Euro PC Deus Ex not region locked

By Robert Purchese Published 18 August, 2011

Square Enix avoids augument with fans.

Square Enix has decided not to region lock the European PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

"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," wrote Square Enix mastering manager Jason Walker (via Rock Paper Shotgun).

This will be true of "anywhere in Europe", Walker went on to clarify.

Therefore, PC versions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution bought in the US will work in the UK/Europe and vice versa, Walker confirmed.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • CaptainKid #1 9 months ago

    Region lock on PC??
    Never heard of that before.

  • somnolentsurfer #2 9 months ago

    He meant to say "we checked with our lawyers, and it's illegal."

  • Armoured_Gideon #3 9 months ago

    Augument?

  • Timotei #4 9 months ago

    Hmm, not quite sure what they're on about.

  • menschenfracht #5 9 months ago

    >> Region lock on PC??
    >> Never heard of that before.
    Funny you say that, many digital distributors do it.
    Steam, f.e.

  • geeza2020 #6 9 months ago

    I thought all PC games were/are region free, or am I being simple?

  • abigsmurf #7 9 months ago

    Perhaps because lots of people pointed out that restricting trade between EU countries is illegal and they were setting themselves up for an expensive and embarassing court case?
    Edited by abigsmurf at 18/08/11 @ 16:11

  • Nithron #8 9 months ago

    How would you even implement region lock on PC? I assume their game phones home periodically, a la DRM, and checks where your IP address is coming from?

    Isn't this a bit... Y'know... Shady anyway? Is anyone else doing this?

  • Haloboy #9 9 months ago

    People cancelled preorders all over the place after hearing the original region locked story. Now they go and change it. Stop fucking everyone about Square Enix, that's Ubisoft's job.

  • Alestes #10 9 months ago

    @Nithron, the game use Steamworks and has to be activated online to be played. It wouldn't be particulary hard to match a countryspecific retail box game keycode with the IP the user log into Steam from.

  • Nithron #11 9 months ago

    But Steam wouldn't do that. Steam is a nice form of DRM, right?

    Oh.

  • Inmediasress #12 9 months ago

    Then they say piracy is bad, nowadays it's more of a convinience case than simply pirating something.

  • arcam #13 9 months ago

    Online activation i.e. Steam.

    That's how they can do it now when region locking used to be basically impossible. And because they are preventing other regions from activating the game, not from buying it, I think that helps them get around EU trade laws.

    IMO it is a silly idea, because it leads to that ridiculous situation where publisher greed means pirates are getting a better version of the game than legit buyers.
    Edited by arcam at 18/08/11 @ 16:43

  • KDR_11k #14 9 months ago

    What I heard was that they were locking UK mainland Europe since game prices are much lower in the UK.

  • bikmate #15 9 months ago

    How does this even bloody work? I understand they can region lock consoles, but custom built PCs?

  • arcam #16 9 months ago

    Posts like this are the reason Squenix have gone back on their decision.

    God bless whining, entitled PC gamers, that's what I say - getting shit done while the rest stand on the sidelines sniggering ;)

  • CopyCat #17 9 months ago

    @bikmate
    They can region lock PC games through the implementation of DRM.
    As they had planed, it would be like: you enter the CD Key of your UK Deus Ex boxed version, steam checks your IP whether you're in the UK or not and if you're outside the UK it refuses to activate the game.

    Glad they changed their minds.

  • tankboi #18 9 months ago

    Can't say I have ever heard of region locking on PC before either.

    How do you even region lock a PC? Surely you can tinker with your i.p. if you know what your doing?

    Weird.

  • Buran #19 9 months ago

    Makes sense due region lock in the European Union is illegal. As simple as that.

  • immateriaux #20 9 months ago

    Lots of games on the Impulse platform are US only, would have presumed this was something similar?

  • alcides #21 9 months ago

    then sony is an outlaw.

    region locking exists on the PSN as it discriminates game discs based on country of purchase. Having bought a UK boxed game will result in DLC bought with a french account to be useless, on a growing number of games.