Why is the PSN Store not universal?

[Big Head]

I'm sure there is a good answer to this (ok, maybe not), but as an average digital downloader, why is the PSN Store not universal?

I get that most games have that language barrier, but I should be able to seamlessly switch from Europe, to Australia, Japan, US, whatever and be able to spend my cash. Instead, I need to have separate accounts, which, especially with the Vita, is a huge pain because you need separate memory cards and I think it's even more work now to flip accounts. Most online Euro retail shops automatically convert to USD and other currency. Why can't a company that is leaning more and more towards digital download do the same and make this thing universal?

Don't even get me started on the fact that a digital product costs as much or more than a tangible one from a brick and mortar store...

/hops off soap box

 

[Jacky]

As an owner of a japanese acct, eu acct, and us acct. i can say the shops are all very different. Ways of paying is different, the currency is different, some don't accept the cards we use, some don't even offer the same games. This isn't one of those things where it would be a whole lot easier to make it universal. There's alot of factors involved which makes things complicated, not just a language barrier.
Hate to say this but if you are looking to get foreign game, you are better off importing the disc. Also cheaper in some cases.

 

[Big Head]

As an owner of a japanese acct, eu acct, and us acct. i can say the shops are all very different. Ways of paying is different, the currency is different, some don't accept the cards we use, some don't even offer the same games. This isn't one of those things where it would be a whole lot easier to make it universal. There's alot of factors involved which makes things complicated, not just a language barrier.
Hate to say this but if you are looking to get foreign game, you are better off importing the disc. Also cheaper in some cases.

I have an AU and a US account, mainly because I have to have an AU one in order to get the Aussie Football games or rugby. It's just so stupid to limit games to certain markets, especially when buyers now have so much internet access to broaden their interests with various things overseas.

 

[Jacky]

I have an AU and a US account, mainly because I have to have an AU one in order to get the Aussie Football games or rugby. It's just so stupid to limit games to certain markets, especially when buyers now have so much internet access to broaden their interests with various things overseas.

In a way that is kinda the fault of us gamers, they look at us and see where we are and see what sells in that area, and think "oh well that must be the type of games they prefer, no need to bring these others if they aren't gonna sell"

 

[chichi]

currency differences, licensing differences, language differences, ratings board differences

 

[Borshay]

Don't forget cultural differences. Although that also falls under ratings board differences.

 

[Big Head]

Not sure how cultural or language differences are that big of a deal if I'm willing to shell out the cash in the US or UK or Japan.

I always get a big laugh at the crazy price hike on the same digital downloads of games from the US to AU. Madden is offered in AU, and I've seen the regular digital copy going for $90US in the AU PSN Store. It's the same $60 copy available in the North American store!

 

[Lifewish]

It all boils down to licensing issues. Things have to go through different approval processes in different markets and that would be a huge process to make everything available on one single store. That is why I would belive that iTunes has different stores for different regions, but I could be wrong.

 

[Big Head]

As an owner of a japanese acct, eu acct, and us acct. i can say the shops are all very different. Ways of paying is different, the currency is different, some don't accept the cards we use, some don't even offer the same games. This isn't one of those things where it would be a whole lot easier to make it universal. There's alot of factors involved which makes things complicated, not just a language barrier.
Hate to say this but if you are looking to get foreign game, you are better off importing the disc. Also cheaper in some cases.

You just described the perfect argument for a PSN Points system. I understand that the difference in USD v Yen v Euro could be an issue, but- I'm like you with a few different PSN accounts- it's already being worked around by gamers looking for the cheapest price.

 

[chichi]

Not sure how cultural or language differences are that big of a deal if I'm willing to shell out the cash in the US or UK or Japan.

I always get a big laugh at the crazy price hike on the same digital downloads of games from the US to AU. Madden is offered in AU, and I've seen the regular digital copy going for $90US in the AU PSN Store. It's the same $60 copy available in the North American store!

i don't know about you, but i'm not going to buy a story heavy/driven game (mostly jrpgs/visual novel) if i don't understand the language they are using

 

[Jacky]

i don't know about you, but i'm not going to buy a story heavy/driven game (mostly jrpgs/visual novel) if i don't understand the language they are using

that's not all the jpn stores have to offer, they got a shit ton of different things. but if you can't read the language or figure out how to navigate it, you won't get very far in the store. same with the other stores.

