FAQ about Cross Region PSN Gaming

Hi from Asia.

Welcome to PSN World Deals, this site is specifically catering to PSN gamers without borders. But then not so many PSN gamers out there realised that their gaming console has the potential for gaming without boundary. Here are some frequently asked questions about cross region gaming on PSN, written in a way that, since I am not a good writer, I hope everyone could easily read and comprehend. I hope...




Q. I am American, I shouldn't join European PSN right?
A. I disagree with that, I myself lived on multiple countries for some years and I've met many gamers who are also expats and if they are currently working in Europe, should they create a US account just because they are US national? It would be certainly inconvenient especially if you want to buy the prepaid cards, since the local top-ups won't work with your account. No matter what nationality or where you are, it has nothing to do with your PSN account region.

Q. Well, good point but I am not an expat. I am proud and happy where I am. Although I'll admit I hate it when something is pricier where I live.
A. You are certainly right! But my point is, the store is open to everyone since beginning. Nobody stop you from joining except yourself. Everyone usually stares at the letter US/UK/HK/JP and take it too deep. We need to realise that US/UK/JP/HK are unofficial labels and never included in the name of the store itself, since each store is for everyone. And you just need to register once for each store. It takes less than 30 mins hassle for setting up 4 accounts and it is for a lifetime benefit.

Q. Even so, there should be penalties for American joining European PSN, right? Since y'know, it's wrong. European PSN should be for European. American is for American.
A. That are what most people thought it is, but it wasn't. European PSN is called European since the office is registered in Europe, that's it. It welcomes people all over the world to join, and is not exclusive for European customers. So it is certainly not wrong and there are no penalties. Instead of thinking PSN as one unified store, you should think of US/UK/HK/JP as 4 different game stores with similar name in a same shopping mall (which is your PS4/PS3), each stores standing next to each other, that you can freely browse, check, compare, and purchase at your freedom. Those four stores are already right there in your PS4 or PS3, wherever your consoles are. The registration for these four stores are free-of-charge, and open to everyone everywhere as long as they have internet connection, and that means you can join too. Just a trivia though, only South Korean PSN is not open to everyone, as you have to have South Korean Credit Cards to register. Some people even said you'll need a Korean Social Security Number. However, everywhere else are not.

Q. Really? But that also means the other stores could ask the same thing right?
A. In theory yes they can, but they never did. Also the implementation in South Korea is required by local Korean law (not by Sony themselves), which is to discourage young gamers who are under 18 from spending their time playing online games in internet cafes for a very outrageously looong time. They have severe online games addiction cases over there that involved some gamers losing their life (literally) in front of the PC in the middle of the game (Yes. This requirement is originally for PC gamers, but PSN gamers are affected). It was never intended to prevent non-South Korean from taking advantages on their respective store. Kotaku has covered this news back then.

Q. That's a shame. What happened if I want to take advantage from South Korean Store?
A. You won't. It is the same store with Hong Kong PSN, and the prices are alot cheaper there than on South Korean's.

Q. That's nice! So how many regions are there then?
A. PSN is divided into 4 main regions (stores):

• America: USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and most Spanish-speaking South American countries.

• Asia: East Asia (excluding mainland China), and South East Asia

• Japan: Japan (Japanese UI)

• Rest of the world: UK, most of Mainland Europe to Far Eastern Russia, Africa, Middle-East, India, and Oceania

Q. What? Japan store is Japanese-only User Interface? Sorry man that's certainly not for me.
A. We already wrote a post that will help you. I'm not familiar with Japanese as well but, hey, it works.

Q. OK, but even so, most of the game in Japanese PSN would be Japanese only right? I can't play any games if they are in Japanese.
A. I can't deny that, yes most of the games there are Japanese games, but do you know that, in past few months while US and UK PS Plus give you indies, Japanese PSN gives you nice full retail games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Guilty Gears XX Accent Core Plus, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus and, guess what? These games are in English. Also most other titles are mainly English with Japanese only in very minor parts like BattleFantasia and House of The Dead 4. And do you know PS3 got 30GBs free games just November alone? At least 4 games are playable without learning any Japanese. And the best part is their 30 days PS Plus subscription fee is the lowest on earth at $4.3. And if you have PS4, instead of getting Injustice from in December you'll get Killzone: Shadowfall from JP PS Plus, and it's in English. Two full retail games on PS4 and you just need to pay $4.3 more, I can't even think that's a bad thing. After all the only part we all may struggle is only navigating the Japanese PSN. Not the game itself. And the tutorial for navigating is already included.

Q. Wait! What did you say? If I subscribe JP Plus for just $4.3 I can play Killzone: Shadowfall too?? In English?? I'm certainly in! Even if it just for a month, I'm certainly in! And 30GBs for free games? That's insane! OK (calm) but why you're only offering registration to US/UK/HK/JP PSN? What about the others, like France or Australia?
A. That's because each one of those are the best store to represent their region. Also their prepaid vouchers are the one that available most of the time online.

Q. OK, and since I am actually in Canada, should I skip making US PSN since my Canadian PSN is already an American PSN?
A. My suggestion is to create both. Even if your region is the same store with US PSN, some prices might be pricier in your region due to different pricing strategy, although sometimes yours are cheaper. This applies to other regions as well, such as Hongkong and Singapore, UK and Australia, etc.

