Region Locked

[Androu1]

Not available in Venezuela in any website, and I'm sure that's not the only country that's region locked for no good reason. ♥♥♥♥ Bandai Namco, honestly.

Whining here because Bandai Namco's support website doesn't even work to message them about it lol

[PsyBlade]

according to what I see on steamdb there are two versions of the game:

one for everywhere except Venezuela and Japan

and a different version exclusive to Japan

(no, I don't know what the point is)

[Androu1]

From Software self-publish in Japan so there being a separate version for Japan makes sense.

I have no idea why they started blocking Venezuela of all counries, though. Elden Ring became region-locked after I pre-purchased it so I still got it, but I can't even view its store page anymore.

[静雄]

Aren't there options to bypass the region lock? Been a while but recall reading something along the lines gifting from an account from a different region. Sucks nonetheless though.

[HomongUS]

Maybe because the violent video game ban by the Venezuelan government from 2009 is still taking place?

[Outsider]

Originally posted by ketchup:

Maybe because the violent video game ban by the Venezuelan government from 2009 is still taking place?

AC6 is rated 12 in Korea. It's just robots blowing up each other. Is it considered violent?
Are only sports games allowed there? Are MMA games considered violent?

[HomongUS]

Originally posted by Outsider:

Originally posted by ketchup:

Maybe because the violent video game ban by the Venezuelan government from 2009 is still taking place?

AC6 is rated 12 in Korea. It's just robots blowing up each other. Is it considered violent?
Are only sports games allowed there? Are MMA games considered violent?

I have no idea why you would even bring other country's standard to ask question. Different country, different standards. Pretty much anything gun related would be under restriction if it's still taking place as their president at the time solely blamed videos games for the curve in local gun violence and claimed to provide space for people to "practice" for such acts.

[Androu1]

Originally posted by ketchup:

Maybe because the violent video game ban by the Venezuelan government from 2009 is still taking place?

That ban never really did anything tbh. Plus the weird thing is that Bamco didn't use to block Venezuela but they started doing it around Elden Ring's release for some reason.

Originally posted by 静雄:

Aren't there options to bypass the region lock? Been a while but recall reading something along the lines gifting from an account from a different region. Sucks nonetheless though.

That might be an option, might have to look into it. I just hope Steam warns ahead of time if it can't be gifted, tho.

[Algester]

steam games can be gifted as long as it was purchased with a stronger currency which can be... well expensive due to exchange rates being a thing

[HomongUS]

Ban with hefty fines doesn't seem light to me. I only see the company being caught in the middle of economic war between US and VE. It sucks, but they're merely complying the local standards.

[Androu1]

Originally posted by Algester:

steam games can be gifted as long as it was purchased with a stronger currency which can be... well expensive due to exchange rates being a thing

Venezuela on Steam has always had the same prices as US (and only accepts USD as well) so it's not the worst, but sucks having to use a workaround.

Originally posted by ketchup:

Ban with hefty fines doesn't seem light to me. I only see the company being caught in the middle of economic war between US and VE. It sucks, but they're merely complying the local standards.

There was never really any followthrough from the government to ban things like Steam, and no other company really cared. Plus that was forever ago and Bamco hadn't cared until this year.