Following Microsoft's U-turn on its DRM policies, including making the Xbox One region-free alongside the PS4, Nintendo is now left as the only major console manufacturer that maintains a region-locking policy. This practice is restrictive to customers, including those who enjoy playing foreign games not available domestically, speak foreign languages, serve in the military, or otherwise travel or live abroad. If anything, region-free policies encourage the additional sales of legitimate software that cannot otherwise be obtained in a given country; the money would still go to Nintendo, the developers and the distributors behind each game.



Nintendo has been amazing in its attempts to shorten the gap in release dates between different territories (e.g. the worldwide launch of Pokémon X and Y) and we are truly grateful for that, but we don't want region-free consoles just so we can purchase and play some games earlier than usual. We want region-free consoles so that we may exercise our consumer rights to choose what games we play and to thus expand our horizons.



We ask that Nintendo please release system firmware updates that will remove region-locking from the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and Wii systems.



Please sign this petition, tweet to @Nintendo, @NintendoAmerica, @NintendoEurope, @NintendoUK, @NintendoES, and @NintendoFrance with the hashtags #EndRegionLocking and #NintendoRegionFree. Post on their Facebook pages and post in Miiverse! Make your concerns known!