10 Lessons The Gaming Industry Must Learn From 2014

3. Region-Locking Is Archaic

Nintendo, to pick on them for the time being, has never been the most avant-garde studio, save for their many integral contributions back in the early days of gaming. In fact, the company's reputation nowadays is very much the opposite: steeped in its own history and content to iterate on its own genius. This is seen most clearly in the increasingly ludicrous numbers tacked onto each (typically fantastic) sequel they pump out, but in the wake of the ongoing march of no-strings-attached content and content delivery, Nintendo's hands-tied stance on hardware is showing its age. It's no grand secret that Nintendo region-locks its systems, thus limiting Wii U and 3DS owners to the games released within their country. Due to the company's Japan origins and home, this cuts a serious chunk of games from western rosters. This has been the subject of heavy debate for some time, but Nintendo has refused to loosen their iron grip. Until now, it seems. As Forbes reports, an October 2014 Q&A session with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata showed that the company is revisiting its stance on region-locking, citing the decreased relevance of localization and licensing issues. As Iwata himself confirmed, this doesn't mean Nintendo will be dropping regional limitations, let alone anytime soon. However, this does mean that Nintendo is beginning to research the advantages of open hardware and software, and learning to adapt existing practices to make it possible. We can't ask for every game to be playable everywhere, but we can ask other companies to do the same.