Can gift game to friend but they can't accept it?

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Kurowa29 Dec 8, 2020 @ 1:23am

Can gift game to friend but they can't accept it?

Heya! I wanted to gift a game to my friend (we currently have the same region set up, which is Malaysia) but she is currently in South Korea for her studies. I can proceed to pay for the game (usually I can't if there is a regional price difference), but she is unable to add it into her inventory.

Is there something wrong that I'm doing? I really want to gift her Hatoful Boyfriend and LiEat when the Steam Winter Sale starts D:

For context: I tried to gift DST to her during the Autumn sale, but she can't accept it, so I'm worried that I can't gift her any game through Steam

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Originally posted by Carolynne:

Originally posted by Kurowa29:
Well I remembered that she said the item is restricted from her country, but she set it to Malaysia so it doesn't make sense? I would like to think that IP address is playing a part but I can't ask her to set up VPN for her to redeem it, as that would go against the Terms and Conditions in Steam D:

You can't choose your own region for Steam unfortunately, you may choose download location to configure your bandwidth and you may choose region to display on your profile but none of those impacts region affiliation with Steam store.
Your guess weren't wrong, Steam reads IP addresses for region.

Steam does prohibit bypassing purchases, gifts and regional restrictions with VPN and would result in account suspension.

- There is a workaround however, if the game you wishes to gift her such as Don't Starve Together doesn't come through then you could gift her a wallet gift card for her to purchase the game herself. The only drawback would be that you won't be the one getting the Steam points if she makes the purchase, if that matters.

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Showing 1-11 of 11 comments

crunchyfrog Dec 8, 2020 @ 1:31am

Check to see if the game's are available in that region.

Kurowa29 Dec 8, 2020 @ 2:02am

Originally posted by crunchyfrog:
Check to see if the game's are available in that region.

From what I've found, DST is available everywhere. So it shouldn't be a problem for her to redeem it, but she can't D:

Carolynne Dec 8, 2020 @ 2:16am

What message is she recieving when she tries to accept the gift, or what happens? We would need a little more details to understand the situation better.

Worst case scenario it could be that there are no problems and she simply doesn't want to accept the gift. Sometimes people prefer to pull a white lie in order to avoid an awkward situation or quarrels.

Kurowa29 Dec 8, 2020 @ 2:36am

Originally posted by Carolynne:
What message is she recieving when she tries to accept the gift, or what happens? We would need a little more details to understand the situation better.

Worst case scenario it could be that there are no problems and she simply doesn't want to accept the gift. Sometimes people prefer to pull a white lie in order to avoid an awkward situation or quarrels.

Well I remembered that she said the item is restricted from her country, but she set it to Malaysia so it doesn't make sense? I would like to think that IP address is playing a part but I can't ask her to set up VPN for her to redeem it, as that would go against the Terms and Conditions in Steam D:

NG Dec 8, 2020 @ 2:56am

Use VPN it always works for me

Kurowa29 Dec 8, 2020 @ 3:29am

Originally posted by NightwolfNG:
Use VPN it always works for me

But wouldn't you get banned permanently if found out though?

The author of this thread has indicated that this post answers the original topic.

Carolynne Dec 8, 2020 @ 4:12am

Originally posted by Kurowa29:
Well I remembered that she said the item is restricted from her country, but she set it to Malaysia so it doesn't make sense? I would like to think that IP address is playing a part but I can't ask her to set up VPN for her to redeem it, as that would go against the Terms and Conditions in Steam D:

Last edited by Carolynne; Dec 8, 2020 @ 4:14am

crunchyfrog Dec 8, 2020 @ 3:14pm

Originally posted by Kurowa29:
Originally posted by Carolynne:
What message is she recieving when she tries to accept the gift, or what happens? We would need a little more details to understand the situation better.

Worst case scenario it could be that there are no problems and she simply doesn't want to accept the gift. Sometimes people prefer to pull a white lie in order to avoid an awkward situation or quarrels.

Well I remembered that she said the item is restricted from her country, but she set it to Malaysia so it doesn't make sense? I would like to think that IP address is playing a part but I can't ask her to set up VPN for her to redeem it, as that would go against the Terms and Conditions in Steam D:

Ther's your problem. That's not how it works.

You CANNOT choose region. For several months now the rules have been updated to stop region hopping. So you have YOUR region, which is where you live and where your registered form of payment comes from.

You can only change that if you move AND have a new form of payment that is registered in the new place.

So that's your problem - it's restricted in her country so no matter what you think you can do, it can't go through.

Fallen King Dec 30, 2022 @ 4:40am

Why not buy a key for the game in some of these third part websites? (A reliable one ofc) I mean its a way to go around the "problem" for sure, but I guess it may sucks a bit... : /

CIROXRONE Jul 2, 2024 @ 8:11pm

I am in the same situation on the opposite side. Can’t access the game after redeeming it. Its just gone and says contact support who is useless from my understanding.

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