If it was a key, then you can't play this games, as I know (if this guy bought retail version with russian key). If it was a gift... then I don't know how this guy got Skyrim for you, 'cause it's blocked in Russia.
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It's blocked in Steam Store, it's readily available in retail and online russian shops. It is heavily restricted though, it won't let you launch itself unless you have a russian IP.
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Then I don't know. Maybe there was some unannounced update. And I can understand Valve, if so. Because too many people now use their russian "friends" just in order to buy games cheaper.
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So Ridge Racer gift is blocked now. Ok. But what with Skyrim? If it was a gift, then it just can't be bought in Russia and it should be non-blocked version.
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Is skyrim blocked in your steam-store? Don't know why, but I thought Skyrim is only available in USA.
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Then sorry, I don't know. Ridge Racer Unbounded is region-blocked now (The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Digital Premium Edition and Confrontation too. Even if it was bought in Steam), but I don't know anything about Skyrim.
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Yes, alot of people do it this way, but the problem is the way they handle currency aswell.. the system is flawed. if I payed the same as an american (38 euro)(50usd) for a aaa title, I would buy alot more, instead they charge me a wooping 50 euro.
I can understand why some people would use a "russian friend" for me it just means I will buy less games, damn.. still could not resist risen 2!! :/ and its not worth the 50 euro I bet
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It's not Valve. As I know, the publisher of the game chooses if his game will be blocked or not. I think games are blocked, because they're cheaper in Russia.
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I would contact Steam Support, see if there's something they can do for you.
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Same here, the Ridge Racer Unbounded(RU) version, added to library successfully and then unable to install. The guy who I traded with actually said that Steam support told him themselves that there would be no problem playing the game anywhere...well guess what, it's not true. The guy and myself both opened a support ticket last week to have this resolved, but not a single word of response from support yet..and the funny thing is that it is actually available in my region for purchase, so they can't even say that I shouldn't be able to buy it in the first place.
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It can be available in your region for purchase, but it's like we have another game in the store. With the same Steam-ID, but with another purchase-id (don't know how to call it). So the gift that was bought here not the same as the one that was bought in another place.
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They should then restrict trading that particular version of the game outside the country, I don't care how they do it, but it shouldn't be the customers trying to hunt down why their game is not working at all...the least they could do is put a warning on the tradable gift saying that users outside the particular regions will not be able to play the game. Something that was done with Guest Passes. During the christmas sale, lot of people got mad as they did not notice that the tradable gift was a guest pass after their trade was done, now it is shown with big red letters on the gift itself.
EDIT: And FFS, why can't they just disable adding the game to your library if afterwards you can't even install it??? This way there would be a slight chance that you could revert the trade if the other guy is at least a bit sympathetic...
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Steam support seems to be non-existent. I placed a ticket with them 5 days ago because I can no longer buy any game and have it go as a gift to my inventory, can only buy a game for myself. I have yet to receive an answer from them.
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They're not nonexistent, there's just a lot of questions to get through. My shortest wait time for a Steam Support response is 5 days, my longest was over 2 weeks.
They get a lot of tickets opened and they can only get through them so fast. Most of the tickets are for stupid reasons like people who don't know how to work steam asking "How do I trade?" or stupid things like that. But then there are people like you and I who actually do have legitimate problems we need Steam Support's help with. I, myself, issued a ticket a week ago because I traded for a German Language-Locked version of Fallout 3.
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Strange. Over the winter sale.. during a sale.. I've gotten replies early as 2hours and late as 24hours. Other times it takes like 3 days.
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Russians can't buy Skyrim from Steam, so I don't know how you got a gift copy of Skyrim from Russia.
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O how brilliant, Sherlock.
.......
Personally I am not aware of any region restrictions regarding Skyrim at all. Steam store codes show US and UK versions are the same. Imo, check if it is not a problem with your own PC with that title. What error do you get in that case?
Ridge Racer seems to be indeed region blocked, which totally sucks I have to say. Too many RU copies got into trading and lowered the price of the games that way, so Steam seems to be taking actions against that. Overall, bad situation.
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Off-Topic, is Ridge Racer any good? I have played it on PlayStation and it seemed meh but this one got okay reviews
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Awh man, i got binary domain from some one and i asked why he trading it so cheap for tf2 items he said it was from a friend in Russia. Then the game lost its April 6th release date, do you think that will mean I have a useless game in my library whenever its released?
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Congratulations. That happened. Like i discussed it with friends about week ago.
Valve started a restriction policy versus russian assholes who try to sell games for money, in case its cheaper than in international steam store.
Part of these games can easily out of the blue become carded (bought via stolen credit cards) and get revoked later.
First 3 games that have such problem - Confrontation, Ridge Racer Unbounded, Witcher 2.
It works only for new gifts bought after 27.03.2012 (these 3 games listed above)
How can you defend yourself?
If you see somebody tries to trade you game with (RU) tag - check if its regional locked or not via tool called CDR (google). It shouldnt have attribute "onlyallowrunincountries".
Probably they will start same thing in another countries too soon. So beware guys!
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Oh shit, better get loads of games from Russia now when it's still possible.
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I wonder why steam decided to so this? They should impose the region restriction during the trading/gifting process, not when it is locked to your Steam account
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Looks like Risen 2 is also one of the games where a Russian version can only be played in Russia
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Another 3 day passed an still not a single word from Steam support. This is a disgrace. As someone said earlier, I bet they would respond to me withing hours if I reported an issue where I had some problem purchasing a game from the store, but it is not too urgent for them to fix their f***up.
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Well after two weeks Steam responded. They removed the game from my Library and added the same (RU) tagged gift to my Inventory...I can say it is a start but I'm still not one inch closer to playing the game I traded for. Now I asked them if anything changed on the gift so I can play it now once I add it to my library or if it's still region locked.
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I've only used Steam support once, it was for a purchase that took a while to come through. I asked them why the purchase hadn't worked and if I could get a refund if I didn't receive the game and guess what? They replied within the hour. Just goes to show huh?
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Hello,
Has the steam done something with gift region restrictions?
A few days ago I have got Wargame from one russian guy. Everything was fine, I have activated it from my inventory and installed.
Today got a skyrim and Ridge Racer Unbounded. Activated it but can't download(install). Getting the error message like ' The game was activated with a product code that is valid only in a specific geografic region'Any help?
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