Bethesda Region Locks Elder Scrolls IV Remastered in South Korea
Immediately after the news unfolded, some of the gamers thought this might have been a human error; the restriction might have been for North Korea, not South. Reports came out on the following morning painted the different story altogether. Bethesda never planned to release a game, let alone submit the paperworks to the South Korean ratings board, and their local publishing partner in South Korea was not made aware of the new game. Bethesda, it seems, did not plan to release the game in South Korea on purpose.
There are speculations as to what motivated the company to decide against publishing a game, especially when all the marketing materials have been translated in Korean. According to video game industry revenue per country statistics from 2023, South Korea is ranked 4th with $7.4 billion market, just above Germany’s $6.6 billion. Considering the game market size alone and the status of the classic game, I can reasonably assume the studio would have walked away with handsome sum of money had it chosen to simply “release” the bare bone English version of the game in South Korea without much of localization efforts.
This is where it sparks some conspiracy theories against Bethesda, that its decision might be fueled by anti-Korean sentiment. Prejudice or discrimination against a group of people does not necessarily lead to violence; if it is, in this particular example, it is the case of inaction. South Korean game market is already that of a developed country, since when is up to the debate, but its rapid growth often came with cautious recognition on its current standing. Some businesses choose not to pursue opportunities in South Korea only because their perceived image of the country is that of a war-torn battlefield; except, Bethesda is unlikely to be in the Hawaii Five-O (2010) camp, as it has done publishing work in the country for both Bethesda-labeled and outside titles.
As for the unfortunate gamers in South Korea, the only condolence is Bethesda has made a dedicated support document on the subject — except it lacks any information. One could circumvent Steam’s or any other platform’s region lock, but I would not advise it, especially it will go on record of your account. Seeing as how many currencies the game is offered at on Steam, and how the game is sold in countries with various economical standing without issues, I find it suspect the decision was financially motivated as a company. If it was a human error, at least we would get something to laugh about for year 2025.