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[Slavik81]

I'm not surprised. This was inevitable.

Though, I hope they let you buy copies from a foreign region to give to people in foreign regions, even if they are flagged.

So can someone give me an explanation why they would want to do this? Don't they get money? Or are they losing out by allowing people to gift different regions at the region's price?

They want to be able to lower the price in poorer regions like Eastern Europe while still selling it at regular price in rich countries like the USA.

The low marginal cost of software makes price discrimination very attractive.

If there had to be one global price, rich countries dominate sales to such an extent that the global supply/demand curves would result in a price roughly the same as the current US price. Poor countries would just be ignored.

 

[webtax]

a little math from wikipedia..
Brazil has near 200M, but the population included on the region lock are 443M

 

[HolyBaikal]

... Things like this could be a part of why it is hard to get Japanese games on the PC.
And this isn't Valve's fault, this is Konami's fault. Valve should definitely reach out to Japanese developers.
But if they fail to be able to work with Japanese developers because of policies and requests like this, then I can't blame them.

I've lost a lot of respect for Konami over this.

 

[ngt]

I really don't like this. If a game's got a flag in certain regions, it should have a different appId. It might be hard to tell which is which and I see a potential for scammers here.

 

[Harest]

It would probably be fair enough if they would stop to convert the currencies like they want.
I don't think the standard of living is higher in France than in the USA for instance. And the games prices here are set by this rate of 1$=1€, and even worst sometimes.

 

[JaseC]

The following games now have the restriction:

- The Banner Saga
- Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar
- Payday 2
- Divinity: Original Sin
- South Park
- Thief
- Banished
- Rust
- Hawken
- 7 Days to Die

And of course there's also Konami's own Lords of Shadow 2.

 

[anonymous_abc]

The following games now have the restriction:

- The Banner Saga
- Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar
- Payday 2
- Divinity: Original Sin
- South Park
- Thief
- Banished
- Rust
- Hawken
- 7 Days to Die

And of course there's also Konami's own Lords of Shadow 2.

Well that sucks...

Isn't Banished indie?

 

[Frank Jaeger]

Well, as far as I'm concerned, instead of getting my $5 now, dear publishers, you'll have to wait another year to get my 32.68 SEK!

Just look at my fucking backlog!

 

[JaseC]

Well that sucks...

Isn't Banished indie?

The very definition thereof: it was made by one person!

 

[Lord Panda]

Why would Valve even allow this? Surely they have enough clout to tell any short-sighted publisher to go and screw themselves?

Why would kickstarter games like Divinity or The Banner Saga sign up for this shit. Don't understand it.

 

[Visualante2]

Won't be getting South Park from Steam then. £39.99 is a joke.

Why would Valve even allow this? Surely they have enough clout to tell any short-sighted publisher to go and screw themselves?

Valve consider themselves to be a distributor. They want to facilitate whatever the publishers want. As seen in the third party DRM strategy. The only time I've read of Valve getting involved is when they show a publisher data and try to convince them that they'll be better off going one way or another.

 

[scitek]

Hawken's F2P right?

 

[OminoMichelin]

Basically, this means I will buy less games. Less money is better than no money, publishers.

 

[JaseC]

Why would Valve even allow this? Surely they have enough clout to tell any short-sighted publisher to go and screw themselves?

That wouldn't exactly be good for business.

"We're miffed that people are purchasing games from regions wherein they're 40%+ cheaper!"
"Dealwithit.gif"

 

[ambientmystic]

Well that sucks...

Isn't Banished indie?

This doesn't make any sense since the game is 100% region free on GoG.com and direct from the developer himself.

Folk can just grab it there to circumvent the region block. DRM free too.

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

The following games now have the restriction:

- The Banner Saga
- Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar
- Payday 2
- Divinity: Original Sin
- South Park
- Thief
- Banished
- Rust
- Hawken
- 7 Days to Die

And of course there's also Konami's own Lords of Shadow 2.

Well fuck. I got a key and it's on my games list but I won't be able to install it?

 

[JaseC]

Well fuck. I got a key and it's on my games list but I won't be able to install it?

The restriction applies only to gift purchases in South America/Eastern Europe and unredeemed gift copies sourced from said regions.

 

[Lord British]

So since it's already redeemed and on my Games list, I'll be able to install and play? D:

 

[JaseC]

So since it's already redeemed and on my Games list, I'll be able to install and play? D:

Yes.

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

The restriction applies only to gift purchases in South America/Eastern Europe and unredeemed gift copies sourced from said regions.

Ah thanks for clearing that up. I've redeemed my last one then I guess.

You are a king amongst men!

