Moving to Japan - what happens to my games?

[The Alchemist]

Hello everyone!

I'll be moving to Japan next summer with my partner for... well.. ever. Her career is in Tokyo and I have a job already lined up! This is, of course, fantastic news ... except one (not so) minor detail: what happens to my glorious 100+ game steam account?!

I am aware if I move to a country long-term, I am obligated to update Valve as to where the account will be used at. This means I will ONLY have access to the Japanese store page... given this I have MANY questions.

1. What happens to my "banned-in-Japan" games, which I've ALREADY purchased in America? Such as TW: Shogun 2. Will I be able to redownload them? (Assuming they're already "activated/purchased" on my account.)

2. What about games like Dark Souls III? Clearly, they have an international version, but the Japanese steam store page only lists it as "Dark Souls III (JP)" -- I'm assuming that means there is no way I can purchase the English-text version of the game in Japan? Does anyone know if these games usually have an option to change the interface to English?

3. I'M NOT WILLING to use a VPN. I don't want the risk, however, I've heard varying accounts of people gifting games cross region. What's the final word on this?

4. Are ALL Sega games off steam in Japan? ON the store page I see Total war Warhammer, and some other Sega games... so what's the deal?

[ReBoot]

Your games will stay your games. And as long as you dont change your store location, youll keep using the US Steam store.

[The Alchemist]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Your games will stay your games. And as long as you dont change your store location, youll keep using the US Steam store.

You can't make purchases to another country's steam store page while your address reflects a different country. It declines payment, and there's no way to "import" USD steam cards to Japan online.

[ReBoot]

You can. Im in Germany, my credit card is German and last time i was in the Netherlands, i used my German CC to buy a game from th German Steam store. As long as you keep your US CC (and dont change the store location), itll work.

[The Alchemist]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

You can. Im in Germany, my credit card is German and last time i was in the Netherlands, i used my German CC to buy a game from th German Steam store. As long as you keep your US CC, itll work.

If this was the case, why do so many expats in Japan bellyache about not being able to play SqEnix/SEGA games?

[mimizukari]

Originally posted by Distance03:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

You can. Im in Germany, my credit card is German and last time i was in the Netherlands, i used my German CC to buy a game from th German Steam store. As long as you keep your US CC, itll work.

If this was the case, why do so many expats in Japan bellyache about not being able to play SqEnix/SEGA games?

After 90 days, a games region restrictions disappear. until then, some games have region restrictions, and when changing country, you can't play them until that 90 days is up (when all region restrictions get lifted)

[The Alchemist]

Originally posted by Wynnda, Miko of the Gusta:

Originally posted by Distance03:

If this was the case, why do so many expats in Japan bellyache about not being able to play SqEnix/SEGA games?

After 90 days, a games region restrictions disappear. until then, some games have region restrictions.

Not restrictions in the way of release date - but games which are NOT available in Japan. I.E. Shogun 2 Total War...

It's been out for years and is still not on the JP store page.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by Distance03:

Originally posted by Wynnda, Miko of the Gusta:

After 90 days, a games region restrictions disappear. until then, some games have region restrictions.

Not restrictions in the way of release date - but games which are NOT available in Japan. I.E. Shogun 2 Total War...

It's been out for years and is still not on the JP store page.

You dont need to care, you only need to keep your store location set to US.