 

[Big Head]

i don't know about you, but i'm not going to buy a story heavy/driven game (mostly jrpgs/visual novel) if i don't understand the language they are using

Again, if I'm willing to shell out the cash, I'm guessing I understand the language or am willing to put up with it. Sony is basically trying to shield people from spending their own money by not actively offering imports, which makes no sense to me as a buyer or to the companies that are involved with developing the game. Separate PSN Stores narrow the audience/market.

 

[chichi]

Again, if I'm willing to shell out the cash, I'm guessing I understand the language or am willing to put up with it. Sony is basically trying to shield people from spending their own money by not actively offering imports, which makes no sense to me as a buyer or to the companies that are involved with developing the game. Separate PSN Stores narrow the audience/market.

if you really want to import you can always import physical copies from a lot of websites (play-asia, nippon yassan, superUFO), now back to psn "being global"

again it's not that easy to get the licensing and esrb rating for all games. just look at jstars victory. that game alone would be a licensing nightmare since the characters in that game are being distributed in the west by so many companies unlike in japan where they are all under shonen jump. sony will have to pay each and every company that has the publishing rights to each and every character there is on the game.
and then there's the case for moe, erotic and harem games, need i remind you the things that developers needed to change for monster monpiece to be released to the west? and if you think monster monpiece was a huge fan-service game then you'll be in for a big surprise. the amount of things that developers will have to add and/or change for a game to be accessible globally vs the profit they will get is not worth it.

there's also the difference between the pricing of games between each country and which currency are we going to use as you can't expect everyone to hold a "credit card account" that uses dollars (and it has been explained in the earlier posts). this is an example from 2012 and it's just the US against the AUS price difference http://community.eu.playstation.com...-BETWEEN-AMERICAN-PSN-STORE-AND/td-p/15200085
now imagine having to add the middle east, european, japan and south east asia, south america and african (not 100% sure on africa) regions to how they will adjust the pricing.
also the language and design that the ps store UI and games in general that will be used. if the store will be universal then the UI will have to use a universal language as well. assuming that english will be the default language, then how can non-english readers be able to use the UI? sony will lose a lot of digital buyers if the store is not in their native language since the simple task of clicking a game to buy it will become tedious.

lastly changing all of this would require a HUGE amount of financial and legal work. sony will have to redo their entire policies and regulations and have to make sure that there will be no loop hole for them to get sued. and that policy will have to abide to the law of each and every country and region that psn is being used.

 

[Swordsman]

Think 1 of the biggest reason, they want sales to spread evenly throughout all the regions..

 

[MarkOwen]

I was thinking about how most people have more than one account and cool things comt those differ countries psn store and home mall .. and how u want them so bad but your credit card or psn can't be used in that reagion because you live in another 1... I feel they should have universal psn cards that go to any psn store on the psn network. I think it will help us gamers and game buyers an home lover a lil bit more.. bring more happyness and games profit to 3rd party copmpnaies and most importanly sony..... Im not gonna make any rules.. i think the rules are fine i just want sony to make universal psn cards for us.. What do you guys think abou t this idea..? leave me your comments and suggestions

 

[Jacky]

I was thinking about how most people have more than one account and cool things comt those differ countries psn store and home mall .. and how u want them so bad but your credit card or psn can't be used in that reagion because you live in another 1... I feel they should have universal psn cards that go to any psn store on the psn network. I think it will help us gamers and game buyers an home lover a lil bit more.. bring more happyness and games profit to 3rd party copmpnaies and most importanly sony..... Im not gonna make any rules.. i think the rules are fine i just want sony to make universal psn cards for us.. What do you guys think abou t this idea..? leave me your comments and suggestions

There was actually a point in time where you could create a foreign acct and buy things on it, simply by having a unvers credit card like mastercard or visa.
Now you can't, you have to have a specific credit, debit, or psn card exclusive to japan.

 

[Jacky]

Again, if I'm willing to shell out the cash, I'm guessing I understand the language or am willing to put up with it. Sony is basically trying to shield people from spending their own money by not actively offering imports, which makes no sense to me as a buyer or to the companies that are involved with developing the game. Separate PSN Stores narrow the audience/market.

Then import the physical copies. Problem solved.
I have a bunch of import games, even bought some of the ps3.

 

[MarkOwen]

the ps3. ps vita, and psp all use psn although you can only download games for consoles that support it obviously. Will the ps4 use the universal psn store or will it have its own store cuz they want to force people to buy all their ps1 classics and general content twice?