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Nintendo Cracks Down On European Importers
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Gamesindustry.biz article describing Nintendo's attempts to stop European retailers importing Gamecube/GBA games. According to the piece, "..cease and desist orders have been issued to a number of independent retailers by Nintendo this week, demanding that they stop selling imported Nintendo titles and supply details of their suppliers." With handheld titles such as Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire lacking regional lock-outs, and even US/Japanese Gamecube games being playable with the help of Freeloader, Nintendo are clearly worried about imported titles taking away from native European sales, but as Gamesindustry.biz points out, "..the move will prevent [consumers] from playing titles which Nintendo of Europe has failed to release in this territory, such as the highly acclaimed Animal Crossing."
Why does Nintendo even care about this?
It seems to make as much sense as the region system, which prevents me from getting DVD's which are only available outside my region.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I don't see the point of this. Either way, Nintendo makes money... right? If they don't sell a game in one market, they still make the money off that game, because people buy it from another market. If anything, importing games help them make MORE money, because people who previously would be unable to purchase a game now can do so through various vendors.
Am I missing something here, or is this a pretty dumb move on Nintendo's part?
Sony has a lot of the same problems, unfortunately.
SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment America) often decides that the most innovative and cool games from SCEE are too good for America. e.g. Wipeout Fusion and Dropship were turned down by SCEA, Vib Ribbon for PlayStation was never released, and so on. If you've written yet another FPS, though, SCEA will release it.
Sometimes other companies (like BAM!) have stepped up and bought US distribution rights for Sony's European and Japanese titles. Sometimes not.
I really don't understand why SCEA turns down games that are on sale in Europe, delaying their distribution in the US by months or preventing it entirely. It's not even like they have to translate the game from Japanese.
Latest example: Silent Hill 3. On sale since May in Europe. Why the hell isn't it on sale in the USA? They expect us to wait until August while everyone on the net raves about it. Yeah, that makes sense.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Instead of preventing Europeans from circumventing Nintendo of Europe, why not make NOE a better choice? If people are buying from America, then why not listen to what they want and provide it?
Instead of staggered releases, just release the game at the same time in Europe, and people won't have to import it... AND they'll be buying from European stores. And why not look and see what's being imported most, and bring it over to Europe if it isn't there already?
Isn't this just common sense? (But then, I guess "instead of making proper copy protection, just creating a law making it illegal in the first place" has been the method of choice here in NA...)
-"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -EH
Actually, you do not have this right in Japan. Several years ago Japanese video game producers lobbied for and got a law which essentially made it illegal to sell used copies of video games at stores. I am not all that familiar with Japanese laws regarding the sale and resale of media, but I believe this restriction also applies to movies.
The reasoning behind the law states that the sale of the video game represents the sale of the video game experience to the consumer, not the media itself. Thus the consumer does not actually buy the video game, but a licence to play the video game which is theoretically still the property of the producer.
This is clearly nonsense, but that is the way it goes with laws, eh?
Ummm, nice troll?
Seriously, what the hell are you talking about? There's Eternal Darkness, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Zelda: The Wind Waker, Pikmin, Animal Crossing and Super Smash Brothers Melee. Each of those first- or second-party games is not only Gamecube exclusive, but a system seller as well. Name seven exclusive PS2 titles that justify a system purchase. I dare you. (The XBox has all of one.)
Furthermore, the Gamecube hardware is the cheapest on the market, at $150.
I'm not a Nintendo fanboy by any means. What Nintendo is doing in this case is inexcusable. But you clearly have no idea what you're talking about here. The market can and will endure anything as long as people want to play video games. And as long as Miyamoto is still making video games, I don't think Nintendo will ever be in any immediate danger.