Nintendo is finally considering removing region locking from its upcoming home console. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata brought up this hot topic in the company’s latest investor meeting. During the question and answer session, Iwata mentioned he was looking at the situation “optimistically” and that the lock could be removed due to overwhelming fan support.
“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 realizing it,” he said.
“You can think of that as the current situation. I understand your desire, so I’d like to look at it optimistically going forward.”
Many games for both the current systems, the 3DS and the Wii U, are exclusive to the Japanese region, making it impossible for players located in the West to play the Japanese games on devices from their own regions.
Handhelds like the original DS and the DS Lite (circa 2004 and 2006) are two of the more “recent” systems that fell under the region free category for Nintendo. Back then, U.S. collectors could easily import Japanese limited edition models to play their region’s cartridges on. Fans even went so far as importing games exclusive to Japan, even though they couldn’t interpret the language on screen. They instead relied on translations from fellow fans online to play through and enjoy the imported games.
Now that’s video game dedication! And it happens to be a good example of why the demand for region free consoles continues to grow.
While it doesn’t sound like Nintendo is looking to unlock current-gen systems right now, this is surely welcome news in a world where importing systems and games has become part of the hobby.
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Written by Jason Ganos
Nintendo super fan since birth, Jason is the creator of Amiibo News and editor-in-chief at Nintendo Wire. One of his life goals is to provide the latest Nintendo news to fellow gamers with his natural know-how.
