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?

12 years ago*

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It was first half of my message.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

he already told multiple times that Skyrim was from USA...

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

No the skyrim is from usa,
wargame was from russia (working), and the Ridge Racer from russia too. All got by the steam trade like gifts... but can't install it except wargame.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

This will help you

tl;dr Ridge Racer is region locked

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

But as i know gift before never been locked.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

As I told skyrim is from USA, (I am living in the UK)

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Is skyrim blocked in your steam-store? Don't know why, but I thought Skyrim is only available in USA.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Nope, we can get it in the UK store too

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

How can you find out, which games are blocked?

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Try to google it. These three was in the link above. Don't know if someone updates the topic with them.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I got Witcher 2 gifted from USA and can play it just fine. I live in Germany.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

same error, can't install the game. just got a Confrontation gift from my soviet oh i mean russian freind,

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

yeah, the most annoying thing, that now it showing me that i already own this game and can't buy one more from the UKstore. So can't install, can't play even can't buy a UKversion...

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

they are simple Corporate nazis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You mean valve? Yeah, can't understand this 'Marketing way'

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I would contact Steam Support, see if there's something they can do for you.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

already send them a message... waiting response.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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...

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Honesty, Valve starting to make me nervous. No one still answered from a support team. It is ridiculous to make gifts with 'region lock'

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Next time, tell them you can't buy games as gifts, nor for yourself either. They have a pretty good response time when it's about people not being able to give them money.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

strange... also in the summer camp sale last year they responded within 4 hours. Thats the german support.

Never wait more then 24 hours for a answer.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Russians can't buy Skyrim from Steam, so I don't know how you got a gift copy of Skyrim from Russia.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

He cleared that in his second post - Skyrim was from US.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Ah I see.

I wish him good luck with Steam Support.
He will need ^.^

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Maybe, Scyrim from USA isn't valid for UK

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Same error on both games (about the region).
p.s As i understand all new games on steam will be region locked

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Off-Topic, is Ridge Racer any good? I have played it on PlayStation and it seemed meh but this one got okay reviews

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I was surprised myself when I saw in my ClientRegistry.blob that it was region locked despite being a Steam store purchase. It's scary that it turned out to be true. Traders beware.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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?

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

ok so its not on the CIS countries restricted list. ...yet.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

There is no 'RU version' of Binary Domain. Don't worry.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

hi there

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 5 years ago.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

No.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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!

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Oh shit, better get loads of games from Russia now when it's still possible.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Honestly, i think they will change it back in a fast future. Why? 100% gifts can't be region locked, they are GIFTs! this is just my opinion, so please be good xD

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

this is f'ing with customers. you will trade gift for money/other game and you will find out that you cant play it. But only after you added it to your library

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

That's right, at least they MUST to write that info somewhere

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

cakes and PIES GABE IS A BRONY SO NO LOVE FOR US ANY MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Looks like Risen 2 is also one of the games where a Russian version can only be played in Russia

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

no its not, it only has a RU tag, but its not locked

the only ones which are locked atm are Confrontation, ridge racer , and witcher 2

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

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?

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Imo they only reversed it being added to your account, so you can trade it away for another copy that works in your region. Otherwise they would have fixed the copy already in your account and it would have stayed in your library.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The problem is that this will probably not happen as nobody will want it due to it's region restriction and russians most likely don't have a ROW version as it costs about twice as much than the (RU) tagged.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I see why they would do it, but it seems like it becomes a problem when it comes to gifting and trading.

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Any info about torchlight 2 restrictions?

12 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Closed 12 years ago by lex0.