Xbox One Games Region Locking

Iggemo on 05/05/2016 - 16:58

Gday fellas.

There have been a nbr of games on Xbone i have wanted to buy but cannot access them to buy them in any way, seemingly purely because i live in australia. Im wondering if anyone else can chime in on this as to a solution or having experienced similar probs.

I can't recall the games that this has happened with in the past (there has been a nbr) but for an example, just today i was looking at the list of RPGs on xbone on wiki as im craving a JRPG.

I came across this game:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_Solar_and_the_Great_Archi…

Now, if you goto Xbox and search for this game, sure enough it appears as a $15 game on Xbone. Yet, if you go to click on the game, it mysteriously disappears. This happens for all these such games which are unfathomably not available to aussies. If anyone knows a way around this and how i would purchase this game, please share.

Cheers.

Gaming Game Console Microsoft

Comments

  • MattyAu on 05/05/2016 - 17:07
    +1

    Check out this Wiki posting on Whirlpool for assistance buying OS games: https://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/xb1_non_aus_digital_purchases_…

  • Iggemo on 05/05/2016 - 18:41

    I was able to buy the game :). Had to change region, buy a gift card, put that on the US account with US address and then purchase and then it worked (credit cards dont work). So in the end it worked but it's a lot of dicking around to get there. Anyway, nice to know it can be done, thanks for help.

    • MattyAu on 05/05/2016 - 18:46

      Credit cards work fine, I use mine all the time with a VPN to buy from other countries. All detailed there in the wiki I linked.

  • kiribatian on 05/05/2016 - 23:47
    +1

    This is a great site for comparing all the prices across different countries. It is really interesting to see the disparity
    http://www.digitalgamesprices.com/xboxone.php

    • Iggemo on 06/05/2016 - 19:19

      Cheers for that. I still dont really understand why Aus doesnt get so many games. According to that list, not even Superhot. Indeed, when i browsed the Xbox.com games list for xbone in US it had 47 pages of games, only 39 or so when i changed region to Aus. So quite a few missing.

      Also, im not 100% positive about this but when i bought a gift card i used paypal, and then when i went to buy the actual game i wanted, it offered me to use paypal on my US account.

      The whirlpool forum doesnt indicate paypal as a payment method but it seems like it is one and it's much easier than the other options so i thought i should mention that as an FYI in case it helps anyone else.

      Might be worth changing region just to buy games even that are available in aus, looking at the price differentials.

  • Linkwick on 15/05/2016 - 20:27

    @lggemo:
    As a heads-up (collated from a few of your posts above):

    • Only games that are rated by our Aus Classifications Board ate able to be sold on the Aus Xbox marketplace. If the developer or publisher doesn't get their paperwork sorted, we miss out.

    • At a guess, I'd say quite a lot of the 8+ pages of games missing are "bundles". MS seems to offer different packages per region, eg. Forza + "local car type" packs, or same game series ones like Assassin's Creed content.

    • Whilst you can select Paypal as an overseas payment type, you need a Paypal registered to that country. The far easier way is to buy Xbox gift cards from that country's MS website. (Even if that Xbox region doesn't like your cr card, most often the MS website will still allow it to buy gift cards.)

    • As long as the game you're buying is available here, your console will still automatically download it (even if you get it from, say, US). Only if it's not available here do you have to change the console's region to another country to get it downloaded.

    • Also, the point above can be used to get different regions or uncensored copies. Eg. If you set your console to US region & start downloading 360 version of South Park game, it'll download the US (uncensored) version. When you change the console's region back, the game will still be the uncensored one you downloaded.

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