 

[SteveWinwood]

The following games now have the restriction:

- The Banner Saga
- Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar
- Payday 2
- Divinity: Original Sin
- South Park
- Thief
- Banished
- Rust
- Hawken
- 7 Days to Die

And of course there's also Konami's own Lords of Shadow 2.

publishers no

publishers stahp

 

[Voshond]

Just tried activating the South Park copy from my inventory and it's locked.
Anything I can do to fix this or am I out of luck?

 

[bj00rn_]

Region locks is probably one of the most lucrative scams in videogame history.

 

[Madrugador]

The restriction applies only to gift purchases in South America/Eastern Europe and unredeemed gift copies sourced from said regions.

For fucks sake Steam, so I'll only be able to play these games in South America? What if I move somewhere else?

These games aren't even cheaper here, this doesn't make any sense for us.

 

[Izcarielo]

What ?? I bought Thief in one of these key webs and its now in my list. Wont I be able to play it? Wtf?

 

[Atraveller]

Valve should get their shit together, say no to this kind of practice, and tell the publishers who don't follow the rules to fuck off.

 

[graywolf323]

For fucks sake Steam, so I'll only be able to play these games in South America? What if I move somewhere else?

These games aren't even cheaper here, this doesn't make any sense for us.

I think you misunderstood, you won't be able to gift these games to friends outside of your region

you can play them if you move you just also wouldn't be able to have friends back home gift them to you

Just tried activating the South Park copy from my inventory and it's locked.
Anything I can do to fix this or am I out of luck?

only way to activate it would be to use a VPN I believe

 

[SteveWinwood]

What ?? I bought Thief in one of these key webs and its now in my list. Wont I be able to play it? Wtf?

If it's in your library already you're good to go.

Just tried activating the South Park copy from my inventory and it's locked.
Anything I can do to fix this or am I out of luck?

You can try contacting support.

If worse comes to worse you can sell it on the market to try and get some of your money back.

Next time redeem it asap.

 

[Ravensmash]

Had a feeling this was coming. Really surprised about some of the games though - Banished?!

Just tried activating the South Park copy from my inventory and it's locked.
Anything I can do to fix this or am I out of luck?

I'd presume the only thing you can do now is trade the key on to someone who can use it.

No expert though, so don't take the above as anything more than opinion/advice.

 

[Madrugador]

I think you misunderstood, you won't be able to gift these games to friends outside of your region

you can play them if you move you just also wouldn't be able to have friends back home gift them to you

only way to activate it would be to use a VPN I believe

I really hope it's like you say, but that's not what Steam is telling me.

las compras realizadas en Chile sólo se pueden jugar en Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Bahamas, Belice, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá, Perú, Paraguay, Surinám, El Salvador, Uruguay y Venezuela.

"Games bought in Chile can only be played in these countries..."

Either way, why are they doing this if the game costs the same as everywhere else?

 

[JaseC]

Just tried activating the South Park copy from my inventory and it's locked.
Anything I can do to fix this or am I out of luck?

You can activate it using a VPN but as this technically falls under the umbrella of using a VPN to skirt intended pricing I wouldn't recommend it.

I really hope it's like you say, but that's not what Steam is telling me.



"Games bought in Chile can only be played in these countries..."

What game are you looking at?

Edit: Oh, that's from the store page. You can just check the game's app listing in the registry and look for the onlyallowrunincountries flag -- if it's not there then there are no runtime restrictions.

 

[Talyn]

Hawken's F2P right?

Indeed it is although at the moment new players on Steam can't actually download it unless they buy a $30 bundle pack. All the pre-Steam players were given Steam keys so they can still play as normal, of course.

 

[Visualante2]

You can activate it using a VPN but as this technically falls under the umbrella of using a VPN to skirt intended pricing I wouldn't recommend it.

I'd rather contact Valve customer support before doing so- however I've done this numerous times and never heard of anyone being banned for doing so. This was to get around delayed European releases though.

 

[dr_rus]

Lol Banished. A game which is available on GOG. I always thought that this kind of crap is a Steam sabotage campaign, now I'm 100% sure of it. Wonder when their income will start to shrink.

Meanwhile - I still don't get why Steam can't sell unrestricted versions for US/EU prices in all regions as an option. This is a fucking internet, you can't restrict it, there will always be another way, so why not give your customers a legitimate option instead of alienating them???

 

[Dario ff]

What I don't get about this sudden restriction is that the slice of the pie chart doesn't seem that significant to justify it (And what part of the Russia purchases are legitimate as well?), and that's data released by Valve themselves. At this large scale I wouldn't be surprised if the percentages are around the same for most individual games, but obviously we don't know. What games do we have regional data for sales? (Not players, but sales)

Are they just trying to stop a growing trend?

 

[JaseC]

I'd rather contact Valve customer support before doing so- however I've done this numerous times and never heard of anyone being banned for doing so. This was to get around delayed European releases though.

