Region Lock prevents "games" to be a tradable asset, but only partially. If Steam is forced to follow up on the French Court's judgement about allowing users to resell games, very soon we may have Games as a category in steam market, and people from the countries where Games are priced lower profit from it.
All these are speculations, this comment was made just for a BUMP!
Nice post!
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For Starters, French ruling would only apply in France :P
(Since EU court made the opposite decision, it likely can't be even used in rest of EU and in appeal EU decision will likely be applied in France too)
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Thanks for giving me one more reason to dislike the EU (lol).
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Thank you for writing as I think people will have a much better understanding of this topic. Have a well deserved bump!
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thanks a lot for sharing! =)
region lock still keeps on reminding me the old SNES times in which we had to import US cartridges and adapt them (and that worked with the playstation1 too =P) haha
luckily it seems that here in Italy we can activate almost all keys locked for other regions =P
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Wow, I wasn't even aware that SNES cartridges were region-locked! Probably because I never had SNES(
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oh, this SUCKED so bad back in the days! both SNES and the playstation 1 were region locked, but the main issue was that most of the greatest SNES games - I'm here just to mention final fantasy games and chrono trigger, but there's dozens of them - came out ONLY in JP and NA (japan and north america, I've never investigated that much about the meaning of north america =P).
so on the other side I had to import final fantasy tactics for the PS1 and adapt it with the proper thing bought at the store, but most games came out for the European PS1 too..
what was the other problem then?
well, the PS1 CDs of course were all the same.. the SNES cartridges were NOT ç_ç So we had to buy at the video games store the adaptor that was a grey thing that you pushed into the European SNES consoles and then (like the super game boy) you could insert into it the American cartridge (even that imported of course - they arrived BY SHIP!).. because american and european cartridges were even different in their shapes..
it was hell back in the days mate trust me =P
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Yeah, that sounds awful. What we have in steam does not looks so bad now )
In my country most cartridges were simply pirated copies, so I wasn't aware about all those troubles. There were other issues I've heard of - like, some publishers added a tricky protection from copying on their cartridges, and because of this some of pirated games were unplayable or impassable to beat (for example, because of immortal bosses). But, once again, I've never had SNES (or any other gaming console), so even those issues I haven't encountered myself.
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Thanks for the guide.
However https://steamlocked.com/ may not be 100 percent accurate. I tried searching for Hatred https://steamlocked.com/app/341940 which is completely banned in DE (and also according to this site). But I have it in my account for some years now and was able to activate it normally without VPN.
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I tried searching for Hatred https://steamlocked.com/app/341940 which is completely banned in DE (and also according to this site).
The page shows 3 different subs available for that game. Only one of them says "Banned countries: DE AU".
Therefore, you must have activated a key that was one of the two other subs that has no banned countries, or any other activation restrictions for that matter.
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I will have to reread it when I'm less sleepy - but it looks quite interesting, useful, and simpler than it looked before!
Thank you for taking the time to write down and share this, Ryzhehvost! :D
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Thanks - This is very much needed!
I answered the question of "Why are the region locks from [Humble Giftlinks] different than the ones mentioned on the SteamGifts thread corresponding to that bundle?" here, but didn't go in-depth into region locks.
Aside from ASF or looking at Sub activation names on your licenses page, there's another way to look up the exact SubId
To view the exact SubId upon key activation without ASF:
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Go to the ACTIVATE A PRODUCT ON STEAM page
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Open browser's Developer Tools (typically press F12 on keyboard)
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View Network info (on Chrome) and optionally clear it
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On the page, enter the key and click Continue button
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In the browser tool's Network info, double click the last request/response
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Look for the package number in the API response - This is the exact SubID
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Can someone explain this:
Startopia is a game that does not seem to have any region locks according to https://steamlocked.com/ but I know that Steam does not sell this game in France - no Steam store page for this game while the store page exists for almost all the other countries, and the package which contains this game displays for me an empty item... That said, I don't know if a Steam key of Startopia can be activated in France or not (maybe it's just region-locked via the store pages?).
