system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Why game devs region-lock games, even if it's a free-to-play?

Paid games are region-locked to protect developer's profits. But why they also lock f2p games? I noticed some are especially harsh in enforcing the region lock by throwing in all kinds of anti-import measures they can think of stop people from playing the games outside it's intended region.
gpt
A regional lockout may be enforced for several reasons, such to stagger the release of a certain product, to hinder grey market imports by enforcing price discrimination, or to prevent users from accessing certain content in their territory because of legal reasons (either due to censorship laws, or because a distributor does not have the rights to certain intellectual property outside of their specified region).