Fanatical's restrictions have been wrong in the past. Use SteamDB instead. Besides of some missing packages for newly released or niche games it's a solid information source. Also you see all affected countries of a package restriction at once.
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I guess I will check SteamDB then. Though, it is still a leap of faith doing the giveaways more open then. But at least it should ease the process.
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just to note on steamDB, if you ever see a game has a PRC restriction... that is likely the one you got
if you own the game you can also attempt to activate it to get the correct subID(use steamDB extension)
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can you explain the "use SteamDB" thing in detail?
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SteamDB.info. Search for game, click on packages and check all packages which are labelled with "(Buy restrict)".
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How do you know which package (Steam sub number) is yours? As there is a lot of packages in steam dB
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As far as I know, there is no real way to find out which package you have. I think it is possible to confirm by someone trying to activate it, who already has the game. Though, it carries a certain risk.
EDIT: Not sure I understand the answer correctly, seeing the answer below. I was referring to checking the Steam Sub number of an activation key you want to giveaway. When in doubt refer to Myrsan's answer as he is a lot firmer on that topic.
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For a game you already own, search it and go to packages. The sub you own is highlighted green (see screenshot).You need to be logged in and have your library synchronised (you can do that in account settings). The green tick near the Steam symbol on the right side isn't there at default (SteamDB), it's from Steam Web Integration extension.
When it comes to activating: if you have SteamDB extension installed and use the website to activate (https://store.steampowered.com/account/registerkey), it shows the name of the game you activated and provides a link to SteamDB.
ASF also provides package information upon redeeming, but I don't use it for that.
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Okay, thanks, that is very helpful. But if the game not owned and you want to give it away, there's no way to check which package it is right?
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Some games only have one package or two, but one for internal testing only. For others you can only assume based on the region you purchased it. That's why people are sharing subs in bundle threads.
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As Myrsan said, SteamDB has all the info. Also check SensualShakti's threads for bundles, they usually have all the info you need for bundles. Sadly that's no help for single game purchases, but it's the best solution for bundled games.
I just wanted to add that you can't reroll a giveaway with wrong region restrictions. You have to accept "not received" or have the winner allow deletion. This is to make you redo the giveaway with the right region restrictions.
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Yea, I assumed that I can't just reroll it. That's why I was hesistating with that method. As for the bundle threads, they won't help me as we are talking about unbundled keys.
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So, now I checked a bit around in Steamdb and while I got a tad smarter, I still have lingering questions. Let's take an example or two:
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No No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom - The Prince's Edition: Pre-Purchase Editions aside, there seem to exist three editions. "Normal" (Sub ID 198300), Asia (Sub ID 198301) and RU/CIs (Sub ID 198302). Sub ID 301 and 302 can only be activated in their specific region. However, Sub ID 300 can be activated nonetheless in all regions as the main reason for doing subregions is "upward-trading/selling". Is that correct? In addition, Fanatical's system thinks that if one Sub ID is specified for a region it means that the others Sub IDs are automatically excluded which is why I see the "restriction" which is actually not in place? Mere, speculation though. Finally, as I am from Europe I should have the 300 Sub ID which theoretically should be activatable everywhere. So, there is a good chance it works like this but no guaranty.
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Horizon Zero Dawn: Only one Sub ID exists, so no issues should arise at all. Even in unlucky scenarios.
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RESIDENT EVIL 2 / BIOHAZARD RE:2 Deluxe Edition: This seems similar to the first example. There are as far as I can tell, four different keys. "Normal 1" (Sub ID 281610) which seems unrestricted , "Normal 2" (Sub ID 281611) which also seems unrestricted but only has a price in Yen, "LATAM Key" (Sub ID 316359) which seems to be for South America and "Key restricted" (Sub ID 335570) which seems to be RU/CIS. The latter two are clearly restricted but the first two are not. So, they should both be worldwide. So, in theory there is a good chance the Euope based key should work in any case (without guarantee though), right?
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For me was easiest to stop use Fnatical, cause their region system is total mess. And I still have from them useless keys for Dishonored DLCs, but for russian version which cannot be redeemed in russianlike countries for which that version is...
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I consider Fanatical a good source for keys mainly because they are associated with Steamgifts. For Humble, I always have to worry about them having a bad day and doing stupid stuff because of "suspicious" acitivity. And Steam only worked for me as long as gifts existed.
I mean Fanatical can not sell keys for Sub IDs not existing. So, I only have to understand how the system works as Fanatical can not additional restrictions which are not inherent to the key itself.
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I can recommend games planet store or green man gaming. Being associated with sg I take more like a flaw for Fanatical tbh, I believe even reference links should be set as off from default.
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However, Sub ID 300 can be activated nonetheless in all regions as the main reason for doing subregions is "upward-trading/selling". Is that correct?
That should be correct in most cases. However, there are also subs for ROW and while many people mix it up with global, it's rest of the world, thus everything which hasn't gotten a specific sub (the exclusive scenario Fanatical seems to imply).
Additionally, there are specific restrictions for individual countries due to laws, especially Australia, Japan and Germany.
As others and you yourself pointed out: barely an issue for an European buyer though. I don't remember a single region issue when gifting here.
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I was similarly confused over Fanatical's region restrictions when I first started using this site, but I stopped worrying about it pretty quickly. Out of the hundreds of Fanatical keys I've given away, there were only 2 that the winner couldn't activate due to region locks (winners were in Russia and India, respectively). I ended up gifting both games through Steam instead.
In my experience, region restricted keys seem to be a much bigger problem for people who live in the regions that frequently get saddled with restrictions (LATAM, RUS/CIS, SEA, etc). Those keys are very likely to be locked to that region, but it is far less common for keys issued elsewhere to be restricted. Since it looks like you are in the EU, most of your keys should be redeemable anywhere. There will be exceptions, but you will probably be better off dealing with them if/when they come up. Personally I think it is far less stressful to occasionally deal with requesting a delete or gifting a game through Steam than it is to try and research every key you want to give away.
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From what I saw, I came to a similar opinion. Most of the keys should work nonetheless as there doesn't seem to be an "Europe only" Sub ID. If worst comes to worst, I will hope that the winner is understanding or just take the unreceived mark. Not much point worrying about it at this point.
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I guess this concludes my question. I will just take the shot and do the giveaways as I intended. Chances are that I have worried over nothing. And if not, so be it.
Thanks to everyone providing input.
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Greetings Steamgifts,
I wanted to make some puzzle for Steamgifts with some giveaways. And randomly decided to check for restrictions for the keys I have and thought about buying. Shocked, I had noticed that they have quite severe restrictions and apparently different ones at top. I also noticed that I was simply very lucky the last time i made giveaways since none of the winners came from a restricted region. So, I am pondering how to proceed. I guess I could do a forum puzzle open for all but "warn" people that I might have to reroll depending on the region they come from. However, I am halfwas sure that this is against the rules. I could do a restricted puzzle giveaway but it would feel stale. Or I make public giveaways for the keys I have within unrestricted regions.
Though, at the moment I can only check the countries one by one which is time-consuming and more error prone. Or I just pick a few I am sure will work. Is there an easier way to see ALL restricted countries simulatneously for a game activated by a fanatical key?
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