Edit: Thanks to those who answered. :)
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Great post. I'd also advise everyone to make sure their region settings on SteamGifts matches their Steam country, especially if you've moved recently. You don't want to enter giveaways that aren't available in your region.
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User needs to change region on Steam on their own. But yeah, it should prompt them to change region on SG as well.
I live aboard for a year now, still have previous region here and on SG, and could buy games in my native currency without problem this sale.
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Where is this setting on SG? I looked throughout my profile and couldn't find it. I realize I must be blind, but I am also curious.
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Sometimes, some publishers, instead of doing multiple SubID for one AppID, make different AppID with same game for different regions. Technically, those are handled as two separate games, so for example steamgifts may show that you don't have a game, while in reality you do. Those cases are rare and thus not covered in this guide.
Most known (and problematic) is Battle vs Chess and Check vs Mate. The same game, two different appIDs for different regions. A lot of confused creators and winners.
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Bump.
Useful post - a lot of things I didn't know in here and I'm still taking it all in. Just to muddy the waters a little more, I have a couple of questions. Apologies if they are in the original post and I missed them.
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When you talk about the steamlocked website, I don't see any mention of the drop down for 'Your Country' which affects the restrictions listed. Does this just apply the rules explained in the two "There is a risk...." boxes?
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Do the region restrictions apply to the region you are buying from based on your IP address and/or the region of the store? Using the example of Doom from the original post, if I buy a key from Nuvuum (store based in Latin America) or Gamersgate (based in Europe) is the region lock based on the country it was bought from or the country it will be activated in?
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Thank you for your questions. I will update a guide regarding first one, as this is something that I forgot to write about.
As for the second question - it depends on the store I guess. There are regional stores that always sell keys locked for the region the store is located in. And global ones may determine your lock by IP, or by billing address you've entered, or by payment you are using... There is no common rule that will cover all the shops.
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Thanks for the reply and the update.
Such a confusing system! Thanks for the detailed write up.
I usually try and find games that clearly have no regional restrictions for SG giveaways and only make restricted ones when there is a huge discount. I'll probably just try and continue to do that whenever I can. It must be annoying to be based in a country that is often listed as restricted and being excluded from giveaways, often incorrectly.
The lack of clear information from regional stores is frustrating. Even if they can't accurately display the correct restrictions, providing the SubID somewhere on the page would help.
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Sorry for the 4-month necro, but I just wanted to point out that Gamergate sells keys based on the customer's region and not based on the store's region, and I suspect this is the case for Nuvuum as well.
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No problem about the necro, it's nice to get extra input. I'm always a bit worried about what restrictions might be in place, so it's good to know a little more about Gamersgate and possibly Nuvuum :)
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One important addition, if you managed to activate locked key on your account (via VPN or such) but cannot run the game - just wait 90 days. After 90 days region lock on running the game you already own disappears for whatever reason, despite it not being documented anywhere.
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Did you try or where does the info come from?
This would mean, some people have to pirate games, if they want to play them.
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you actually can, so your information is false. it doesn't work as easy as it used to though I agree. from the tests I've done it looks like you have to maintain your ip for a couple of days
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More like, just VPN is not enough, you also need to change your store region.
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This guide deserves a bump and bookmark. Thanks for explaining this ^^
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Great thread Ryzhehvost!
By any chance are you considering adding the different reasons why Region Locks occur? It would be a nice addition to the thread in my opinion as it would give community members a better understanding of region locks as a whole.
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I can't think of reasons other than "publishers want to maximize their profits". If you can suggest what to write regarding that, I will gladly include it to the guide.
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That is definitely a large reason why it occurs but I can think of two others off the top of my head. Sometimes they don't have a license to sell in certain regions and another is that sometimes the content of the games goes against the laws of the region.
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Well, at least it's something. I'll try to add a notice about it.
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I always wondered how people get so many information about region lock possibilities...
Best region lock guide ever made! Thanks A LOT!
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When you live in one of the cheap regions you face region locks every day, so knowing about region locks mechanics is a must have skill.
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Thank you for writing this guide! I am of the opinion that this should be stickied, if such things are done, or at least added to SGLinkies' database of useful links.
