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General discussion (archive)Steam - Regional Madness(19 posts)(19 posts)
(19 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted February 02, 2013
I recently ordered two Steam powered games through Amazon.co.uk, Darksiders 2 and Dark Souls. It was MUCH cheaper than buying them directly from Steam (I didn't even have to pay for the shipping which took only two business days) and I avoided all potential flaws and problems the Polish retail releases might have (like say in case of Darksiders 1 where the Polish retail release didn't include English language support, despite being Steam powered).

Anyway, I opened the package, enjoyed some British air, opened the game boxes, enjoyed some Chinese air and punched the keys into Steam. And guess what, Steam said about Darksiders 2 that this game isn't available in my region. Dafuck? The game is perfectly available in the Polish Steam store, at the regular European price even, and according to the store page I would even get the exact same languages as when buying it from Germany or the UK. And okay, I understand that Valve and the other publishers don't like the idea that the "rich folks in the West" buy cheaper Eastern European or Asian releases to pay less but what the fuck? Why shouldn't I be able to register the main European release? I'm sitting in a "poorer country", it's technically beneficial for them if a guy sitting in Eastern Europe buys western releases for some reason. Dumb assholes.

In case you're wondering: no, that didn't stop me from activating the game.
Posted February 02, 2013
UK isn't 'Main Europe', UK is a separate region. There's UK, then EU1, then EU2.
Posted February 02, 2013
Something similar happened to me too: I live in Romania and I buyed a Steam Game (Rage I think) from a store Zavi (I think it was named). I got the game and when i tried to activate it: "Game is not available in your region" I tried activating with VPN: It worked but I needed to use VPN everytime I played that game.
The regional restrictions is one of the down-sides of Steam but I learned to live with it.
Post edited February 02, 2013 by robb5
Posted February 02, 2013
Both Bethesda and Steam sucks . ( because of Rage )
Post edited February 02, 2013 by ne_zavarj
Posted February 02, 2013
There are complicated license, publisher and retail agreements behind regional differences. As much as the internet makes us feel like we are one big world, it's not that simple.
Post edited February 02, 2013 by StingingVelvet
Posted February 02, 2013
For the same reason I prefer to buy the games directly from Steam. Is not Steam's fault though, is the publisher's fault because of regional licensing... Once I tried to activate a game bought elsewhere (a Steam key) through Steam and I couldn't because of the regional "issue"... it was a gift, so I sent it back, and nothing was lost.
Posted February 02, 2013
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StingingVelvet: There are complicated license, publisher and retail agreements behind regional differences. As much as the internet makes us feel like we are one big world, it's not that simple.
If Steam is selling games in one EU country which they won't let you run in another EU country, wouldn't that be breaking EU law?

I remember a big fuss some years ago when car manufacturers tried to stop Britons buying cars on the continent and importing them to Britain to save money, and I'm pretty sure they were told to stop for the same reason.
Posted February 02, 2013
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F4LL0UT: In case you're wondering: no, that didn't stop me from activating the game.
So how did you do it? If with VPN, do you have to use it also when playing the game?

Some people always suggest that one should buy Steam games cheaper from US Amazon and so on (by lying to them about your address in case you don't live in US), but is it possible to run into similar cases there?
Posted February 02, 2013
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F4LL0UT: I recently ordered two Steam powered games through Amazon.co.uk, Darksiders 2 and Dark Souls. It was MUCH cheaper than buying them directly from Steam (I didn't even have to pay for the shipping which took only two business days) and I avoided all potential flaws and problems the Polish retail releases might have (like say in case of Darksiders 1 where the Polish retail release didn't include English language support, despite being Steam powered).

Anyway, I opened the package, enjoyed some British air, opened the game boxes, enjoyed some Chinese air and punched the keys into Steam. And guess what, Steam said about Darksiders 2 that this game isn't available in my region. Dafuck? The game is perfectly available in the Polish Steam store, at the regular European price even, and according to the store page I would even get the exact same languages as when buying it from Germany or the UK. And okay, I understand that Valve and the other publishers don't like the idea that the "rich folks in the West" buy cheaper Eastern European or Asian releases to pay less but what the fuck? Why shouldn't I be able to register the main European release? I'm sitting in a "poorer country", it's technically beneficial for them if a guy sitting in Eastern Europe buys western releases for some reason. Dumb assholes.

In case you're wondering: no, that didn't stop me from activating the game.
moonqq.pl, keye.pl, and gamecodes.pl work much better than having to deal with anything else when it comes to Steam and regional restrictions.
Posted February 02, 2013
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Pheace: UK isn't 'Main Europe', UK is a separate region. There's UK, then EU1, then EU2.
Don't know what kind of regions you're exactly talking about, where it is officially defined and whatever but the only document I found on this was this one which lists UK as part of EU1. And in my experience most game releases that have a European multilingual release are provided in the exact same version in most of Western Europe (the exception being of course some games that are banned in Germany - I also remember a few games where the German censored version was exclusively in German while all other major European countries got a multilingual release). Also the solution to my problem was activating Darksiders 2 in Germany, so in this case it also counts as the same region as UK.
Posted February 02, 2013
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movieman523: If Steam is selling games in one EU country which they won't let you run in another EU country, wouldn't that be breaking EU law?

I remember a big fuss some years ago when car manufacturers tried to stop Britons buying cars on the continent and importing them to Britain to save money, and I'm pretty sure they were told to stop for the same reason.
I can't pretend to know EU law but I know software is often treated completely different from products.
Posted February 02, 2013
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movieman523: If Steam is selling games in one EU country which they won't let you run in another EU country, wouldn't that be breaking EU law?

I remember a big fuss some years ago when car manufacturers tried to stop Britons buying cars on the continent and importing them to Britain to save money, and I'm pretty sure they were told to stop for the same reason.
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StingingVelvet: I can't pretend to know EU law but I know software is often treated completely different from products.
Sounds like it could be considered a 'service' rather than a 'product' but regardless... this is just speculation... INTERNET SPECULATION SO I DO NOT KNOW JACK AND TALK OUT OF MY BUTTOX. :DDDD
Posted February 02, 2013
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Robette: Sounds like it could be considered a 'service' rather than a 'product' but regardless...
Yes, that was what I was getting at. Software is not beholden to a lot of other laws for products and I don't see why the car thing he mentioned would be any different.
Posted February 02, 2013
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Pheace: UK isn't 'Main Europe', UK is a separate region. There's UK, then EU1, then EU2.
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F4LL0UT: Don't know what kind of regions you're exactly talking about
Probably how Steam sees Europe. At least pricing-wise, according to Steamprices and similar websites (and by the same logic, Germany is also separate from EU1).

Region restriction-wise, things get a bit more complicated though.
Post edited February 02, 2013 by retsuseiba
Posted February 02, 2013
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timppu: Some people always suggest that one should buy Steam games cheaper from US Amazon and so on (by lying to them about your address in case you don't live in US), but is it possible to run into similar cases there?
Yes, but not that many games tbh. The codes you get are considered Retail - NA, so check the steam registry (cdr.thebronasium for example) to see if there is a region restriction. XCOM:EU, Mafia 2, Civ V have them, probably a few more I'm missing.
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussion (archive)Steam - Regional Madness(19 posts)(19 posts)
(19 posts)