Content Restrictions on Japanese ero-games

[Kudryavka]

Are ero gamess still blocking outsiders from playing?

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Kudryavka

Are ero gamess still blocking outsiders from playing?

"Blocking" to what extent?

Pretty much all games have "Japan Sales Only" or similar printed on the box. This is pure self-protection because the game has not been rated for sale in other markets and makers don't want to take responsibility for any legal challenges that might arise from games being sold in other countries without authorization. It should also be noted that the companies don't want to provide technical support for foreign customers, and have not always even tested the software on non-Japanese computers, so there are many reasons why they may want to make it visible that the product is only intended for customers in Japan.

Some games also have region protection-related DRM restrictions. This could be seen as similar to the above, and also because, since the game isn't licensed for sale in other countries, most use is simple piracy. The legal thinking here would generally be that this is taking a good-faith effort to prevent customers in "un-rated" markets playing their games (and if someone's going to go through the effort to break the DRM, they're on their own).

Some game companies (still) have region blocking on their websites (but this has gone down a bit over the last year). This probably follows in the theory that, given that they're not targeted customers (and given the lack of consistent content regulations), there's no reason to have their site available there in the first place.

But despite all this, there are still a small amount of games being licensed and released officially (not as much as there could be if the sales improved), and there are still obviously people from foreign countries who find ways to buy and play eroge (at their own risk). And yes, there is a ton of piracy.

From both a business and legal perspectives, Japanese eroge makers can't usually really advocate that foreign customers buy their products except if it's licensed for official release in their market. But just how far they're going to go to "block" foreign customers varies, and most of these blocks aren't more than "roadblocks" to the truly determined. But there are reasons things will probably remain that way unless there are some major changes in the world.

[hyl]

There are only a few companies that i know who make their products slightly harder to play on a non-japanese OS like Minori and Favorite

[Kudryavka]

Originally Posted by hyl

There are only a few companies that i know who make their products slightly harder to play on a non-japanese OS like Minori and Favorite

Thank you. It's hard to keep up nowadays.

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

"Blocking" to what extent?

Pretty much all games have "Japan Sales Only" or similar printed on the box. This is pure self-protection because the game has not been rated for sale in other markets and makers don't want to take responsibility for any legal challenges that might arise from games being sold in other countries without authorization. It should also be noted that the companies don't want to provide technical support for foreign customers, and have not always even tested the software on non-Japanese computers, so there are many reasons why they may want to make it visible that the product is only intended for customers in Japan.

Some games also have region protection-related DRM restrictions. This could be seen as similar to the above, and also because, since the game isn't licensed for sale in other countries, most use is simple piracy. The legal thinking here would generally be that this is taking a good-faith effort to prevent customers in "un-rated" markets playing their games (and if someone's going to go through the effort to break the DRM, they're on their own).

Some game companies (still) have region blocking on their websites (but this has gone down a bit over the last year). This probably follows in the theory that, given that they're not targeted customers (and given the lack of consistent content regulations), there's no reason to have their site available there in the first place.

But despite all this, there are still a small amount of games being licensed and released officially (not as much as there could be if the sales improved), and there are still obviously people from foreign countries who find ways to buy and play eroge (at their own risk). And yes, there is a ton of piracy.

From both a business and legal perspectives, Japanese eroge makers can't usually really advocate that foreign customers buy their products except if it's licensed for official release in their market. But just how far they're going to go to "block" foreign customers varies, and most of these blocks aren't more than "roadblocks" to the truly determined. But there are reasons things will probably remain that way unless there are some major changes in the world.

I don't mean region blocking, I mean purposely preventing others from playing games ever. Thank you for this.