Sony should remove PSN 'regions'

At this day and age, the concept of region locking is just stupid. Steam has no hard rule to lock your account to specific region, Xbox Live allows you to change your region just like that as well as id. But for some reason, psn is still locked into the region you use. This becomes a pain if people need to constantly travel. Creating a new account would mean new friends, lost save games, trophies, game purchases etc.

I know how multiple accounts work as I have 3 of them from 3 different regions, I use US account as my primary account. The point I am trying to make is, it shouldn't be this way. I mean I want to keep one account with all my purchases, I don't want to keep seperate accounts.

Either let us change account region for those of us who travel regularly, or...even better, like Steam and Xbox, throw away this region lock, which is just stupid during this age.

Thanks

Ehh, I mean, I feel you but in a way I can kinda see why Sony has done it for accounts. If you think about they were one of trailbrazers in really allow region-free game buying w/ PS3 and PSP; so I would assume it was one of those few things that probably a lot publisher/companies from different countries/regions probably wouldn't budge on, so that's why it is what it is.

Also, I'm sure it's probably a helluva lot more problematic than you'd think to just all-out region-free account hopping/merging etc. With Steam it's a slightly different beast, because PCs aren't necessarily region locked electronics anyways. But where Steam reigns in their whips is when it comes to region-blocking specific titles/games--not necessarily the account. Xbox is probably the closer example yet however....I'm sure even they have their limitations (I don't own any Xbox products so I don't know).

I agree with this strongly, I do not want to be forced to have to make a Japanese PlayStation Network account with a fake region of residence and fake address, just so I can purchase and use add-ons for a Japanese version of a PlayStation 4 video game or just so I can purchase and play download only video games from the Japanese PlayStation Store; because I have an issue in the minority. They allow for the video games to be region free, but then they make it so you have to have a fake account and risk getting it banned due to a breach of the terms of service, because you needed to be able to purchase stuff you want or need from a difference region; because they made everything region specific. I get they have to make downloadable content region specific, but they need to allow for you to access and purchase that downloadable content without having to make a fake account. You mentioned Microsoft allows for changing the region, but I bet they make you lie about the region of residence also, unless you are traveling or live there etc.

I was worried about this in terms of Gaikai, if I want to be able to play Everybody's Golf 5 (Japanese Version) for PlayStation 3 for example, instead of Hot Shots Gold: Out of Bounds (United States Version) for PlayStation 3, because I prefer to play the video game in Japanese, among other reasons, I be forced to make a fake PlayStation Network account for Japan, in order to do just that. I worried about the on-line pass thing too, but it looks like it will be non-existent this generation.

It's probably because Sony runs a far more global network - Sony Computer Entertainment has 4 regional headquarters that works with tons of stuff like localization. Different region - different languages, different prices, different laws, different requirements etc.

PSN "Regions" will probably never go away but access to different PSN stores should be easier.

Yeah, this was basically another thing I was gonna say too and I think that's really the biggest reason right there. Sony really has a far bigger global dominance than MS does when it comes to gaming.

The PS4 is supposed to be region free but they recommend you buy games in your own region.

I decided to test this.

I live in Australia and got Ghosts from America and lego marvel from the uk.

I could only download game patches for ghosts... no redeeming dlc and it didn't show up in the consoles library.

Marvel shows up as an empty box in the library and I have to use the PS button to get out of its box... circle wont work.

Well put.

@scgarfield: The PS4 is region free, that['s howcome you can play the games. The PSN (where the DLC comes from ) is not. It's the same with apple and others.

The store regions exist due to licensing and publishing terms that exist for those regions, as well as (and perhaps the most influential reason in this day and age), to conform to age ratings and classifications (read: censorship) in each country.

Pricing also plays a part, due to various taxes and other economic differences in each country. Digital pricing stills conforms to physical pricing in their respective local markets, due to dependency on bricks-and-mortar retailers. If everyone using PSN in, say, Australia for example, were buying digital games at US prices, it could have severe consequences for Australian retailers who will not be able to compete, affecting supply of physical products including hardware, and would damage existing business relations between retailers and Sony (and other publishers).

Valve and GoG, for example, don't need to deal with bricks-and-mortar retailers (yet...?). Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, and all publishers of console games still need those retailers to survive.

Sony could have made it more difficult to create and access foreign accounts, but to date, haven't in any significant manner. I don't think they themselves care all that much.