When region-based rules make no sense

Last updated 11:40 22/06/2012

New Zealand's a small country. We all know that it's a bit player in the world economy - but a harder pill to swallow is that as gamers and digital consumers we pay out not insubstantial monthly/yearly subscriptions to services such as iTunes and Xbox Live and get a pretty lacklustre service in return if compared with other parts of the world.

In the US, for example, users of Apple TV get access to TV shows whereas we're restricted to an OK selection of movies and a handful of less-than-stellar online video servics such as Vimeo, WSJ Online and MLB.TV. Australian Xbox Live users get better additional content through their consoles than New Zealand users do (though they'll rightly complain that their services are poor; sorry, Australian cousins, our Xbox Live additional content is worse than yours).

For some ridiculous reason, the powers that devise these services thought it would be a smart idea to "region-restrict" content, meaning if I live in New Zealand I can't get the same breadth of content as the US does. I know it's all to do with complex licence agreements and that sort of thing but where is the harm in me watching past seasons of Dexter via Xbox Live or Apple TV just because I live in another country? It just isn't fair.

So you'd think, logically, that if you moved from one country to another you should be able to reap the benefits of living in that new country? Wrong, as fellow gaming writer Chris Leggett found out after moving to Seattle a month ago: because he has a New Zealand Xbox Live profile he now can't access a lot of the content that he has legitimately paid for.

Here's some of what Chris had to say on his blog (if you're an expat Kiwi I suggest you read it): "The variety of other services on the NZ marketplace is, similarly, pitiful when stacked up against its US counterpart. In some cases, we even miss out on full games if the publisher doesn't feel like a release in our territory is worth the effort - Telltale's The Walking Dead is but the latest frustrating example.

"Now that I live in America, you'd think that I could move on from all of this. There are loads of great services that, by rights, I should now be able to take advantage of: Comcast Xfinity, HBO GO, Amazon Instant Video and much more - not to mention the games that never made it our way.

"But there's one debilitating problem: Xbox Live won't permit me to change the region of my account. So these services are still unavailable to me despite the fact that I now legitimately live in a region in which they are offered."

Xbox, there's something fundamentally wrong with your policy here! Chris isn't wanting to "scam" the system so he can access region-based content from another country: he just wants to access content in the new region he is living in.

What makes this situation more farcical is that I can easily change my Gamertag by paying a certain amount of Microsoft Points to you to do so, so why can't an expat transfer over their profile from one region to another in a similar fashion? It seems to make a great deal of sense - Chris isn't the only person who has moved from their country of birth to live in another one!

Here's what an Xbox customer rep told Chris to remedy the situation: "To turn my back on my current Xbox Live account and start a new one." That sort of misses the point, really.

I don't expect Xbox to change its policy over this - after all, the plight of a few expat Kiwi gamers living in others countries isn't going to register on its radar - but it needs to do something about this. I'm sure a US Xbox gamer who moves from the US to New Zealand doesn't suddenly have their Xbox Live services hobbled because they've moved to another country! It shouldn't happen to gamers from other countries, either.

I know this blog has a few overseas readers so I'd really like to hear your experiences - good or bad - about migrating to another country and accessing online services such as Xbox Live or PSN. Let's see if we can make some noise and get someone's attention!

Stuff you might also find interesting: Game Junkie is on Twitter and you can email him here. He'll even answer your emails, not get some smart robot to do it.  He also has another gaming blog here. It's updated at least once a week.

**Apologies for my crap job using Paint in the image]

Newest First

Oldest First

Torpedo   #1   12:03 pm Jun 22 2012

On a similar note: When signing up for my free Diablo3 Battlenet account I accidentally put in Portugal as my country instead of NZ - a form error. In order to change my country I have to provide Blizzard with proof of address and other information not required when creating an account. Suffice to say after multiple correspondence back and forth I've just created a new account

J Smith   #2   12:05 pm Jun 22 2012

Sometimes this works in your advantage however. My Canadian purchased PS3 allows me to purchase games and online services as if I was in North America. Now if only we had reasonable download caps so I could make use of it.

Lumbus   #3   12:28 pm Jun 22 2012

Mmmm in the same position I would probably kill my current gamertag and add my friends to the new one.. gamerscore means nothing.. the only problem would be the DLC that you had previously bought on the previous gamertag. I guess finishing any single player DLC you need to and then making some tough choices with the multi DLC..

Good to know though, thanks guys for going through this so we know.

Hosef   #4   12:55 pm Jun 22 2012

I moved from NZ to OZ and had trouble with getting a map pack because I purchased the first map pack in NZ then moved to oz. I rang xbox live support who told me the same thing, create another xbox live account. Pretty shabby if you ask me!

Chasm   #5   01:05 pm Jun 22 2012

And they wonder why people keep pirating their products!

Bobbi   #6   01:12 pm Jun 22 2012

Now that I'm in oz, I have to giggle a little that I never set up an xbox live profile while in NZ. So as soon as I set one up over here, I have access to all the aussie services plus I got to keep my gamer points too!

Microsoft's help desk really is pathetic, I asked a simple question of the desk zombies and after three attempts gave up. Apparently Microsoft has nothing to do with third party websites having full access to gamers private data via xbox live. Huh?!

So no, I don't think any amount of noise will make M$ budge on the change of country issue. As long as they keep making more money than a small european country's GDP each year, they really have no reason to listen to their customers.

craig   #7   01:14 pm Jun 22 2012

Also a great example of how media companies, desperate to protect their content actually directly contribute to piracy.

m0rph3us   #8   01:21 pm Jun 22 2012

I'm against region-blocking to start with, although that's a whole other debate. But considering they can't just change the region of Leggetron's account TO WHERE HE ACTUALLY LIVES is a total joke. I mean seriously. The whole reason for region-blocking (if you accept it) is to prevent people from accessing content from outside their region. Except he's actually in that region, permanently. Good grief.

Anon   #9   01:21 pm Jun 22 2012

Ugh. Don't remind me! I am from the States but am travelling (sort of) and have temporarily settled in New Zealand. Let me tell you - while I love this country and think it is fantastic in many ways, it's being so unfairly detached from the rest of the world that makes me positive I won't be living here permanently. Okay georgraphy we can't help, but all the rest of it? Seriously? What about the bizarre internet data caps? How prehistoric is that! Yeah let me just uhh.. restrict checking my emails to once a week for fear of going over my limit. What is the reasoning behind that? What is the POINT? Same reasoning as why I have to pay $300 for a subpar pair of shoes, probably. Or why as an adult I have to shop at Glassons for my clothes because everywhere else is just insanely expensive.

RKK667   #10   01:23 pm Jun 22 2012

A host of the Player One Podcast once discussed his x-box issues of a similar nature. From what I remember he had moved back to Canada after living and working in the US for a long time and was told to make a new account as well. This is all well and good if you don't mind losing the intangible benefits such as gamer score but this also means you can no longer access digital content you paid for. I suggest Chris keep trying and calling them back. Or perhaps pop over to the MS offices (only semi-joking).