One other concern is when the 3rd-party store says "this key can only be redeemed in ___" or "this key cannot be redeemed in ______." Who to believe? The store, or steamlocked?
Clarification please:
Countries allowed to activate has a list of countries, where it is ALLOWED to ACTIVATE this package. You won't be able to activate this game from any other country.
If I gift my key (US version) to someone from a country on this list, they won't be able to activate this key? Or am I misreading this?
Please also clarify:
In reality, key from US will not be restricted, and could be redeemed in any country, but people from those countries will be unable to enter this giveaway
If they cannot enter, shouldn't the giveaway have the region restrictions? Or, is the mistake that they could enter the giveaway for the US (ROW?) key, and activate the key in their own country (despite being on that list), but the giver didn't realize this and made the restrictions to keep them out?
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One other concern is when the 3rd-party store says "this key can only be redeemed in _" or "this key cannot be redeemed in ____." Who to believe? The store, or steamlocked?
If the store lists some kind of restriction that don't match any SubID - then the store is lying and you should trust steamlocked/steamdb/any other tool that gets data directly from steam.
If I gift my key (US version) to someone from a country on this list, they won't be able to activate this key? Or am I misreading this
I don't know how to clarify it even further. I'm telling you that this restriction explicitly ALLOW to activate, and you ask if it prevents someone from activating... It's the opposite! If you are form US - you won't be able to activate a key like that, so there is no chance you will get the key from the store, unless you used some store that is local to this list of countries. And even in this case - you will be the one unable to activate it, not people from those countrues.
If they cannot enter, shouldn't the giveaway have the region restrictions?
When giveaway creator uses incorrect regional settings it prevents people from entering, even while they would have been able to activate the key if they could enter (and win).
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Thank you.
- I appreciate your answer.
- Thank you for rewording it. I sometimes need things stated slightly differently to make sure I get them, and you did this.
- I see. Thank you very much again!
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Region Locked games are getting unlocked 90 days after activation.
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Yes, I'm aware that PLAY lock is disabled after 90 days. But since this guide is targeted on SG users, it's main topic is ACTIVATION lock. That's why I didn't put this information in.
Thanks for your link, I'll add information on how to find SubID in steam console to guide.
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I received a code from a game in a raffle, but by stating that it has regional restrictions, is there any way to claim it? I can't contact the owner of the draw. What should I do?
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I don't know if it helps anything, but the game is called "my time at portia"
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There is more of an issue in your case - why was there a 6 week wait before you mentioned an issue with the key?
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If you can't activate a game because of region lock, and can't contact giveaway creator - just mark it as "not received" and forget about it. There are ways to activate region-locked game, but this is against Steam ToS and thus risky and may get you banned, so I strongly don't recommend trying to do this.
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i received in a trade a key of "alpha planet" but it is region lock.
Should i use hoxx-vpn-proxy and try to activate it by changing my country ?
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Thank you. 😸 💙
I agree. I feel just a little stupid in face of the unfair trade.
Do I have a way to give the key here at SG without knowing the region lock?
On other terms can I know with the key which region lock it is?
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Sure, you can get subid of this key via activation in browser, and then find this subid in raw data section on https://steamlocked.com. Then just set region settings appropriately when you will be creating giveaway.
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Hey Ryzhehvost. Was looking at giving away Borderlands 3, for example, but it seems the steamlocked site hasn't been updated in a while. Can you explain to me how I can find out (other than trusting the site I'm buying it from to be correct? I'm only asking because a LOT of countries seems to be region-restricted (I'm in NZ). Thank you
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Well, if steamlocked does not show information (I'm disappointed about it), we can always check on steamdb.info, it has all the same info, just not as convenient to check, since it's not on one page. I'll try to explain what to do for this.
