Are steam games region-free?

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aproxymate

aproxymate

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NOTE: I didn't find a thread answering this by doing a preliminary search. Feel free to close this and redirect me to the relevant thread. Now to the question.

So I am in the US now and have been using Steam since 2009 (I think!). At that time, I was in the UK and bought a bunch of games on steam. I also bought a crap-load games last year and this year and a few of them are with add-ons. My question is whether I'd be able to play all these when I move to India or any other country? Why I ask this is because a few countries like Germany have a lot of restrictions on content. I'd really not want to lose games which I have paid for.

On a side note, mods please allow more relevant tags for posts.
 
Steam games are NOT region free.

I do believe that if you can come up with a legitimate reason, Steam support allows you to keep your library.

The reason is obviously the fact that games are so much cheaper in India/Asia/Russia as compared to the US. If they were region free, folks would just not buy any games in the US.
 
I dont see why steam should be region locked. After all you purchased the game and effectively it is like having a hard copy of the game. Unless the game itself is region locked, i dont see you coming to india to be a problem.

stalker said:
The reason is obviously the fact that games are so much cheaper in India/Asia/Russia as compared to the US. If they were region free, folks would just not buy any games in the US.
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For steam games, we pay the US fee of the game and not how much it cost in india. So this argument is invalid.
 
krugur said:
I dont see why steam should be region locked. After all you purchased the game and effectively it is like having a hard copy of the game. Unless the game itself is region locked, i dont see you coming to india to be a problem.

For steam games, we pay the US fee of the game and not how much it cost in india. So this argument is invalid.
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Steam games are region locked. Games using Steamworks but sold in retail are available for much cheaper here in India than US. Case in point : GTA IV. Indian price Rs. 499, US price $49, when it was launched. Darksiders, Rs. 699/$49. These are the two I have played, there are many others.

Steam games are also usually more expensive in Europe, and the most expensive in Australia, so region locking is a must.

In many cases the Steam also offers region based discounts. It would not be possible without some kind of region locking.
 
This is one of the reasons i'm not too fond of steam. Hard copies are always preferred before digital for me.

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Thanks for all the replies. Does anyone have a link to a list of games which may be region free? Also is there anyone to determine this in the library?

Edit: When you say region-locked, does it mean I will be unable to play games I bought if I move out of US? Or it just means I won't be able to buy games which are released in the US but not available in my current country?
 
You should be able to email steam support and have them provide you with access, if and when a game does get region-locked.
 
aproxymate said:
Thanks for all the replies. Does anyone have a link to a list of games which may be region free? Also is there anyone to determine this in the library?

Edit: When you say region-locked, does it mean I will be unable to play games I bought if I move out of US? Or it just means I won't be able to buy games which are released in the US but not available in my current country?
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I am not sure, but if you are buying in US and moving out, you should be able to play most games. Except in Germany and Australia, where some games were not released. I have also seen games in Steam which are available in US but not in India, so the second point might be true.

It is difficult to generalize this. I suggest you contact Steam support with the list of specific games with which you are doubtful. They are a lot better than EA support from what I hear.
 
jc36lect3r said:
It is difficult to generalize this. I suggest you contact Steam support with the list of specific games with which you are doubtful. They are a lot better than EA support from what I hear.
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It took me 5-6 months to solve an issue I had with a game purchase on steam. Going back and forth in a thread (they took ages to reply back) cannot be better than online chat and phone support. Will be getting in touch with them if I face issues with any of the games.
 
aproxymate said:
NOTE: I didn't find a thread answering this by doing a preliminary search. Feel free to close this and redirect me to the relevant thread. Now to the question.

So I am in the US now and have been using Steam since 2009 (I think!). At that time, I was in the UK and bought a bunch of games on steam. I also bought a crap-load games last year and this year and a few of them are with add-ons. My question is whether I'd be able to play all these when I move to India or any other country? Why I ask this is because a few countries like Germany have a lot of restrictions on content. I'd really not want to lose games which I have paid for.

On a side note, mods please allow more relevant tags for posts.
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To answer your question specifically, all your games would work when you move country.

Even though you move to say Germany with restrictions, since your original copy was bought in US it should have no issues
 
Regional restrictions and pricing





Some games purchased in one region become unplayable if user moves to another.

Steam allows developers and publishers to change prices and restrict game availability depending on the user's location. This can cause some games to cost more than retail prices, despite digital distribution removing the costs of manufacturing, packaging, design, and logistics.

Valve also in some cases restricts game registration and playability to the buyer's country of residence. One example of this regional restriction can be seen where Valve uses Steam's authentication to prevent boxed versions of their games sold in Russia and Thailand, which are priced significantly lower than elsewhere, from being used outside those territories.

Steam offers products in four currencies: US Dollar, Euro, Pound Sterling and Russian Ruble. The currency is selected automatically based on the user's location, and cannot be changed. Steam has been heavily criticized by European users for pricing games much higher in Eurozone countries.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software)#Regional_restrictions_and_pricing
 
I personally find steam support to be worse off than orign support. Origin guys are quicker, and they also give incentives if it was their problem.
 
Aman27deep said:
I personally find steam support to be worse off than orign support. Origin guys are quicker, and they also give incentives if it was their problem.
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Well, I had some issues with my Steam account and Steam support was very quick and helpful. I never had any issues with Steam either. I have tons of games on my Steam account. Bad thing is steam games are region locked
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aproxymate said:
#[member='Alias'], thanks. Do you have any source for that info?
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No info for that but I have myself as an example. The game i have bought in India have worked in US and vice versa.

jc36lect3r said:
http://en.wikipedia....ons_and_pricing
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That one is an old message i believe related to the regional pricing. People said that my counterstrike (CSS Source) bought in india will not work in US but it did. Also, my orange box bought in US was working in India.

Though regional cd keys may not get activated in another region but that is a different ballgame altogether. Eg the TF2 cd key(from a few years back) bought in India may not be activated in US but if you login to that account in India and activate it , it gets tied to that account and later he can use that to play in US. This was done by my friend.
 
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