Replacing a language locked game?

[Coldice]

Hello, I live in CIS region and some of the games are locked to russian only (it's a policy from some game companies to prevent people buying games from CIS region for a cheaper price). I was wondering if it's possible to remove a language locked game from account and ask a friend to gift me the WW version which contains all the languages. I heard that even if you remove a game from the account, the key is still atached to this account, and in my opinion even if my friend gifts me a WW copy of this game, I will still get back my russian locked game.

The game I'm talking specificaly is Assassin's Creed: Unity which I bought it back in 2014 but played it for only 9h because didn't enjoy the russian dub and never played it again. Also I guess there is one problem, which is Uplay. If i get the same key from steam then in Uplay the game will remain the same without knowing I got a WW copy.

If anyone had the same problems with region locked games and fixed them, please let me know. I have problems with around 5 games: 2 Call of Duty games and 3 Ubisoft games, which I would like to fix the language locked problem with time in the future since playing in localization is not fun at all. I was hoping till this day that Ubisoft will remove the lock on the older games but they don't intend to do so.

[J4MESOX4D]

I have a funny feeling that even if you activated a global key on your account in place of a CIS one; you will still receive the same localization because of Ubisoft's restrictions based on your locale. I remember this issue was a problem in the past but I don't know if Ubisoft have modified this so it might be worth checking in each of the game forums to find out. Not worth removing the CIS licence and gambling on a global one until you are sure it can be ammended though.

[Ogami]

Language restricted versions count as different games in the Steam Database so this would indeed work.

But there are two other big problems:
1. Its 99% sure that your friend cant gift you the game since if a game has more then a 10% price difference between the 2 countries (buyer/receiver) it can not be gifted.
2. There is also no way to buy a international key for the game from another site since all retail versions only activate on UPLAY and dont work on Steam. There are NO Steam keys for UPLAY games on the market.


So you either have to play the language restricted version or buy a international key and activate it directly on UPLAY and play the game there. Thats about it.

[Coldice]

Oh I didn't know about the price difference rule, thank you for letting me know.

[Coldice]

Ogami, just a quick question. This summer I'm gonna visit some EU countries, do you think I can buy the WW version myself while staying in EU?

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Coldice:

Ogami, just a quick question. This summer I'm gonna visit some EU countries, do you think I can buy the WW version myself while staying in EU?

You can but you would need to switch your Steam Store to the country you are in.
By default the store stays locked to the region you first registered it to, so even if you are in the EU it will still show you the CIS Steam store.
After switching you can use the store for that country and buy the non language restricted version of the game.


If you return to your home region you need to switch your store back.
But the games you bought in the EU will still work and contain all the languages.
So that works. BUT be aware that you can only switch Steam store country if:

A: You have a IP ( so you are in) the country you are trying to switch to
B: Did not buy anything on the CIS store in the last 14 days before switching
C: Have a legit adress of residence in the country you are switching to

Steam also wants a payment method registered to the country you are in, so for example a PayPal or credit card account registered to a adress in CIS territory will NOT work.

But you can simply buy Steam Wallet Prepaid cards that are available in most electronic stores or gas stations. Those work worldwide.

[Coldice]

Thank you for the detailed answer, it is very useful. I remember 3 years ago when I traveled to Romania, my store automatically switched to european region with prices in euro. I hope this time it will be the same and I will just get some prepaid cards and boom. Thank you very much again.

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Coldice:

Thank you for the detailed answer, it is very useful. I remember 3 years ago when I traveled to Romania, my store automatically switched to european region with prices in euro. I hope this time it will be the same and I will just get some prepaid cards and boom. Thank you very much again.

The automatic store switching was changed about a year ago. Now the store stays locked to your home region, even if you are in another country. Only way to switch is manually and that has the above mentioned restrictions.

[Coldice]

Now I fully understood the situation, thank you very much.

[Simon_Else]

Same boat. You found a way to play it in English yet? I've been trying to figure it out for a few days, and now I'm closer to just getting a refund instead.

Originally posted by Coldice:

Now I fully understood the situation, thank you very much.

[Coldice]

I deleted my CIS version game, and bought the WW version while I was on vacation in a different country. Everything was perfect after that. Sadly no other solutions. I recommend to refund it and find a way to buy the global version.

[Simon_Else]

thanks, just what I was going to do.

Originally posted by Coldice:

I deleted my CIS version game, and bought the WW version while I was on vacation in a different country. Everything was perfect after that. Sadly no other solutions. I recommend to refund it and find a way to buy the global version.