Deus Ex: Human Revolution PC region-locked, disc size to blame
Those hoping to import a boxed retail copy of Eidos' highly anticipated augmentation salvation will have to think twice. A certain Australian VG247 news editor might be particularly upset by this news.
[Update] A message on the Eidos forum suggests the PC boxed retail copy will no longer be region-locked in the UK and Europe. See below for details.
Update
A post by an Admin on the Eidos forum states:
"Region-locking plan UPDATE
We’re aware of some discussion regarding the planned region-locking of boxed PC versions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and after careful review we have decided not to implement this in the UK/Europe. Please note, this plan only related to PC boxed games, and not digital or console editions."
Thanks, NeoSquall for the link.
Original story
Kotaku is reporting that numerous sources have confirmed boxed PC retail copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution will be region locked.
Eidos has stated that disc size limitations are to blame:
"Just to be clear to everyone the region lock is just for the retail BOX copies.. ie if you physically buy a box in the UK it will have the uk region code etc, if you buy a boxed copy in russia will be locked to russia, everywhere else is covered by a rest of world region (including poland).
"Due to disc size limitations, the languages had to be split onto different masters (PCs dont have universal bluray drives yet so we couldnt put all on 1 disc this is why there is so much confusion)
"Also all versions have ALL languages available. So even if you buy the English UK version, you can change the language to French, German etc whenever you want.. The size of the game meant we couldnt fit all languages onto the disc so you will just download the language pack for the game that is all.."
Download copies are said to be region-free, though it's worth noting that with service providers such as Steam, your country of residence is supposed to determine which offers you have available to you. Some of you may know of ways to circumvent that, which we in no way endorse.