Nintendo Chief Executive Officer Satoru Iwata has just issued the first comments relating to the possibility of the company rethinking the region restrictions imposed on its hardware.

The Japanese corporation enforces strict region locks on its home consoles and handhelds, effectively stopping independent imports and exports of its hardware and software, but now Iwata has admitted that making its systems region-free may be beneficial to both Nintendo and consumers worldwide.

Avid fans of Nintendo products have been saying this for years, decrying the illogical and artificially imposed limitations that prevent them from enjoying the games they want in the manner they please, and clamoring for a change in policy.

The company, on the other hand, has tried to explain that there are various business-related issues that call for the region locking "feature" to be enforced on its console, being oblivious to the fact that all other such entities manage just fine without it.
Nintendo is apparently working on a time machine

"The game business has a history of taking a very long time with localization among other things, such as having to deal with various issues of marketing in each particular country, or games that have made use of licensed content that did not apply globally, and had all kinds of circumstances, so to say, that region-locking has existed due to circumstances on the sellers' side rather than for the sake of the customers," Iwata mentions during an investor conference.

For many PlayStation 4 or Xbox One fans, this no doubt seems like a line Michael J. Fox would say in "Back to the Future," but unfortunately, it's the grim reality many Nintendo 3DS and Wii U users face every day.

That being said, this is the first ever instance of positive feedback so far, after years of people asking Nintendo to make an effort and get in line with industry standards, while at the same time still buying its products and thus enforcing its decisions.

Nintendo is considering unlocking the consoles for the first time

Although the last section heading might seem like it was translated from some Paleolithic inscribing on cave walls, it's unfortunately recent enough to still boggle the mind.

In any case, Iwata has finally admitted that unlocking Nintendo's consoles could prove to be beneficial to both the company and its customers, although it would mean that the corporation would have to actively work at solving several logistics problems that other companies across the world have already taken care of a long time ago.

Iwata has concluded that for the time being, Nintendo is indecisive, but that removing the region locking feature of its hardware is one of the things that have to be considered moving forward.