Digital Trends yesterday reported that the Xbox One will be region-locked.
“Similar to the movie and music industry, games must meet country-specific regulatory guidelines before they are cleared for sale,” a Microsoft rep said to Digital Trends. “We will continue to work with our partners to follow these guidelines with Xbox One.”
Both of Microsoft’s previous consoles, the original Xbox and the Xbox 360 were both region-locked, though region-free games could be released on the 360 at the discretion of publishers. On the whole, that meant Australian PAL-format games could not be played on North American NTSC-based consoles, and vice versa.
Sony’s PS3 was not region-locked, but the original PlayStation and PS2 were. Sony has yet to confirm if the PS4 will be region-locked.
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