Support will tell you that they can't help -- the onus isn't on Valve to remove or otherwise assist users in getting around the restriction as far as third-party games are concerned. Using a VPN to activate a region-locked key or unlock a game early Valve turns a blind eye to; using a VPN to circumvent the pricing intended for the store of your region is another matter.

 

[SteveWinwood]

What I don't get about this sudden restriction is that the slice of the pie chart doesn't seem that significant to justify it (And what part of the Russia purchases are legitimate as well?), and that's data released by Valve themselves. At this large scale I wouldn't be surprised if the percentages are around the same for most individual games, but obviously we don't know. What games do we have regional data for sales? (Not players, but sales)

Are they just trying to stop a growing trend?

South park is the easiest example. You had tons of people buying it for 20 bucks before it even came out. Considering you can't buy it again (unless you gift it) That's directly eating into their sales (assuming any amount of the 20 dollar people would have bought it at 60 anyway).

I dunno why Banished is there. But it honestly makes sense from a business perspective to see South Park on the list.

 

[Stitch]

wow, good that I got banished for cheap last night

 

[Madrugador]

What game are you looking at?

Edit: Oh, that's from the store page. You can just check the game's app listing in the registry and look for the onlyallowrunincountries flag -- if it's not there then there are no runtime restrictions.

Yes, I was looking at South Park's store page. Good to know I won't have problems playing my games outside my country. Valve should really fix their spanish though.

This still sucks of course. My country isn't getting any benefit from this (like cheaper games) and is getting more restrictions. Hope this doesn't get worse in the future.

 

[Atraveller]

wow, good that I got banished for cheap last night

you got banished?

 

[AbundantChoice]

South park is the easiest example. You had tons of people buying it for 20 bucks before it even came out. Considering you can't buy it again (unless you gift it) That's directly eating into their sales (assuming any amount of the 20 dollar people would have bought it at 60 anyway).

Yup, that'd be me. I was actually totally willing to pay $60 for SP, but bought it through GAFtrading for $20. The whole "all this is going to do is kill their profits" angle is totally realistic. Yeah, this does suck for the "1 Euro = 1 dollar" countries, that's complete nonsense. But that's actually a separate issue.

 

[Stitch]

you got banished?

Spoiler

I chuckled

 

[Mengy]

The following games now have the restriction:

- The Banner Saga
- Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar
- Payday 2
- Divinity: Original Sin
- South Park
- Thief
- Banished
- Rust
- Hawken
- 7 Days to Die

And of course there's also Konami's own Lords of Shadow 2.

Okay, Banished being on this list makes zero sense. The game is available via several other methods region free, hell it's even available DRM free and Luke himself has publically stated he prefers it both region and DRM free, but Steam is a good vehicle to distribution so it's there. If this region limit thing is publisher controlled, then that means that Luke himself enabled this for Banished on Steam?

It doesn't sound like something he would do, or even be in favor of. Something's fishy here....

 

[asdad123]

Hmm, I can't check right now since I'm not at home, but I don't remember if I activated the copy of South Park I purchased here on GAF.

I know I opened the gift, does that mean it's activated? It also shows up under "licenses and subscriptions" on the steam app, but doesn't show up in my library on the steam app.

 

[JaseC]

Okay, Banished being on this list makes zero sense. The game is available via several other methods region free, hell it's even available DRM free and Luke himself has publically stated he prefers it both region and DRM free, but Steam is a good vehicle to distribution so it's there. If this region limit thing is publisher controlled, then that means that Luke himself enabled this for Banished on Steam?

It doesn't sound like something he would do, or even be in favor of. Something's fishy here....

The game is ~45% cheaper in Russia so I can't say I'd be overly shocked.

Hmm, I can't check right now since I'm not at home, but I don't remember if I activated the copy of South Park I purchased here on GAF.

I know I opened the gift, does that mean it's activated? It also shows up under "licenses and subscriptions" on the steam app, but doesn't show up in my library on the steam app.

You're fine. Unreleased games don't show up in games lists outside of the client itself.

 

[Ravensmash]

Hmm, I can't check right now since I'm not at home, but I don't remember if I activated the copy of South Park I purchased here on GAF.

I know I opened the gift, does that mean it's activated? It also shows up under "licenses and subscriptions" on the steam app, but doesn't show up in my library on the steam app.

Did you add it to your game library?

 

[asdad123]

Did you add it to your game library?

Yeah I'm pretty sure I did lol. (I accepted the gift and it was in my library on the computer last I checked a couple days ago).

I don't use steam much as you can tell haha.

 

[Garcia]

Fuck you Gabe, why would you allow this? I was starting to like Steam.

 

[Monado Blade]

Oh brother. It's like they want people to pirate their games.

 

[Linkark07]

I have a question about this region lock. Since I live in Panama, what happens if I go to the US and try to play MGSR? Because I bought it in Panama, can I play my copy on the US or will Steam block the game until I return to Latin America?