Q. OK, I'm trying one right now, so how do you choose your region?
A. After accepting the EULA it will ask you for your country, answer that with United States (or UK, HK, JP depending on what region you want the account to be associated with).

Q. I see, OK I tried it but when I was creating new account, it asked me for a valid address. I am not in US y'know, so how can I have a U.S. address.
A. Use borderlinx. They'll give you a valid US and UK address for free. And these addresses are yours under your name. Don't worry, they are legit shipping business.

Q. That's great! But what about Asia and Japan?
A. You can check the tutorial links attached after this QA.

Q. OK? So, are there really no disadvantages doing this?
A. It depends, first you'll need to prepare multiple emails to register with PSN. And the games purchased from each different PSN stores are only playable as long as the account you used to purchase are in your PS4/PS3. You can't delete them or you will lose the game forever. You'll have to remember the username/password too. So if you are bad at remembering username and password, this is certainly one disadvantage for you.  

Q. Phew... I thought you will tell me that my PS4/PS3 will be banned for creating a bogus account. 
A. Ha ha, no way. And these are not bogus account, these are legally yours, they are your wallet for each stores, just treat it like a wallet, don't ever share your wallet account (username & password) with anyone else, you can assist them to made one for themselves but don't share yours, and also do not cheating online or sharing your legally bought games, and you will be fine. And oh, don't ever play or associate your PSN account on a modded console.

Q. OK then that is no problem, almost everyone have multiple emails these days and I certainly have no problems remembering mine, anything else?
A.  First, you can't take part on certain promotion that is only for locals, but don't worry about that since I won't post this kind of locals-only deals in this site. Second and the most important, while most games are region free, the DLCs and the game saves are tied to the game's region. So if you bought a game from HK store, you can't expect it to work with DLC bought from US/UK/JP store. Also if a game can load game saves from other title, they can't detect game saves from other region. So make sure both game matches. However, your Canada and US region is matched. So DLC bought from Canadian store can be use with game bought from US store and vice-versa, since both are American PSN. This also applies to account such as HK and Singaporean PSN (both Asian PSN), UK and Australian (both considered European PSN)

Q. I see, that may be quite confusing since now I got multiple accounts. How can I check which game are which?
A. On PS3, you can check this by pressing triangle while highlighting a game title and choose Information. The account name will appear as the buyer name. I don't have PS4 yet, so I have no information on those.

Q. That's great, and you should get PS4 man, that's a great console. By the way, what about Vita?
A. I will, and I intend to get one earlier next year. For Vita, the account is tied to memory cards, so you have remember which memory card is which account. Changing region is not as easy as PS4/PS3 since you have to factory reset your Vita every time you want to swap region.

Q. Wow! Y'know I also have a Vita and that's not a problem to me as long as I can get the game I want for cheap!
A. Great! You don't have any inconveniences then. Then we are all set.

Q. So how to create the account again?
A. Read our post. Also see here for the top-up guide.

Q. Lastly, why your blog name and address is different? Do you try to bait audiences into reading your blog?
A. I'm terribly sorry if you feel deceived but that is not our purpose. We did originally set this blog and called it "PSN World Updates". We were under that name for quite some time but since we are more about deals on PSN, we changed into PSN World Deals Updates, but you know, that is too long and not easily remembered. So we just omit the Updates and settled with PSN World Deals. We just don't change the address, of course when the time is right we are going to move into the right address. But for now, we settled with this.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE GUIDE FOR SETTING UP US/UK/HK/JP PSN ACCOUNT FROM PC.

Suggestion on creating multiple account:

1. Not including the one for your own private account, create 4 new emails with same name and give them suffix like us, uk, jp, hk. i.e.: johndoeus@gmail.com, johndoehk@gmail.com etc.
2. Create new PSN account according to these suffix, johndoeuk@gmail.com for UK region etc. make your email and PSN password the same, so that it is easy to remember. Use these accounts only for purchasing. 
3. After you create the account on your PS4/PS3, you can use the PSN account directly on your other consoles, just choose to use existing PSN account, type in username and password and you're good to go.
4. Payment with PayPal and Credit Card on PSN only works if your billing address is the same with the country you created the account with. So for cross region gamers, prepaid vouchers are your only option.
5. You should play the games under your own main account. Purchased games, including the free games from PS Plus are playable with any account on the same console. In general, only if the game is a full game trial then you should play it under the purchasing account for the first time. You can use any account second time playing it.

Important notes:

1. Games are region free, but DLCs and game saves are locked into the same region with the game itself. Remember which game tied with which account.
2. Treat these accounts as wallet, they are legal payment for each store. Do not share your account or any credential information related to it to anyone else.
3. Do not use your account to cheat online. Your account will be banned.
4. Do not use your account for gamesharing. Your account will be banned.
5. Do not use obscene or offensive word(s) as your or parts of your account name. Your account will be banned.
6. Do not use your account for spamming others. Your account will be banned.
7. Do not use your account to threat other players, not even as buddy jokes. Your account will be banned.
8. Do not use a modified game saves. Your account will be banned.
9. Do not use your account on a jailbroken or modded console. Your account will be banned, and your console too.
10. This blog do not condone any topic related to games-piracy, please don't ask us how to get games for free. However, free games do exist and are free if they are being set as such by the publisher, which we will notice you in this blog.

Nobody was harmed in the process of making this QA. Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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