Home > FAQs > Games FAQ – Does Xbox or Xbox 360 play games from other regions?

Games FAQ – Does Xbox or Xbox 360 play games from other regions?

No and this includes demo discs from the Official Xbox Magazine. Additional info (thanks to Byron Hinson): Here is the official quote I got on it the other day from Microsoft. “The North American box will only play North American games. The regional encoding is set when it passes through certification and in to the authorized replicators. North American Xbox systems will only play NTSC games, Japanese boxes will play NTSC-J games and Europe and the rest of the PAL territories will only play games marked with the PAL symbol.”

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Categories: FAQs
  1. Jon Booth
    December 23rd, 2006 at 12:26 | #1

    Codswallop. Go to http://www.xbox.com/forums and there are many threads confirming that there are some region free gsmes. I have an American DOA4 and I had PDZ from USA too. There are British gamers who had finished Oblivion before it was released because of region free.

  2. October 6th, 2007 at 03:30 | #2

    my 360 will play movies but when you put a game in it says to play this disc put it in a 360 console inwhich i think it means that my 360 is not being viewed as a 360 console how do i fix that

  3. jane morton
    November 10th, 2007 at 05:46 | #3

    can i play xbox 360 games from central america on an english console

  4. May 18th, 2008 at 18:33 | #4

    Very good article. Thanks for the good information.

  5. hyppi
    September 5th, 2008 at 09:12 | #5

    I have an Australian PAL game that i want to play on a US console. Can i rerecord the disc or something???

  6. September 5th, 2008 at 14:22 | #6

    @ Hyppi No you can’t burn or create a copy that will play in your Xbox 360. Pal and NTSC have their own coding and besides making copies is never allowed. Why would you have a PAL copy of a game anyhow if you own a NTSC Xbox 360?

  7. Evo
    November 16th, 2008 at 06:00 | #7

    I’ve bought an Xbox 360 here in the UK and I’m planning to take it to my son in the Philippines, they have the same voltage supply but does anyone know if the unit will work there and with the games, not being a gamer myself I do’nt know these things?

  8. Shun Tayama
    January 6th, 2009 at 22:15 | #8

    Can you play Japanese games with Xbox 360?

  9. January 7th, 2009 at 00:13 | #9

    @Shun
    No sorry you can’t

  10. Saint07
    July 24th, 2009 at 02:03 | #10

    So what ur telling me is if I want to play a Japan game I need there Xbox 360. Well its time I get one mail to the US. And the games I want that we dont get until the middle of 2010.

  11. ben
    July 28th, 2009 at 23:25 | #11

    i phoned xbox and their said all i had to do was make a american user

  1. August 8th, 2007 at 13:38 | #1

Feed procesing paused.