I just found out myself. WTF! that's is soooo G@YThis just in:
Regional Pricing is DEAD. Super Dead. Completely Dead. Every game on Steam now seems to be region-locked(doesn't seem to affect purchases previous to this)
how do you check if a game is region locked or not?It seems the day we all feared has finally arrived.
Not sure if this is something permanent, or some cautionary measure before the Winter sale, or just another intern's screw-up. After all, it should be up to the publisher to decide if their games are region-locked or not.
I'll keep you posted if something changes, but this could be the end of cross-region trading sadly.
It stopped being up to the publisher a while ago. Region locks started being added to new subs 2 months ago by default to every single one. Now they extended it to every single game ever released on steam.It seems the day we all feared has finally arrived.
Not sure if this is something permanent, or some cautionary measure before the Winter sale, or just another intern's screw-up. After all, it should be up to the publisher to decide if their games are region-locked or not.
I'll keep you posted if something changes, but this could be the end of cross-region trading sadly.
I meant legally is for the publisher to decide. They should be able to revoke regional restrictions, even if now they're all locked by default.It stopped being up to the publisher a while ago. Region locks started being added to new subs 2 months ago by default to every single one. Now they extended it to every single game ever released on steam.
Only applies to new purchases. Nothing to worry about previously purchased games.So, what's happening? Does this only affect trading/gifting? What kind of region-lock is this (some apply only to adding the game to your account, others to playing)?
Thanks in advance for the answers!
That's right. Not information about regional restrictions was provided at the moment of purchase, so those should remain region-free and safe to trade. Locking them afterwards would be against our consumer rights in most countries.@Krugozor, does that mean that if you bought inventory, it is safe to clear out and sell?
TL;DR: Falling ruble is causing them to reconsider their cross-region methods. This particular strategy could change.As most of you know, our developer tools suggest pricing based on market research and purchasing power parity. In the case of territories such as Russia, Brazil, and SE Asia, we suggested pricing that is lower than the direct USD conversion. This is based on our assessment of actual pricing of comparable products in that market. Recently Rubles have hit an all-time low which has been a concern of many game developers. We are still assessing the market to see if suggesting new prices in Russia is right for customers who live in that market. We do not think that pricing based on currency conversion only is the right way to approach the Russian market necessarily.
What we are doing immediately in response to the Ruble drop is limiting trading and gifting from Russia to prevent people from taking advantage of the situation. We have been applying a gifting and trading lock of this type on all newly created packages on Steam since mid-2014. Today we have propped a change that will affect all packages on Steam which will not allow them to be unpacked to an account, if gifted or traded from a lower priced region to a higher priced region. This change is not retroactive and only affects new purchases. It also will not affect customers in that region from gifting a copy to other people in that same region. All customers will have proper warning when they are purchasing a gift prior to checkout in those regions as well. We will continue to assess the situation and make changes if necessary in the future. If you have any questions please feel free to write us via the contact form via the Steamworks Development site - Documentation & Help -> Contact Steam Publishing."
I seriously doubt that Valve will ever go back now, even when (if?) the rouble recovers. Part of me thinks that they've been waiting for an excuse such as this. Steam is a de facto monopoly now and they can pretty much do what they want in the digital PC game market. Hopefully this move will bring about some more competition though I doubt it.Announcement regarding it being copied around from dev-only forums:
TL;DR: Falling ruble is causing them to reconsider their cross-region methods. This particular strategy could change.
You make it sound like this thread will be dead now. We've still gotta empty out our russian friends inventories and there will be plenty of bundle keys to pass around. 4 packs to be had. This sucks but its not over. We're all still cheapasses here.Well, it appears neither our lord and savior Krugozor or Valve will be receiving my holiday dollars this year. I'd love to see the numbers resulting from this decision. Assuming that people will maintain purchasing habits at domestic pricing if other regions are unavailable seems highly optimistic on their part (I certainly won't be). It's a sad day, but thank you to all the great traders who have supported cag (and valve) to date.
Not every game is locked at the moment:It stopped being up to the publisher a while ago. Region locks started being added to new subs 2 months ago by default to every single one. Now they extended it to every single game ever released on steam.
I have some hope, largely because when taken in the context of the entire Steam userbase, trading is pretty niche so not much money is lost on it. On the other hand, a ton of people have relatives or friends abroad, and the current measures ("[won't work] if gifted or traded from a lower priced region to a higher priced region") prevent Joe Average Steamuser in the US or cheaper regions from giving relatives or friends in the EU/UK/Whatever holiday/birthday gifts, if I'm interpreting that line right. I'd be shocked if the loss of money from that isn't greater than the pittance lost from our variety of trading.I seriously doubt that Valve will ever go back now, even when (if?) the rouble recovers. Part of me thinks that they've been waiting for an excuse such as this. Steam is a de facto monopoly now and they can pretty much do what they want in the digital PC game market. Hopefully this move will bring about some more competition though I doubt it.