Question about PS3 DLC region lock

[KenpachiDaniel]

I'm trying to play some old PS3 games that I haven't played yet. And I'm confused about how the region lock works.

Until now I always buy region 1 disc only games, or the US digital version when they are available. Because most of the PS3 games' DLCs where removed from a lot of countries or never where added in the first place. I'm from Brazil, and it's very expensive to buy dollar PSN cards here.

Last year, a friend told me that the brazilian version of Batman Origins DLCs did work on the US version of the game (that he gave me), but it didn't.

But last month, I had to buy one of the Metal Gear Rising DLCs. I had a US disc (region 1) and when I accessed the store from inside the game, I could buy the DLC from there and it worked.

What I don't understand is that brazilian DLCs where supposed to work with US games, since both countries are from region 1. My question is: what makes the DLCs work or not work? It's a company decision?

[HuntingFever]

With the exception of a certain Persona game (I always forget which one) all PS3 games are region free but 99% of all DLC is region locked so has to be bought from the same country you bought the game from, else they won't work at all. Region locking is often a legal requirement stipulated by various local and international laws so there's no getting around it, even if a company wanted to. Unfortunately, some countries are just legal quagmires when it comes to copyright laws which is why some content never gets released in certain countries because it's too much of a headache for companies to untangle so they simply don't bother.

Edited March 7, 2021 by HuntingFever
Update.