendeurs, comme amazon.co.uk, a refusé les commandes depuis les autres pays européens ce qui les met en violation des lois sur la vente en ligne dans l'UE:
http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope/citiz...g/index_fr.htm


Le produit concerné est le jeu vidéo:
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (version PC)

La société concernée est l'éditeur de ce jeu:
Square Enix Europe Ltd.


Je me tiens à votre disposition pour toute information supplémentaire et en espérant une répons rapide de votre part,
Cordialement
(+ nom, prenom, adresse)

The more mails are sent, the more likely there will be repercussions.
I'm also waiting for an answer from GAME, but I'm pretty sure I'll cancel the order as soon as they reply.
Well orders, as I had also preordered it for a couple of friends.
So that's 3 more customers lost.

Nicely done Square Enix.


Edit: guillaume.oudin has made an improved version available in French and English, it's here.