It looks like Amazon‘s attempting to capitalize on the popularity of importing games from Japan by offering to do exactly that. As reported by Eurogamer and NeoGAF, the Japanese version of Amazon now offers international shipping to games ordered on the site, something that’s sure to delight fans of the more obscure side of the Japanese games industry when certain titles are never given a Western release.
Gamer have been importing games from the Land of the Rising Sun for decades, but with Amazon now joining the market, it gives importers more options to obtain what they want without having to resort to hugely-inflated import costs.
With that said, however, there are some restrictions to the service which you should probably be careful of. Only software and hardware sold directly by Amazon will be shipped internationally, your current Amazon account details won’t be valid for the Japanese version of the site (meaning you’ll need to make a separate one) and finally, Amazon Prime isn’t available.
There’s another caveat to be aware of; Wii U and 3DS games are region-locked, meaning you won’t be able to play any imports on non-Japanese versions of either console. There’s no such restriction on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 or PS Vita though, so there’s no need to worry about that.
Are you big on importing? Is Amazon‘s new stance on international shipping from Japan likely to change your habits at all? Let us know in the comments below.
