When you try to play a game on your Xbox 360 console, you receive the error message: "The region code for this game does not match your console's region"

When you try to play a game on your Xbox 360 console, either with an Xbox 360 game disc or after downloading content from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, you receive the following error message:

Xbox game discs and certain original Xbox games that are available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace only work with Xbox 360 consoles that are sold in the same region for which the content is produced.

For example, if you purchase an Xbox 360 console in North America, you cannot play game discs that are sold in Europe or in Asia on that console. An Xbox 360 console that is sold in Europe can only play game discs that are sold in Europe. And an Xbox 360 console that is sold in Asia can only play game discs that are sold in Asia.

You cannot modify an Xbox 360 console from one region to play discs or to play Marketplace content that was produced for a different region.

Here are some steps that you can use to try to resolve the issue. If you cannot resolve the issue yourself, please contact Xbox Customer Support by visiting the following Microsoft Web site:

Physical game discs

1. Determine whether the game disc is from the same region as the region where you purchased the Xbox console. To determine the region, view the back of the game package. Look for one of the following codes:
   • NTSC: North America and South America (United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil)
   • NTSC-J: Asia (Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan)
   • PAL: Europe, South Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand
2. If this symptom occurs with only one or two discs, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1 (http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1) ) for the specific game title or titles. If you find a known problem, follow the instructions in that article.
3. If the game disc worked in the past, the disc might now be dirty or damaged. Clean or replace the disc to see if this resolves the problem.
4. If this behavior occurs with only one or two discs and no known problem exists, return the disc or discs to the retail store where you made the purchase.
5. Turn off and unplug your console, remove the Xbox Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and any attached memory units (MUs), and then reconnect your console. Try the disc again. If this procedure seems to resolve the problem, turn off and disconnect your console, reattach the HDD and any MUs, and then delete any saved games for the game with which you had problems..
   Note If you can do this, move the saved games to a different memory unit.
6. If you have this problem only with original Xbox games (games that are designed for original Xbox, not Xbox 360), the original Xbox backward compatibility update may be missing from the HDD. To resolve this problem, download and burn a copy of the backward compatibility update to a disc, and then install the update to your console.

If this behavior occurs with more than two discs, the console may have to be serviced.

Content that was downloaded from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace

Content that is available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace is shown based on the region of your Xbox LIVE account and (in some cases) is set to only work on Xbox 360 consoles that are sold in that region.

If you are using either an account that does not match your actual region or that of the console you are using, you may experience this error. If you experience this error after downloading a piece of Marketplace content, you should contact Xbox Support directly.

Additional support

For more information about how to contact Xbox Customer Support directly, please visit the following Microsoft Web site: