Live in Japan, can't redeem game codes.

Khay-vin, a Microsoft Answer Tech referred me to this forum because I live in Japan and can't activate some game codes I got from a friend back in the states, or a game code I purchased online. Can I get some help with this issue?

Thanks.

:)

 

Codes not Working. Entire XBOX 360 Gears of War Collection included for purchashing Gears of War 4.

gears 1 and 3 are region locked and if you live in Japan you can't redeem any of the codes as they are different from American marketplace

 

Cant redeem code

If you live in Japan or China or any non Xbox Live regions you can't redeem ir

 

Do you receive the same error message for each code? What error messages/codes do you receive when you try redeeming them? Are they for 360 or One games?

Depending on the games, it could be a region issue.

 

It is definitely a regional issue, and these are all 360 games. Specifically, Fallout 3, Dark Souls and Gears of War 2. Here is the error message though, all of them got the XBOS1005 error code.

XBOS1005

fd0860c9-8266-475a-99ec-5c91bba2d0d2

 

In order to download region locked games, your account region has to match your physical location and you have to be in a region where the games are available. Since Dark Souls and Gears 2 are not available in Japan, you won't be able to download them.
Fallout 3 is available so you should be able to download it as long as your account region matches.

 

Fallout 3 gives me the exact same issue, so apparently it does not agree with that conclusion. And that is the game I actually bought, the others are prepaid codes given to me by a friend. The Microsoft Support Tech told me that the Fallout 3 code was also
a regional issue. I have tried many, many times to get it to work and to no avail. So if it's supposed to work, what should I do?

 

You may want to wait until the week when support can check into it too, but the only other suggestions I can give are to go to
Sign in to your Microsoft account to make sure all of your information is correct and try re-entering your information (even if it is and keep in mind your account needs to be set for Japan). If that doesn't work, try
migrating your region https://live.xbox.com/accountmigration

 

Thanks for the continued replies. Unfortunately though I have already gone through all of this ad nauseum with several Microsoft Answer Techs. Because I was forced to move my account over to Japan so I could add my Japanese credit card and benefit from Games
with Gold and download basically any free game at all I am in this predicament. And Microsoft has this ridiculous policy to not allow region moves within 90 days of one region move, so I'm stuck with two more months of this, and even then once I move the region
over to US there's no telling what will happen with my Japanese credit card. The whole thing just absolutely sucks, and I am really hoping the promotions team can help me to get these games that I have legitimate codes for and bypass all this stupid region
locking nonsense.

I have been assured by the Microsoft Answer Tech I spoke with that I will not just get the same "you have to move your region" thing every other Xbox support person has told me to do. Promotions Team, I have dealt with three chat support people that have
all said different things and I still have no solution to this problem. Please help me out here.

 

The only thing I can think of is that the Fallout code is region locked so it can only be redeemed in the US. Which means even if you switch your account region back to US, you won't be able to download the game. Since the other 2 games aren't available
in Japan you won't be able to redeem them unless you're physically in the US.

 

only if its a retail code from online vendor or amazon

Or a retail store.

You shouldnt be buying out of region Games to avoid these issues

And FYI these are lawfully required locks as games like gears is banned

In japan

 

Gears is not "banned in Japan". I got codes for Gears 1 - 3 from a friend, and 1 and 3 worked. Only 2 has some region locking on it for some reason. The very fact that 1 and 3 are fine but 2 doesn't work proves these region locking issues are arbitrary and
ridiculous.

For expats like me who want to play American games, I think we deserve some help. Especially those of us playing Xbox One is Japan, where the console is failing miserably sales wise, losing to PS4. If the answer Techs working at Microsoft aren't telling
me to refrain from buying these even though they are more bound by rules and laws when they speak to customers, maybe you needn't mention it either, by the way. The guy I talked to insisted promotions will likely help me with this issue.

Secondly, I bought the code for Fallout 3 from an online retailer. How do you think I bought the code in the first place?

 

oh they are and Japan doesn't qualify for the codes gears 1-3 is actually banned due to the violent nature of the games

Using an us account and any method to download by bypassing the region locksit is a violation of the terms of use

And yes gears 1 and 3 are confirmed region locked you can google it and yes those are specifically complained about by many players

 

you can search forums and see how many players run into the regionnlocks on those two specific games

Nor can we help you bypass the region locks as that's a violation of the terms of use

 

Hmm, well apparently I need to explain further because what you're saying doesn't match up at all with what I've experienced. I've had a US Xbox account for years because a friend back in the states has an Xbox and I frequently played with him better never
owned any Xbox until about a month ago. And I live in Japan now. I moved my account over to Japan. So heads up, I am not using a US account right now. I successfully, with no problem at all activated Gears of War 1 and 3 on my account, after I had moved the
region to Japan. And only Gears 2 did not work. By the by, I will reiterate, Gears is not banned in Japan. Gears 1 - 3 were released in Japan, though heavily censored. Japanese Xbox Ones will run the censored version regardless of where you bought it, but
I digress. Guess what, you can Google that. Searching "Gears of War Japan Censored" will give you that information. Not banned.

Lastly sir, regardless of your statements about "violating terms of use",multiple Microsoft Answer Techs have suggested to me to do it in order to get prepaid game codes to work (I can't yet because you have to wait 90 days before you change your region). And
one of these same answer techs told me that I would not get the same "just change your region" answer from support that I got from the other Answer Techs. You seem very hellbent on telling me I can't be helped because I live in Japan, I shouldn't be doing
anything with region anything and all that while people employed by Microsoft/Xbox have been very lenient and agreeable to telling me how to change regions to bypass this.