Are Steam games region locked?

Ok, this hadn't really occurred to me until now. I reside in a third world country, and currently have a large library of games on Steam. I will be migrating to a first world country within a year. In that case, would I be losing my entire Steam library? Or would I still have access to them if I set my region as the original country (where I reside now)? Of course, this will not be possible if Steam tracks the country with the user's ip address.

@funkyzoom:

Why would you lose it? are you planning to get amnesia or something so that you forget your account/password?

Cut out the sarcasm already. I'm talking about 'REGION LOCKING', for heaven's sake. I stumbled upon this.

When you buy a game and activated it on steam then it will stay in your library ( at least 95% of games sold there ). The region restrictions are for games you buy and activatebut once activated it stays in your library

There are some exceptions though so check with this link https://steamdb.info

For instance the Russian version of Metro LL can only be run on certain countries ( where as the other versions have no such restrictions )

I got Half Life 2 back when I was living in Japan. It's still in my library up to now here in the US.

People cant take a joke now-a-days...

They cant region lock on PC.

Some games are region locked in some countries, the majority of games are not locked though. If a game is locked it displays a big warning box on its store page.

Region Locking Digital Games is wrong.

They're only doing it in countries where game prices are greatly cheaper than the rest of the world, like the CIS region for example. Not saying it's a right thing to do, just pointing out the reason.

@harry_james_pot

I don't understand what you just said... Nor should I or anyone else have to.... I just want play some games, and I'd be happy to pay for them.

Actually they can and do but it's very few games in very few regions.

Besides Metro LL (Russian edition), I don't know of a single game.

Also, I'm from Australia, where we just got a R18+ this year... we Aussies get the most gimped version of anything, and as long as the devs get their money and steam gets its sales, there are always things you can do to get around region locking.

Many games are region locked now sadly. Wanted to buy Lords of the Fallen last week but it has region locks. It has become much more common in the last year or so. Though, most games are only region checked for activation, so some people just use a VPN for activation and then play normally... but if you ask me, that is super dumb and asking for your account to be banned.

There's no reason to have your account banned, your not stealing anything, everyone is getting their money and your getting the product. What's illegal?

Steam bans for VPN usage all the time. They run the system so they can do what they want. Enterprise VPNs (VPNs that show as your home region) are fine, but VPNs that mask region (say you live in the US but want to buy and activate a russian steam key for a region locked game) are what they ban for.

Oh well, maybe they mean don't use it in-game. I'm sure they wont care if you just use it for activation of a game.

They will! See my edit. Not all games on Steam are region locked, but it is become far more common with big name releases over the past year.

Umm.. What I said was pretty clear.. Countries like Russia and Ukraine have completely different prices than everywhere else on Steam. For example, Borderlands The PreSequel is $28, The Evil Within is $23, and Alien Isolation is $24.. All three of those games are $50-60 in the rest of the world. So what some publishers do to prevent people from getting their games for less than half the price from those stores, is they lock purchases made from CIS stores to only CIS countries. It's all up to the publisher though, and not Steam.
There's also a few cases where games have a specific modified version in a certain country, like how L4D2 used to be in AU.

I do a lot of trading on Steam and while the number of locked games is not great, it's been increasing recently.

The only limitation Steam has regarding region is when titles become available for you to buy and price. Once a game is in your library it's yours for good, unless it's one of those free weekend games, but they have a distinctive time remaining counter so you don't get confused.

@harry_james_pot

What about a publisher who doesn't publish a game in a Specific Region ?

Thats the problem I'm having.

Again, I paid for the games at Australian prices (its inflated anyway), I'll activate it however I want to, everyone gets their money. if they want to ban me, go ahead, the government has my back here.

Also just for info, VPN is really old for this stuff.

I'm not pirating or stealing the games, I'm getting around of it by not being offered here.

Glad that I stumbled upon an Australian here, because that's where I'll be migrating (already submitted my application to ACS for skills assessment)! And yeah, I have heard about the ridiculous censorship laws over there. So is it any better after getting the 18+ rating, or do developers still need to cut/modify parts of their games to get them classified? And do this insane censorship laws apply to movies as well?

There's actually quite a few Australians on GS, you can spot them easily.

Its better, but how much better is debatable, IMO its more like a "MA18+" rating instead of R18+, they still ban a few things. I wouldn't be surprised if parts of GTA 5 also get cut from the PC release, I wont say anything so I don't spoil it for anyone who hasn't played it.

It doesn't apply to movies, the games classification is different.

Hmmm....now that's a bummer, really. I'm a PC only gamer and haven't played GTA V yet, but I know which parts you're referring to. Maybe if the situation arises (not just for GTA but in general), I'd have to resort to the 'tricks' you mentioned in a previous post, to be able to play games uncut.

I haven't come across too many Australians here. Most people here are Americans, I guess. And a few British as well.

If you don't mind waiting for 2-3 weeks (I'm just guessing) after GTA releases or any big name game, just import a US/UK retail version from Amazon or wherever you want, and yes that's legal, if you have to have digital, its a little harder.

I don't usually buy games at launch anyway, because most PC ports these days are unoptimized loads of crap with more bugs than you can shake a stick at. 2 to 3 weeks doesn't matter at all. GTA V shouldn't be a problem though, because it would be at least 8 to 9 months before I can migrate (considering I first need to obtain the PR VIsa and then have a confirmed job offer before moving). And maybe by the, the censorship over there in Australia might have eased further, and there wouldn't even be a need to import them. And i don't suppose I would be able to afford games (apart from those on sale) for the first few months in Australia, considering the insanely high cost of living there as well as the inflated price of games. Depends on how well=paying a job i get. By the way, mind if I contact you through PM? I needed a few clarifications, and would appreciate it if you could shed some light on those!

I'm sure Australians have been banned for breaking the ToS just like everyone else.

Standard wage is higher in AU so the price is adjusted accordingly... I would think a price difference would be reflected on things other than games in AU too, right?

But yeah, activating RU steam games (obviously in regions that are not russia) that are region locked is very clearly against the Steam ToS, they will eventually ban you for it and there is nothing your government can/will do about it.

You agreed to that ToS.

Well I can just say I'm originally from Russia or wherever the game is activated, or I bought the game while on holidays over there. Both are perfectly legal things to do, and its against the Australian rights to divulge that information, a company can ask, but they cannot force to see your passport/travel documents etc.

Price is not adjusted accordingly, I can list numerous things that are inflated, from dishwashers to air tickets as an example.

Also, trying not to bring the issue to me in particular, the TC lives in a different country and is migrating to another country, millions of people do that every year, so what they purchased in that country (games in this case) cannot be used in a different country? that makes no sense.

If they do ban me, I'll just purchase retail games from GMG etc. They cant do anything then.

You know Valve sees and logs your IP every time you log on, right? So they would see you obviously don't live in Russia unless you leave your VPN all the time.

Do what you want though, personally, I don't care if you get banned from steam.

I don't use a VPN, I use something else.

I wont get banned ;)