Buying the game directly on Steam, means yes you can't gift/ trade it. Not necessarily for keys...
Comment has been collapsed.
damn. alright then.
thx.
Edit - ok, still have hope then if keys can work.
Comment has been collapsed.
Yep, for example if you buy a key on Fanatical, then people should be able to activate it in most countries.
Comment has been collapsed.
yeah. probs need someone with experience with such key gifting as they would have the most clear cut answer.
Comment has been collapsed.
It has to do with "gifting" games directly on steam to your friends, limiting cross-region cases where there's a big difference in price.
Obviously steam doesn't sell keys, which can have their own region restrictions separate from the above notice.
Comment has been collapsed.
Doesn't steam already prohibit the same if difference is more than 10% on the other side? I thought that was the norm?
Comment has been collapsed.
to tell you the truth I don't know for certain if it's a "global" rule, or only applies for games with that notice..
maybe a dev user here can shed some light.
Comment has been collapsed.
that is the default steam rule that applies globally, this is a app/sub/bundle rule set by the publisher
Comment has been collapsed.
The default Steam rule only applies to things sold on Steam store.
There's no way for Steam to know which region a third party retailer has sold the key to, they cannot enforce the rule on retail key.
Game publisher can enforce region restriction on retail key by selling the game via multiple package (sub), each with its own restriction.
Comment has been collapsed.
No cross region trading and gifting
This is applied when gifting game directly on Steam, along with the global restriction from Steam.
I'm not sure about the trading part though.
I often check if the game key is region restricted via SteamDB, for example this game:
https://steamdb.info/app/1089090/subs/
Most CD key packages have buy restricted, for example this package:
https://steamdb.info/sub/423177/info/
This package can NOT be activated or purchased in specified countries
Comment has been collapsed.
I'm not sure about the trading part though.
that applies to steam gifts as inventory items
while it's no longer possible to purchase game that way on steam, there are still some games sold as 2/4-packs (mostly co-op games, like app/200170) which grant extra copies in inventory, which the above restriction applies to (i.e you can't trade them cross-region).
Comment has been collapsed.
steam gifts as inventory items
Was wondering about that as I have gifted several games thru Steam which were marked not giftable.
Comment has been collapsed.
For gifting,
https://steamdb.info/sub/364742/
Your biggest battle is going over the +10% in price (I've pushed it to 12%). Over half the currencies are higher than yours.
With that steamdb message, I have successfully gifted via Steam to a Friend. So it may be as ormax3 says, its for the legacy inventory items.
Still, I have built up my Steam friends list with people from different countries so I can do a "dry run" on gifting a game. I go thru entire process of gifting. If I can get to the last step where I need to click the checkmark box to agree, then I can gift to that person.
Steam wont let you to get to the last step to agree if you cant gift.
As for buying keys, only the seller can tell you if the key is region locked. And the grey sellers probably wont know.
Comment has been collapsed.
yeah, gifting via steam is near impossible for me, which is why I mostly go for keys.
Comment has been collapsed.
As the title says, what happens when I buy a key for a game that has this in their Information tab in steamdb? Does this mean the key I'm buying is automatically region restricted?
https://steamdb.info/sub/364742/info/ - This is the game btw.
Comment has been collapsed.