Confused about region locking of ROW keys

[PALADiN]

I'm now officially confused about geoblocking of ROW keys for this game. On one hand, I get this error when attempting to activate such a key that was purchased from Amazon's digital games store..
http://i.imgur.com/GmlS9SM.png

On the other hand, I see that people are successfully activating their ROW keys without needing to use a VPN (even though they're in a censored region like Germany).

To further muddy the waters, Ubisoft has replied to my query on their Facebook page saying that they haven't requested any region locks. Conversely, we've seen that a developer has confirmed that region locks are in place for ROW keys.

Needless to say, I'm not sure who to believe anymore.

[MaRdErN]

i guess the amazon.com keys are NA Only and not ROW or you cant aktivate the uncut version in au. so the best you can do is ask for a refund or use a vpn for the aktivation.

[PALADiN]

Originally posted by MaRdErN:

i guess the amazon.com keys are NA Only and not ROW or you cant aktivate the uncut version in au. so the best you can do is ask for a refund or use a vpn for the aktivation.

The problem is that Amazon won't want to know about it as I technically shouldn't have bought it in the first place.

In essence, I'm out $60-odd and have a useless key for my troubles.

[HeLivesByTheEwoks]

Nowadays its not easy to buy a game and play it.

XD There are a lot of background knowledge peoples have to know to be able to make a game playable.

[PALADiN]

Also, I'm not game to use a VPN as I have 226 games and a bunch of DLCs that I don't want to lose access to when I get caught.

[Stuie101]

Would steam have anything to do with it? as Steam does do geoblocking (using old laws with loop holes in Australian law to cheat customers) Some games on steampowered.com’s Australian site are more than four times more expensive than the US version.

[PALADiN]

Originally posted by QIIS:

Would steam have anything to do with it? as Steam does do geoblocking (using old laws with loop holes in Australian law to cheat customers) Some games on steampowered.com’s Australian site are more than four times more expensive than the US version.

AFAIK, region locks on keys are determined by the publisher.

[Stuie101]

Originally posted by VicePMAbbott:

Originally posted by QIIS:

Would steam have anything to do with it? as Steam does do geoblocking (using old laws with loop holes in Australian law to cheat customers) Some games on steampowered.com’s Australian site are more than four times more expensive than the US version.

AFAIK, region locks on keys are determined by the publisher.

Cool. Just asking as Australia might ban geo blocking under free trade rules or unfair trade and last year a federal parliamentary committee has recommended that consumers find ways to lawfully evade technology that allows IT companies to charge up to twice as much for their products in Australia :)

[Flauschibüsi]

I think it has to do something with regional laws. As for germany, it is simply forbidden to sell some Games (ex. Dead rising 3)... Or for sp, it's forbidden ti have nazi symbols in it.

[PALADiN]

I bought a US/ROW key for Saints Row 4 from Amazon and didn't have any activation issues aside from the delayed release date (which threw up a "Not released yet" error as opposed to the error I'm getting now with South Park).

[Stuie101]

VicePMabbott I know ROW 4 was refused classification so I guess steam enforces the rule or the sellers/shipping coy. So unless your account is "US based" you know the opps wrong address added you might find it hard to get the better vers. Saying that if you accidently put the wrong address in you could get your account banned.

[MadDoggyca]

Originally posted by VicePMAbbott:

Originally posted by MaRdErN:

i guess the amazon.com keys are NA Only and not ROW or you cant aktivate the uncut version in au. so the best you can do is ask for a refund or use a vpn for the aktivation.

The problem is that Amazon won't want to know about it as I technically shouldn't have bought it in the first place.

In essence, I'm out $60-odd and have a useless key for my troubles.

I would be more then happy to activate that key for you....

[Speckles]

Ah VicePMAbbot. I saw you around the SRIV threads! Long time no see, I don't think steam will ban you for activating a game cd key while using a vpn. AFAIK they will only ban you if you use the vpn to make purchases directly from the steam store. You could always try activating this key on another account and see how that turns out if you are afraid to do it on your one. I'm really keen to hear what you do.

[PALADiN]

I've sent a support ticket to Amazon telling them that the key isn't working (I'm just hoping that they'll take a look at it).

It may be possible that Amazon just gave me a dud key. If nothing comes of the support ticket, I'm not sure what my next move will be.

This is also a shameless bump because I want this clarified by someone at Ubisoft.

[Speckles]

There's no reason to have the region restrictions on Steam. I'm fairly certain the classification board doesn't even know of Steam's existance.

[Stuie101]

Steam does it as listed in the report from the Australian Government’s Inquiry into IT Pricing. As it turns out steam geoblocks (at times) to make Australians pay much more lol.. But its Steam and other online sellers undoing and for that there might be new laws - Contracts or terms of service which seek to enforce geoblocking could be “considered void” soon under Competition and Consumer Act. ‘right of resale’ be created for digitally distributed content. All the info is online