Microsoft locking Xbox 360 downloads to your region

By Spencer . May 4, 2007 . 6:24am

Since the launch of the Xbox 360 there was an easy solution to circumvent region locks on Xbox Live content. All you had to do is set up a new Xbox Live account with a Gamertag in a different region. This gave people outside of the USA a chance to enjoy some video marketplace content and North American Xbox 360 owners demos of games that are only available in Japan. However, Microsoft is clamping down on region free downloads in the Xbox 360 spring update.

So what does this mean to you? Well, if you have an account that matches the country where you are located, then you will probably notice little to no difference. However, if you have set up an account that does not match the country where you are located, you will find that these new security measures will only allow you to purchase and download content that is licensed in the country where you are located.

For example, if you are not located in the US, but have created a US Xbox LIVE account, you will not be able to download TV shows and movies that are currently available for use only in the US.

One thing that Microsoft didn’t specify is how they are going to enforce regional downloads. Is it going to be by your IP address or by the region your system came from? If it is by IP address, imported Xbox 360s might not be able to download legitimate content like extra missions in Absolute: Blazing Infinity or the Shuffle Dungeon maker for Blue Dragon. This probably won’t affect the large majority of US Xbox 360 owners, but if you’re say in Europe which has no video marketplace and occasionally has to wait longer for Xbox Live Arcade titles this is disappointing news.

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4 Responses to “Microsoft locking Xbox 360 downloads to your region”

Aoshi00 Says:
May 4th, 2007 at 7:27 am

Bad news indeed. I hope it’s not by system’s region. Otherwise I won’t be able to d/l any US contents w/ my Jpn 360, while I could live w/o the shuffle dungeon of Blue Dragon or extra songs for Idolm@ster. While there’s nice things from the Jpn live marketplace, most stuffs are from the US.

WishCow Says:
May 4th, 2007 at 4:30 pm

Maybe I misunderstood something, but if the checking is done by IP address that will not lock out imported consoles, because you get the IP from your ISP, not from your Xbox.

melgo Says:
May 5th, 2007 at 12:30 am

Yeah, hard to see how this will work. What about content already downloaded any paid for? Will the licenses be revoked?

More to the point, what about countries where Microsoft hasn’t launched the service officially yet? Most people here have registered foreign accounts. Which makes sense considering you’re paying for a console where half of its features are advertised as being Live. Funnily enough, the price of the console isn’t halved, even though you cant access them through official means.

Chris Says:
May 9th, 2007 at 12:24 pm

Regional lockouts are the stupidest thing ever invented by the video game industry.

It’s a shame to see both Nintendo and Microsoft seem to be following suit with Sony, because it’s terrible that companies think that after you purchase their software, they have any right to control how you use it.