We search for the game on steamdb, and switch to "Packages" tab, to get here: https://steamdb.info/app/397540/subs/
There is a lot of packages, but we can limit it a little: Some of them clearly meant to be for reviewers/press (76735 Oak Developer Comp
76736 Oak for Beta Testing), one is a global pack with all 2K games (2K Public Released Comp), and there is three types of packages: Deluxe Edition, Super Deluxe Edition, and regular Borderlands 3. In this case package name are kinda helpful already to get an idea of what restrictions exist, but it may not be the same for other games, and it may be a bit misleading, so better to check all package pages. Let's say we need regular Borderlans 3, then we need to check those pages (we need the "Information" tab there):
| Package name | link | region information |
|---|---|---|
| Borderlands 3 | https://steamdb.info/sub/76737/info | can NOT be redeemed in: Venezuela |
| Borderlands 3 - Preview Keys DLC2 | https://steamdb.info/sub/427297/info/ | no restrictions (but probably not sold, since it's preview) |
| Borderlands 3 (RU/CIS) | https://steamdb.info/sub/437164/info/ | can ONLY be redeemed or run in: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine |
| Borderlands 3 (CN) | https://steamdb.info/sub/437165/info/ | can ONLY be redeemed or run in China |
| Borderlands 3 (Asia) | https://steamdb.info/sub/437172/info/ | can ONLY be redeemed or run in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Brunei Darussalam, Macau, India |
| Borderlands 3 (Europe) | https://steamdb.info/sub/437167/info/ | can NOT be redeemed in: Asia/Pacific Region, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Bolivia, Brazil, Bhutan, Canada, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Christmas Island, Ecuador, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), French Guiana, Guyana, Hong Kong, Indonesia, British Indian Ocean Territory, Japan, Cambodia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mongolia, Macau, Maldives, Mexico, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Pakistan, Paraguay, Singapore, Suriname, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Taiwan, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia |
| Borderlands 3 (LATAM) | https://steamdb.info/sub/437168/info/ | can ONLY be redeemed or run in: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Panama, Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Guyana, Suriname, Belize |
| Borderlands 3 (WW) | https://steamdb.info/sub/437175/info/ | no restrictions |
Please note, on package pages steamdb uses the term "purchased" instead or "redeemed". It's kinda confusing.
So, let's see, you are buying from New Zealand, so it's clearly not Europe package, since it explicitly says it can't be purchased from NZ. It's also not RU/CIS, not CN, not Asia, and not LATAM, since NZ is not listed in any of those packages. So, good news, you will receive a world-wide version (76737 or 427297 or 437175), worst case scenario not redeemable in Venezuela (why 2K, why?!). So, in this case, just to be safe, I would exclude VE from your giveaway and keep the rest.
Side note: Europe package does not have a run restriction, so if user from one of those countries manages to redeem it somehow (with VPN, or something), they will be able to play it. Other packages has a run restrictions too, so even if they manage to redeem it, they won't be able to play anyway. But I would not count on it if I were making giveaways from Europe, since bypassing redeem lock is much harder nowadays, it requires more than just VPN.
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Thanks. I expected the key would be WW, but it's not consistent :)
If it ends up being an epic fail, eh... it's just a bit of money.
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SpellForce 2 - Demons of the Past, there are some CIS locked keys, although there is no mention of these on steamdb page: https://steamdb.info/app/245050/subs/
Even if i test the key via console, it shows me 31598 subid https://steamdb.info/sub/31598/ which appears as global, but still doesn't work anywhere apart from CIS.
How is that possible? It's first ever game i got with this kind of region lock, that's not mention on steamdb and package shows as global.
Maybe someone got other examples?
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Are you sure it's CIS-locked? Any idea where I can get a key like this?
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Ryzhehvost, quite well written article!
I recently got this - what can I do with it?
It seems it cannot be used in ANY country (my account is Ukraine) since the changes in Autumn last year.
https://imgur.com/zJg7mNr
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You mean it says it's for RU/CIS but can't be activated in Ukraine? That's strange, I've never seen anything like that. Sounds like another glitch of steam.
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I've found this guide very helpful and check back quite a lot to try and work out restrictions when I'm making giveaways, although I often doubt myself enough to keep searching until I find games with no regional restrictions to be safe. Thanks again for making it and explaining individual cases! :)
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Douchelord informed me about some cases, where keys seem to be region-locked even if there is no region-locked package for this game. It seems to be the rare case, but even so it makes the this guide below questionable, and region locks completely unpredictable. I decided to remove this guide for good, since it may be misleading in some cases.
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